Not that I want to go all 'Dear Abby' today, but here is a little bit of unsolicited advice for former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. Let it go, Tom.
Coughlin is no longer head coach of the Giants. Rightly or wrongly, that is a fact. And we know from recent reports and Coughlin's own remarks on the radio that he is having a difficult time letting go.
Gary Myers of the Daily News wrote that Coughlin's interview for the Philadelphia Eagles head coaching vacancy was "a disaster."
Coughlin acted like a 20-year old whose girlfriend had dumped him and he was trying to make her jealous by dating her No. 1 enemy on the rebound. NFL sources say his hard feelings for the Giants came through loud and clear in the interview with the Eagles brain trust, which included owner Jeffrey Lurie, and he was obsessed with how he felt wronged by the Giants. He was not forthcoming about his plans for his staff. He came off more concerned with making the Giants look bad than being consumed with coaching the Eagles.
I have no idea how true that is. I do know, however, that if any part of it is true that's a bad look for the two-time Super Bowl-winning coach. If even a small part of his motivation for taking the interview with the Eagles was to twist the knife and make the Giants think about him coaching in the same division just a couple of hours down the road, that's unbecoming for a man who has always carried himself with class.
It is natural for Coughlin to be hurt. I get that. It's become pretty obvious that he wanted to continue coaching the Giants, that stepping down was not his idea. It doesn't look good, though, to go on the radio and talk about how he doesn't agree with the move and how there are "hard feelings" as the result of it.
It also doesn't help anything that hard feelings and all, Coughlin apparently keeps showing up at the Giants headquarters a couple of times every week to work out. Who does that? That can't help new head coach Ben McAdoo, or any of of the assistant coaches still with the team who were loyal to him. It can't help any of the players who see him working out or wandering the halls.
That is stalker stuff. It is the kind of thing jealous ex-husbands or lovers do when they can't move on. C'mon on, Tom. Get a Planet Fitness membership! It's only $10 a month. Surely, you can afford that.
The Giants have moved on from you. Now you need to move on from them. It will be healthier for both of you.