YES Network.com

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ⁈“ John Mara and Jonathan
Tisch always wanted to retain Tom Coughlin as the Giants⁈⁚ head coach.
After a series of discussions this week involving the three men, the
owners are convinced Coughlin is the best man for the job. Mara and
Tisch announced today that Coughlin will return for a fourth season on
the sideline in 2007.

⁈Å"Tom Coughlin is our coach for 2007 and hopefully for many years
after that,⁈  Mara, the Giants⁈⁚ president and chief executive officer,
said on a conference call.

⁈Å"In all of my discussions, and our discussions with the players,
it⁈⁚s my sense that they are craving the stability that is now afforded
by the coach⁈⁚s remaining,⁈  said Tisch, the team⁈⁚s treasurer.

In their conversations, the owners were most interested in listening
to Coughlin⁈⁚s vision for the future. Mara and Tisch are displeased that
a 6-2 start dissolved into an 8-8 finish and then a second consecutive
first-round playoff loss. But after listening to Coughlin⁈⁚s strategy,
they believe he can lead the Giants to the ultimate goal of winning a
Super Bowl.

⁈Å"Much of those discussions were having him tell us what his plan was
going forward to make us better and to make us as successful a team as
we all want to be,⁈  Mara said. ⁈Å"We were satisfied with how he plans to
move forward and we remain convinced that he is the right man for the
job to get us to the position that we all want to be in.⁈ 

⁈Å"It is our strong believe that consistency, stability, loyalty and
sticking by your people are extremely important,⁈  Tisch said. ⁈Å"Tom has
demonstrated and articulated a vision for the future. It is one that we
agree with, one that we support, and one that we embrace.⁈ 

Neither of the owners would discuss specifics.

⁈Å"He knew that obviously we were not happy finishing 8-8,
particularly after starting 6-2,⁈  Mara said. ⁈Å"There were some problems
that the team had during the course of the year and⁈ ¦how he was going to
address those, and whether he planned on making any changes going
forward, but I don⁈⁚t want to get into any specifics on that. We
addressed our concerns to him. He responded. We were satisfied with his
response. Those discussions will probably continue during the course of
the week. But at the conclusion of the discussions that we had
yesterday we told him that we were satisfied with what his vision for
the future is and that we very much wanted him to continue to be our
head coach.⁈ 

Coughlin conceded a key to the team⁈⁚s improvement is getting better
play from quarterback Eli Manning, who played inconsistently this
season.

⁈Å"I think (the plan) is broad in scope, but one is my belief that Eli
will improve,⁈  Coughlin said. ⁈Å"He is the quarterback of the future, and
certainly we have work to do there in consistency, in offensive point
production, along those lines, but I⁈⁚m very confident that we will
achieve in that area. I think you realize that the picture is brighter
than it was when I first came on board, with the two playoff
appearances. The competitive nature of our league is a most difficult
one. I do think that improvement is in the offing. I think we get some
of these people back, we add a strong draft class, we add a few quality
people in terms of the opportunities extended to us in free agency. I
think we move forward, and so everything that we talk about is all
about improving our football team.⁈ 

Mara conceded that Manning⁈⁚s development ⁈Å"was a major part of our discussions."

⁈Å"Eli needs to play more consistently," Mara added. "He would be the
first one to admit that. Something that I have been concerned about is
his play over the second half of the season. There is nobody in this
building that doubts his ability and that feels like he is not the guy
to lead us to where we want to get to. But he has to play more
consistently. We know the talent is there because we see him do it.⁈ 

Coughlin is 25-23 in the regular season and 0-2 in the postseason
with the Giants. He was 6-10 in his Giants debut season in 2004, then
led the team to an 11-5 record and the NFC East championship in 2005.
The season ended with a 23-0 Wild Card playoff loss to the Carolina
Panthers. Last Sunday, the 8-8 Giants were eliminated from the playoffs
when David Akers⁈⁚ 38-yard field goal as time expired sent them to a
23-20 defeat in Philadelphia.

Mara said Coughlin was not told the team must finish with a specific
record or again reach the playoffs for the coach to continue in his
position beyond the 2007 season.

⁈Å"I don⁈⁚t believe in doing that,⁈  Mara said. ⁈Å"He knows that we need
to do better, that our expectations are much higher. I think that we
have enough talent on this roster to do better. We certainly have some
holes that we need to fill in the offseason.

⁈Å"I want to judge him based on the totality of his work and based on
the circumstances that surrounded him during the season. This year, in
particular ⁈“ everybody knows about the number of injuries that we had.
I have read out there, ⁈