[EmpireWF]

Paul Schwartz of the NY Post details a Tom Coughlin who is "cornered" and forced into change if he hopes to keep his job as head coach of the football Giants.

Not his core beliefs about football. Not his hairstyle. Not his dedication to discipline or his abhorrence of tardiness or his old-school values. He had to change himself.

Giants ownership is not demanding a kinder and gentler Tom Coughlin, but it stipulates a more reasonable Tom Coughlin. The man in charge does not have to be revered, but the acrimony leveled at Coughlin down the stretch of last season did no one any good. The perception of Coughlin was as a beleaguered captain at the helm of a ship gone adrift, complete with the requisite mutinous crew.

...

The way Coughlin during and after an 8-8 season was lambasted in the media with an almost gleeful rush to kick him out the door wounded him, but not as deeply as the strain he endured while awaiting his fate. It took ownership three days after the playoff loss in Philadelphia to announce Coughlin would return - with a modest and telling one-year contract extension through 2008. For a proud, veteran coach, it was an unseemly public trial.

I can't speak for all Giants fans but it sure does seem like this season may turn out to be a lame duck year as the Coughlin era rides itself into the sunset.

I don't know about anyone else, but I doubt you can teach an old pony new tricks.

[Lefty Noob]

If they wanted this much change from Coughlin, they should've just changed coaches. You know what you're getting when you hire a guy like this, and if that's not what you want, it's best to get a new guy who fits what you're looking for. Makes a lot more sense than trying to re-shape Coughlin, which is like jamming a square peg into a round hole.

[Bette]

This team really needed the discipline at first. Maybe after that, all he had to do was lighten up a bit.