Tom Coughlin joins Jaguars as an executive 15 years after leaving as coach

Former New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin has been away from the sidelines for a year. However, his absence from football is over. The Jaguars are bringing back the team’s first head coach as an executive.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Coughlin is joining the team as the executive vice president of football operations. The Jaguars made it official on Monday night.

Coughlin’s influence will also come as part of a trio at the helm of the Jaguars with Doug Marrone hired as head coach and general manager Dave Caldwell extended two seasons.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a statement via Ian Rapoport, “I am honored to welcome Tom Coughlin back to Jacksonville, where winning was customary under his leadership. I know he expects the same in his return to head our football operations, and that’s good news for us and Jaguars fans everywhere.”

Before he became the Giants head coach in 2004, Coughlin was the head coach for the Jaguars from 1995-2002 — the team’s first eight seasons in the NFL. He was 68–60 in the regular season and took the team to the playoffs for four straight seasons, from 1996 through 1999, including two trips to the conference championship game.

Coughlin experienced most of his success in New York where he coached there 2004-2015. He won two Super Bowls there, following the 2007 and 2011 seasons, with current Giants quarterback Eli Manning and an aggressive defense.

Coughlin was an old-fashioned head coach who held his players accountable, and wanted them to be five minutes early to team meetings. How that style will transition into an executive role remains to be seen.

Coughlin likes his offenses to be balanced. While he did have Manning as his quarterback, Coughlin loved to run the ball and play physical defense. When the rushing attack was clicking on all cylinders, he allowed Manning to look for big plays.

For the most part, opposing defenses struggled with defining New York’s offense while Coughlin was there. The Giants had good players like Tiki Barber, Brandon Jacobs, Jeremy Shockey, Amani Toomer, and Plaxico Burress.

In fact, Coughlin had a lot of success with today’s top-notch players like Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz.

Defensively, the Giants were great under Coughlin. Their front seven could rush the passer and clog up rushing lanes. He had great players like Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Antonio Pierce.

Not only does Coughlin know the Jaguars organization really well, there are also players on that team whom he can build around.

The Jaguars have talented players on defense like Jalen Ramsey and Malik Jackson, and finished the 2016 season near the top of the NFL in defensive rankings.

However, Coughlin will have his work cut out for him on offense because quarterback Blake Bortles struggled throughout the 2016 season. His accuracy was inconsistent, and he kept throwing back-breaking interceptions.