I Found a Leopard who Changed his Spots

I have never liked Tom Coughlin, never been able to warm to him. For a number of reasons really, some selfish and some valid. My team is the Eagles and they are in the same division, and personally I think that although we both (Giants and Eagles) didn't have best of regular seasons, that the Eagles would have done just as well if they had made it into the post season. We were on a roll too.

Then there were the many times I have watched him openly berate a player for a mistake while coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Giants too. I just thought that this behavior was disgusting, and I didn't see any of the really good coaches replicating that rubbish. But this season Coughlin's sixty-fifth year seems to have mellowed him. Not any less passionate, just better able to reach out to and react to players and their foibles. All of us make mistakes.

Maybe I now have to change my opinion, be a better man, and recognize that like me, Tom can change his spots too. By many accounts the new Tom was largely responsible to keeping his team together this year in the face of adversity. Good for him, his team needed it, and the proof is in yesterday's Superbowl victory over the New England Patriots. It's good for all us to know that our spots can be changed, as we all need hope.

Here are some excerpts from an Associated Press article written by Tom Canavan:

• “What I was concerned with was these guys making their own history,” Coughlin said. “This is such a wonderful thing, these guys carving their own history.”
• “Each one is very unique, and this one is just as exciting, probably more so because of the kind of year we had,” Coughlin said. “What a wonderful experience it was to see the team come together like they did. Our defense started to play very well, we gained some confidence, and as they say the rest is history.” 
• That history will show was that it was Coughlin who kept this team together through early season injuries, a four-game midseason losing streak and a depressing loss to Washington in game 14 when they lost a share of first place with a no-show performance.
• His final topic was family and love, not what one would expect from a man who is known as a disciplinarian. Coughlin, however, has learned how to reach young players lately and this message sunk in.