Coughlin, Tom
Sport
At the end of the 2006 season, Tom Coughlin was being run out of New York by media and fans alike.
Twelve months later and the man can almost walk on water.
That's what a Super Bowl win will do for a coach, but it was his own transformation as well as how he changed the mindset of his team that was most impressive.
Defensive linchpin Michael Strahan said it best when he remarked, "From more rules and less suggestions to more suggestions and less rules." Once Coughlin relented a little on the rigid discipline that is his trademark, the Giants responded by warming to the man and buying into his plan. Team that up with a quarterback who discovered himself, add a mean defense, and the man born in Waterloo, New York, was the rock upon which the Patriots floundered.
To the victor come the spoils, they say, and going from a one-year last-chance-saloon contract signed at the start of the season, Coughlin can expect a multi-year contract with a serious pay hike when the celebrations die down.
"Every team is beatable, you never know," said Coughlin after his team's improbable win. "The right moment, the right time, every team is beatable." What he failed to mention was that to accomplish that, you need the the right mentality and the right coach. Way to go, Tom.
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