Tom Coughlin going into Pro Football HOF should follow Pride of Jaguars entry

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Tom Coughlin going into Pro Football HOF should follow Pride of Jaguars entry | Gene Frenette

Gene Frenette, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union · The Florida Times-Union

Fri, Oct 4, 2024 ·

10 min read

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Almost everything with Tom Coughlin , outside of those instances where he got fired, happens on his timeline.

The 78-year-old retired NFL coach, who left an indelible mark on the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise during its first eight seasons (1995-2002), decided to finally give his approval last November to being inducted into the Pride of the Jaguars after owner Shad Khan endorsed it.

Coughlin was ready to let go of personal misgivings about the Jaguars twice divorcing him . So what everybody surmised would happen two decades ago is finally taking place Sunday at halftime of the Jaguars-Indianapolis Colts game.

The players will fittingly wear throwback Jaguars jerseys, hoping that fashion statement and Coughlin's name going up forever on the wall at EverBank Stadium will inspire them. Both to turn back time, and stop being the NFL's only winless team.

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Given what Tom Coughlin has accomplished in his NFL coaching career, taking a Jacksonville Jaguars NFL expansion team to the playoffs four of its first five years and leading the New York Giants to two Super Bowl titles, he belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

If the Jaguars can't be the best version of themselves on a day the franchise's original architect is being honored, then when is that going to happen?

Coughlin going into the Pride on his own time is a no-brainer. Wayne Weaver might have owned the team then, but it was Coughlin, the unrelenting taskmaster, who built them into a winner and AFC contender almost overnight.

Frankly, as fitting an honor as it might be for Coughlin, it still doesn't go far enough.

Some day — whether it's in four months, four years or, fearfully, after Tom is no longer with us — this man deserves the ultimate privilege of being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

His entry into the Pride will be a celebratory reminder to his players and the Jaguars' fans of Coughlin's massive contribution to the Jacksonville franchise.

Unfortunately, since that part of his resume is overshadowed by the two Super Bowl titles he brought to the New York Giants (2007, '11), it sort of does his legacy a disservice.

What Coughlin did for the Jaguars, taking them to two AFC Championship games within five years, should be viewed as more than just an appetizer to his greatest achievement of twice taking down the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady Patriots dynasty in the Super Bowl.

His accomplishments in Jacksonville, on top of delivering two Lombardi trophies to the Giants, will hopefully be enough to convince Hall of Fame voters to put him in Canton.

Complicated HOF process

Make no mistake, Coughlin getting into the Hall of Fame might very well be a long, complicated process.

Despite how strongly Tony Boselli, the HOF Jaguars offensive tackle , and highly accomplished running back Fred Taylor feel about Coughlin's candidacy, the truth is there are no sure-thing coaches eligible for induction in the minds of voters or they'd already be in Canton.

REAL PRIDE: Tom Coughlin isn't entering Pride of the Jaguars alone. He's taking about 200 people with him

But what makes Coughlin's case so compelling, besides hoisting two Lombardi trophies with the Giants, is he's one of the few coaches who did something special at two different NFL stops.

One anonymous longtime voter who did not endorse any of the last five HOF-inducted coaches — Don Coryell, Dick Vermeil, Tom Flores, Jimmy Johnson and Bill Cowher — acknowledged to me that Coughlin "has a strong case," but is also "no slam dunk."

Here's why that is a spot-on assessment: Only one coach between Coughlin and 11 other nominees (the list will be cut to 9 later this month) will have the chance to have their case heard before the HOF voters, along with three senior candidates and one contributor candidate.

Of those five nominees, only a maximum of three can be enshrined in the Class of 2025, which means the nominated coach has only a 60 percent chance of being elected. Last year's nominee, Buddy Parker, who won two NFL championships with the Detroit Lions in the 1950s, did not get in.

Barry Wilner, a retired Associated Press NFL writer from New York who presented Coughlin's case to a sub-committee last year, was deeply disappointed that Parker got the nod over the Giants/Jaguars coach.

"If I'm asked to present Tom's case again, I'm going to push him as hard as I can," said Wilner. "There's some coaches on this list [of 12 nominees] that I don't believe are Hall of Famers."

Besides Coughlin, the only two-time Super Bowl championship coach on the list is Mike Shanahan ( Denver Broncos , 1997-98). But in his other coaching stint with the Washington Commanders , his record was a pedestrian 24-40 and he never won a playoff game.

Other strong candidates are Mike Holmgren, who won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers and also took the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl. His record of 161-111 (.592) is significantly above Coughlin's 170-150 mark (.531) in terms of winning percentage.

A lot depends on which criteria the voters on the coaches' sub-committee, then the main body of 50-plus HOF voters, values the most. Some may be influenced most by Super Bowls, others total wins and win percentage.

Coughlin's 170 wins are tied with Shanahan (170-138) and Pete Carroll (170-120-1) for 15th all-time, but Carroll won't be eligible for the Hall until next year, providing he never takes another coaching job.

"My feeling is it's going to come down to Tom [Coughlin], Mike [Holmgren] and Mike [Shanahan], with Dan Reeves and Marty Schottenheimer also in there, but they didn't win a Super Bowl," Wilner said about the HOF-nominated coach.

Given the competition from senior players, a contributor and the Hall's voting parameters — plus Bill Belichick and Carroll possibly being eligible next year — it's easy to see why Coughlin getting into Canton remains a significant hurdle.

Old-school Tom commanded respect

Hall roadblocks aside, it should be a much-needed energy jolt for the Jaguars and the fan base to see Coughlin going into the Pride.

When you look at the other Pride members — former owners Wayne and Delores Weaver, quarterback Mark Brunell, receiver Jimmy Smith, Boselli and Taylor — the common denominator with all of them is Coughlin.

As the franchise's first coach, he made the Weavers look astute for hiring him. More importantly, he maximized the potential of his players.

I will never forget Coughlin's successor, Jack Del Rio, telling me midway through the 2003 season how much he admired the way Coughlin got the most out of a depleted roster the previous two seasons. Fourteen of the Jaguars' 20 losses from those back-to-back 6-10 teams were by a touchdown or less, yet Del Rio raved about the effort he saw from players on tape.

Many of Coughlin's players have told stories about the rigors of his training camps and the agony they felt because of his relentless attention to the smallest details.

"It's got to be hard," said Coughlin. "If it's not hard, it's not worth it. And that's how we practiced and how we prepared. We went hard."

Miserable as it made the players, they came to understand how much the Coughlin Way galvanized them into a true team.

"It's much better for me to have someone like coach Coughlin as a coach when I was a young player," said Taylor. "Otherwise, I believe I would've been lost."

Boselli, the first player drafted by the Jaguars in 1995, had his disagreements with some of his coach's nitpicky policies, but he learned to appreciate how Coughlin having total control of the operation adeptly built the franchise.

"He was the architect," said Boselli. "He decided who was here, who wasn't here, who coached [on the staff]. He decided what color the damn paint in the hallway was going to be. Nothing happened in this building when I played here unless Tom Coughlin said it was okay."

Except for maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers ' Mike Tomlin, the NFL doesn't really make Coughlin-type head coaches anymore. In an era when a strong players union has a bigger say in how often and taxing padded practices can be, the Coughlins of the world have become dinosaurs.

"I think the way he coached was the way I was coached from my coaches," said Jaguars coach Doug Pederson, an NFL journeyman quarterback from 1993-2004. "Hard, kind of in your face, screaming, yelling, all that kind of stuff. I mean, I just don't know if that works now.

"Look, I think you can still be upset. You can still be frustrated, all of that, with the guys. But I don't think they necessarily — not all of them — I don't think they all respond to that."

Pederson is probably right. Coughlin's style may not work in today's football world.

But give the former blue-collar, Syracuse running back credit for this much: he brought out the best in the Jaguars. The franchise's glory years of the late 1990s have a Coughlin imprint all over them.

Why Coughlin should be in HOF

Many fans in the 904 think Taylor, ranked 17th on the all-time rushing list with 11,695 yards (more than any eligible back not in the Hall of Fame), should be the next Jaguar enshrined in Canton.

But ever since Boselli got into the HOF in 2022, Taylor has strongly advocated that Coughlin should be next in line.

"He's won two world championships, what else does it take?" Taylor said. "I always go back to God's timing is the best timing as it relates to the Hall of Fame.

"I have zero control over it, and it's not my call. But if I did have an opportunity [to vote], he would get my vote before I would vote for myself."

Now Taylor is obviously biased out of loyalty to his coach, as would players coached by Holmgren, Shanahan and Schottenheimer. Arguments can be made for them getting into the HOF as well.

But here's the separator for me with Coughlin. Twice, his teams took down one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history, including a Patriots' team one step short of perfection.

In my view, what he did with the Jaguars elevates him above HOF coaches like Flores, Johnson and Vermeil. Flores struggled in his second gig with the Seattle Seahawks (14-34), as did the Miami Dolphins under Johnson. A two-time Super Bowl-winning coach with the Dallas Cowboys , he was ushered into retirement after a 62-7 drubbing by the Jaguars against Miami in the 1999 AFC playoffs.

Coughlin has better credentials than Vermeil (120-109, .524), who won 50 less games than Coughlin, and certainly more than both Flores (97-87, .527) and Johnson (80-64-0, .556).

Then there's this: Giants' quarterback Eli Manning could get into the HOF, possibly as a first-ballot guy, despite a mediocre .500 record (117-117) as a starter. If Manning gets into Canton with that record, how in the world do you leave Coughlin out?

All that evidence aside, I acknowledge the Hall of Fame voters have a tough job trying to decide which of several worthy candidates get fitted for a gold jacket.

But as Coughlin enters the Jaguars' Pride, it hopefully serves as a reminder that his spectacular football life deserves a special place beyond Jacksonville and New York.

Tom Coughlin belongs in Canton with the other gold jackets, preferably while he's still around to enjoy it.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com : (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Next stop for Tom Coughlin should be Pro Football Hall of Fame | Frenette

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