Transcript: Ring of Honor Inductee Tom Coughlin

Ring of Honor Inductee Tom Coughlin

Conference Call, November 8, 2016

Q: Overall, what does it mean to be honored with this honor on Monday night?

A: It is a great honor. I am very appreciative of the fact that the New York Giants have chosen to add my family name to the Ring of Honor which is, as I mentioned historically and I do really appreciate history and understand where I came from and so on and so forth. But to have the family name along with the 42 great names of what is being recognized as the finest Giants of all-time is of real significance to me and I think back to my mother, God bless her when I was named the Head Coach of the New York Giants, she was very sick at the time and I had an opportunity to get up to central New York to see her on occasion and I can remember her saying, ‘Thank God for the Giants.’ That is kind of the way I think she would feel today and the way that our family will feel because we will have a great representation on Monday Night and we will look forward along with Ernie (Accorsi) and Justin (Tuck) to being recognized as most recent members of that prestigious group and I took a look at those 45 names. 25 of those people that are on that list, I have known personally and for me also to keep this in the family is a wonderful thing because as you know, Chris Snee was inducted in 2015, so it is another something in addition to two Super Bowls, having been at Boston College a couple of different times – nevertheless both having come from there, Kate (Snee) being involved, Judy (Coughlin) being involved and calling this certainly something that our family can be certainly proud of.

Q: Tom, we are halfway through the season now and I know it has been a big adjustment not coaching. Are you used to it at all? Are you liking this lifestyle at all and do you miss it to the point where you would consider coming back?

A: Well, the second question is that question and I really didn’t expect anything along those lines, but am I missing the sideline? I would be less than honest if I had told you that I didn’t miss the sideline. I love the game day situation (with the NFL League Office). I have been in the command room every Sunday, on Monday Night because I think that is the closest thing to the sideline and I have enjoyed that very much. Being in there with Dean Blandino and Al Riveron and all the great folks that work here in the league office that are a part of that day, that very special day and I have enjoyed that very much. So I do get a chance to be close to the game that way. I have had an opportunity to visit with of course Commissioner Goodell and his outstanding staff on a number of occasions and we are working on different things. I am involved in all of the committees. A number of committees; the competition committee being one, the Madden Coaches’ subcommittee being the other, the General Managers committee is going to meet here in a conference call in a couple of minutes, so I will have an opportunity to join in on that as well. So being involved in the game is very important to me and I am glad and certainly I am again grateful to the National Football League and to Commissioner Goodell for giving me that opportunity. As far as the future holds, who knows. I wouldn’t speculate on anything and I will just enjoy very much, this opportunity come Monday night to be at the Giants-Cincinnati game and to have a great number of family and friends around and to have a chance to celebrate with Ernie and Justin and their families and to be able to cast around at the names in the Ring of Honor in the stadium and just feel good about being a part of that.

Q: You are looking at the league now in a different capacity. Everyone knows that the ratings are down. Do you have any theories of why?

A: I haven’t focused too much on that aspect of it. I have certainly picked up on it. As always, I am very much involved and being a part of the game, watching the game and shedding some knowledge on what happens from the Head Coaches point of view to any number of folks who want to stop by here and visit with me throughout the course of the week and that is the direction that I am in. There are lots of people who are focusing on it. I think you have to give it a little bit more time and I think that I would say that as we go through the second half of the season, things begin to shake out, you begin to recognize the teams that are strong and that are starting to make a run at things. You saw the other night how Oakland played so very well against the World Champions (Denver Broncos) and had a nice win at home. The job that Jack Del Rio is doing there. I think fans of football are fans of professional football and the greatest team sport that ever was and I really don’t think that there is anything permanent about this. But again, I think time will tell and I think that as this second half of the season starts to shake out and you see people start to separate themselves, I think you will see greater interest in it.

Q: What are your thoughts on the Giants this year and what you have seen from them so far?

A: I know what you know. Outstanding win last week against Philadelphia. Good to see on a couple of occasions that the defense has done well. They have come into ball games and had to be in position to make a strong contribution and they have done that. It is good to see that. Offensive production last weekend was good. Finding a way to win – watching Landon Collins make plays, starting with that great game that he had over in London, so I am just a bystander now and a fan and certainly very much aware of and of course last weekend was a big game with Philadelphia. I am happy that the Giants were able to prevail in that game against a good Philadelphia team, so that would be it for me. I am happy for them. Ben has done a nice job. The defense has done an outstanding job and Eli, again with four touchdown passes the other day is strong again, so I am looking forward to watching them down the stretch.

Q: What is it like watching Ben and your staff out there?

A: I text and wish people good luck. I congratulated Ben by text the other day, Steve by text the other day, Eli. I texted Odell and wished him good luck in the game. I have done it with Victor over the course of the year. That has been something that I have done. I am proud of Ben, proud of the job he is doing, proud of the coaches that I brought there, the players. Someone asked me at the beginning of the season that question about rooting for the Giants and the answer that I gave was an honest answer, I will always root for the Giants.

Q: Did you know that Josh Brown admitted to abusing his wife while you were still the Head Coach?

A: Of course not. Nope, nothing along those lines. Back when some of this first started out, it was reported that Josh and his wife – I am not sure if they were separated or what was going on at the time, but it didn’t seem like they were going through some hard times, but it seemed like a marriage that had separated and they were trying to work it out and get back together. That was the extent of it at that time.