Giants: Coughlin staying or going?
The Philadelphia Eagles booted the New York Giants out of the playoffs Sunday evening. The question is, did David Akers' kick as time expired also boot Giants' Coach Tom Coughlin out of a job?
If you've paid any attention at all you know that everyone seems to have an opinion as to whether or not Coughlin has done enough to be invited back next season to finish the final year of his four-year contract.
Giants president and co-owner John Mara did nothing to diffuse the speculation about Coughlin after Sunday's game, telling reporters only that "I’ll have something to say in the middle of the week."
The guess here is that Coughlin stays. The Giants, by nature, are a conservative organization and, according to the New York Times, have never fired a coach after his team made the playoffs. Say what you want about Coughlin's histrionics, his team's lack of discipline, Eli Manning's struggles, etc., but the Giants have gotten into the playoffs two years in a row -- including as division champs in 2005.
The Giants will also have to hire a new general manager as Sunday's loss marked the end of Ernie Accorsi's reign as GM. Having to also start over with a new coach at the same time could be more change than the Giants ownership wants to deal with.
Do I think keeping Coughlin is the right thing to do? Probably. Unless Charlie Weis is willing to leave Notre Dame, or the Giants could convince Bill Cowher to forget about taking next year off, I don't see a better option. Hiring an unproven assistant as a first-time coach is a gamble. You might get a hit like NFL Coach of the Year Sean Payton, or you might get a miss like Minnesota's Brad Childress or Detroit's Rod Marinelli.
Changes will have to made, even if Coughlin stays. Those changes begin with Coughlin's assistants. He waited way too long to remove John Hufnagel as offensive coordinator, and I don't think Kevin Gilbride is the answer in that capacity. A new offensive coordinator is a must, and probably a new quarterbacks coach.
A new defensive coordinator is probably also needed. The Giants were seemingly never able to get stops when they needed them this year, and Tim Lewis' defense was marked by missed assignments, poor tackling and questionable schemes.
The Giants also need to jettison players like Bob 'Head Butt' Whitfield who can't seem to get the idea that stupidity hurts a football team, and make a host of other personnel decisions. Among those is how will they replace Tiki Barber.
For now, however, we wait. Coughlin is out there twisting in the wind, and there's no telling for sure which way the breeze is blowing.
It should be an entertaining couple of days for Giants fans.
technorati tags: New York Giants, Tom Coughlin, NFL, NFL Playoffs, John Mara, Football
5 comments:
I'm not sure you can really call Childress a miss. He went one season with a team that was a monstrosity last year and was mediocre. They don't really have the best talent to start with, and they lost some key guys to injury early. Marinelli, well that's pretty obvious.
Ed, you point that the Giants have never fired a coach after the team made the playoffs. Yes, this is true, but remember the late Wellington Mara had a preference for stability even if it meant mediocre results. Now, the next generation of Mara and Tisch are in control. If they watch the same Giants' games we do, then Tom will be sent back to the soup kitchen. The Giants are underprepared, undisciplined, selfish, and unresponsive to Coughlin's barking.
Who's the next coach? I doubt the Giants would dip their toes in the college coaching ranks (i.e. Stoops, Carroll, or Ferentz). I also don't see Cowher coaching next year. Maybe they'll go for the next offensive genius like Cam Cameron or Ken Whisenhunt. Or maybe they can somehow pry Jon Fox or Bill Parcells to East Rutherford.
I hope Coughlin's gone. I'm tired of the secondary being terrible every year. I'm tired of 5 false starts a game plus three personal fouls to boot. I'm tired of missed tackles, bad play calls and timeouts at the wrong time. I'm tired of players spouting off to the press. I'm tired of players saying they were outcoached, especially when they're right. The Giants might be afraid of change, which is a problem, because the GMen need a ton of it.
And this just in: John Runyan just pushed down another player and didn't get flagged.
Why is it that Marinelli is considered a big miss? Obviously you do not follow the Lions -- not that many do these days. Marinelli had so little talent to work with, and then take away Shaun Rodgers, Kevin Jones and put 6 olinemen on injured reserve. All in all, he did a reasonable job -- would clearly take him over Childress
I can't see why you'd call either Childress or Marinelli a miss. Both came into a job coaching...horrible....no talent...extremely unmotivated teams.
Childress has an offense that consists of a less popular Brett Farve clone (too old, can't make the throws anymore, forced into bad decisions by his inability to hurl the football in the general direction he desires but just won't retire), Jamal Lewis's backup, and exactly 0 wide receivers who can hold on to a football. Troy Williamson as your number 1? He was second in the league to T.O. in drops this year.
And the Lions? Don't get me started. Their best player is Kevin Jones. Did you miss that? BEST...PLAYER...KEVIN.....JONES....
I shouldn't have to say anything about their WR core (Mike Furrey?) or the extensive IR list. Or Jon Kitna. Marinelli did his best to inspire a team intensely comfortable with losing (see: last 6 years) out of their apathy, and you saw some of that actually happen. He cut clubhouse cancer Charles Rogers and actually convinced Mike Williams to play football for the last three games of the season.
Give each of them at least one more year before calling them a miss. If Tom Coughlin were coaching either of those teams, or any team without the immense talent pool the Giants have collected, he would have been fired midseason. Or shot.
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