Former Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin Takes Another Step Closer to Hall of Fame

Coughlin is one of four semifinalists in the coaching category with a Giants connection.

Tom Coughlin gives a thumbs up as a friend arrives to to play in the 30th annual Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Celebrity Golf Tournament Monday May 19, 2025 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla. | Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced a list of nine coaching candidates who landed on the semifinalist list from which a blue-ribbon committee will choose one candidate for enshrinement into the Hall’s 2026 class.

Of the nine-man list, four have connections to the New York Giants franchise, the list headlined by Tom Coughlin, who was the team’s head coach from 2004-2015.

Coughlin, who in 1996 as head coach of the Jaguars was named Coach of the Year, led the Giants to their last two Super Bowl championships (XLII and XLVI).

He was also a part of Giants Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells’ staff from 1988-90, where, as the team’s receivers coach, he won a Super Bowl championship (XXV) with the 1990 team.

During his 12-year career as Giants head coach, Coughlin posted a regular-season record of 170-150 (.531) and a postseason record of 12-7.  

He, with Eli Manning as the team’s franchise quarterback, led the Giants to the postseason five times, including four consecutive years from 2005-08, the 2007 season of course being the team’s stunning upset of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

The other candidates with Giants ties include:

• Bill Belichick, who was the defensive coordinator for the Super Bowl XXI and XXV winning Giants teams before solidifying his legacy as head coach of the New England Patriots from 2000-23
• Dan Reeves, who headed the Giants from 1993-96 after a lengthy and successful stint as head coach of the Denver Broncos
• Marty Schottenheimer, the Giants’ linebackers coach from 1975-76 and their defensive coordinator in 1977, made his biggest mark as a head coach for teams such as the Browns, Chiefs, and Chargers. 

The other candidates on the nine-man list are Mike Holmgren (Packers, Seahawks), Chuck Knox (Rams, Bills, Steelers), Buddy Parker (Chicago Cardinals, Lions, and Steelers), George Seifert (49ers), and Mike Shanahan (Raiders, Broncos, and Commanders).

Coughlin, Holmgren, Knox, Reeves, Schottenheimer, Seifert, and Shanahan all made the semifinalist list in 2025. Holmgren was chosen as the finalist. Reeves was a Finalist in 2020.

The committee will narrow down the list to one finalist for possible election on November 18.

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