Tom Coughlin will be back to coach the Giants next season. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
The New York Giants confirmed Tuesday that coach Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese will be back in 2015.
Coughlin has won two Super Bowl with the Giants, but the team has missed the playoffs the past three seasons.
Speaking at a season-ending news conference, Giants president and CEO John Mara said, “I still believe we can win with him. If I didn’t believe that, then it wouldn’t have mattered how many Super Bowls he won in the past; it would be senseless to go forward with him.
“But I’m looking at how hard the players play for him and how attentive they are, and I look at his energy level and how much he still wants to win and how driven he is.”
The Giants finished the season with a 6-10 record that Mara called embarrassing. They opened the season 3-2 but lost their next seven games.
Mara pointed to the play of the defense as disappointing this season but said any changes in the coaching staff would be left up to Coughlin.
“It’s been a very difficult year for our fans. It’s been an even more difficult year for me because I don’t stomach this very well,” Mara said. “But I do think there is reason for optimism and I think we’ll be a much better team next season.”
Coughlin was hired in 2004, the year the Giants drafted quarterback Eli Manning. The 68-year-old Coughlin, one of 13 coaches to win the Super Bowl more than once, has gone 96-80 in his 11 seasons with the Giants.
“I still believe very strongly in Jerry Reese,” Mara said. “We still believe in this coach, this staff and our organization.”
