THE TOM HAS COME
Coughlin is changing his ways to connect to a whole new generation of Giant
THE RING OF a cell phone, muffled as best as possible, followed by a loud, exaggerated cough.
It’s a sequence of sounds that Tom Coughlin has understood for awhile. And midway through a team meeting last week, everyone’s favorite disciplinarian Giants coach finally let his young team in on that secret.
So there was the ring of a cell, that familiar cough, and . . .
“All right guys, I’m caught up!” Coughlin bellowed. “I know about that. Phone rings, everyone has pneumonia.”
And then Coughlin muttered something about those dang “millennials,” recalls rookie receiver Geremy Davis. It was the umpteenth mention of the word, a word Coughlin learned and studied heavily during an offseason.
“He’s been saying that a lot,” Davis said of the term, which refers to those who headed into young adulthood around the year 2000. “He’s really trying to connect with us.”
Who says you can’t teach the NFL’s oldest coach a few new tricks? In an effort to return the Giants to prominence, Coughlin, 68, launched a massive study into today’s younger, tech-obsessed athlete. That led him to a revitalized brand of coaching, melding his hard-nosed, rub-some-dirt-on-it mentality with a new, more relaxed approach.
“A new, changed, scientific approach,” he said with a smile, delivering the slightest of jabs to those (cough, ex-Giant Walter Thurmond) who claim he cares little for sports science.
Technology has changed today’s athlete drastically, Coughlin said.
“They’ve grown up in this revolution of cell phones and computers and all those things,” he said. “And they’re very very good at it. But some of the things I’m interested in is whether or not their communication skills go any further than texting.
“It’s important to know a little bit more about them,” he added, “even in terms of their focus and concentration, because you have to do (something) to catch them.”
So Coughlin has rebuilt his style for his millennials, with those jokes in meetings and shorter practices. Music occasionally blares from the loudspeakers during onfield warm-ups. And, more and more, practices are ending not with traditional football drills, but with sillier games.
Last Saturday, offensive and defensive linemen competed in a punt fielding contest. On Wednesday, defensive backs and receivers battled (if you could call it that) to see who could hit the crossbar on a pass.
These games adhere to Coughlin’s regimented style, labeled “team competition” on the practice itinerary. And the coach stressed that his practice schedule adjustments are “not lighthearted; they’re competitive,” forcing players to compete in new
circumstances.
Not performing has consequences: the games pit offense against defense with the losers dropping for 25 push-ups.
“And after some practices,” said Davis, “you can (do the push-ups), but you’d rather not.”
“I like the competition,” added offensive lineman Justin Pugh. “I think it’s something that’s fun. It adds a little spice to the practice.”
That spice was missing from previous Giants camps. Last year’s season prep was an all-work-and-no-play affair, said center Weston Richburg, perhaps in part because the club was installing a new offensive system and could afford no goofiness.
Now, there’s more freedom for that, and players appreciate their coach relaxing ever so slightly.
“He keeps talking about millennials and the Internet,” Pugh said. “I guess he’s trying to appeal to the younger generation . . . I’ve heard stories, but I don’t know him like the (military-style coach of) Michael Strahan and Tiki Barber.”
The young Giants respect Coughlin’s attempt to connect.
“He’s been coaching for 100 years, so it’s funny to see him (relax) because he’s an oldschool guy,” said Richburg. “But I love that about him.”
Coughlin seems to love the idea that he’s found a new way to drive his team to compete and improve. And these days, he’s using his extra practice games to his advantage as much as possible. That’s why the Giants followed Wednesday’s hit-the-crossbar game with a place-kicking showdown on Thursday.
“To be honest with you, (the field-goal kicking game) was because the day before was not very good,” he said. “So I didn’t want to leave that taste in their mouths.”
Because some things about Coughlin never change.