Tom Coughlin hasn’t had to clock in with the Jacksonville Jaguars for over a month but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been keeping himself busy within the football community. Last week, it was revealed that he was advising new Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule, who is a former assistant of Coughlin’s and is in the process of building his coaching staff.
This week, he had an appearance on Zach Gelb’s radio show on CBS Sports, where he told Gelb he wants to continue working in the league and is hoping to one day find another job in the NFL.
“I love the game,” Coughlin said. “I love the people involved in the game. And to continue to be involved in some capacity would be a very good thing for me, because I need to be active, I need to be busy. I want to be busy. So the routine is very good for me. It’s been that way for a lot of years. And we’ll just see what prevails.”
Transcribed by Pro Football Talk
Coughlin was fired by the Jags Dec. 18 in wake of the NFLPA grievances that were filed against the organization during his time there. The situation that particularly was brought to the light was the team’s decision to fine former pass-rusher Dante Fowler Jr. over $700,000 for rehabbing away from the team’s facility one offseason.
Running back Leonard Fournette also revealed that he won a grievance last month, which allowed him to get a $99,000 fine rescinded for his conduct in 2018’s season finale against the Houston Texans.
Coughlin was also asked about the things he felt went wrong with the team while he was there, and as we’ve stressed, he felt the issues mostly revolved around the quarterback position.
“There’s a lot of factors involved,” Coughlin said. “Obviously, there’s no excuses. But injuries take their play. Blake Bortles had some issues in 2018, and then after that obviously we got into the new quarterback situation and so on and so forth.”
When Gelb gave Coughlin an opportunity to speak about his recent run-in with the NFLPA, he elected to pass on the offer stating that it was not necessary.
“I don’t need any opportunity to talk about that,” Coughlin told Gelb.
It’s not shocking that Coughlin doesn’t want to retire from football but it’s hard to envision Coughlin finding work in another front office after the league witnessed the heat he caused towards the Jags’ front office from the NFLPA. Then again, he’s so respected as a coach maybe someone will give him a minor role in the league when the dust settles.