Tom Coughlin snubbed from this year’s Hall of Fame ballot

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has released its 2025 finalists, and legendary New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is not the coaching finalist. Instead, Mike Holmgren will get that honor:

Holmgren won Super Bowl XXXI as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. He also won two Super Bowls as an offensive coordinator under Bill Walsh and George Seifert with the San Francisco 49ers. His career record is 174-122 (.588 winning percentage).

Holmgren was the head coach of the Packers from 1992 to 1998 and the Seattle Seahawks from 1999 to 2008. He took Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander to Super Bowl XL, where the Pittsburgh Steelers prevailed.

Coughlin was a two-time Super Bowl Champion head coach with the New York Giants (XLII; XLVI), and he won a Super Bowl XXV as the Giants’ wide receivers coach. He finished his career 182-157 (.537 winning percentage) and won Coach of the Year in 1996, just one season after establishing the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise.

In eight seasons at Jacksonville, Coughlin helmed the most successful expansion team in league history. The Jaguars made four consecutive playoff appearances and went to two AFC Championship games, with Coughlin leading the way. Since Coughlin left after 2002, Jacksonville has had four playoff appearances with one AFC Championship loss (2017).

Coughlin also thwarted NFL history by conquering the undefeated 2007 New England Patriots, led by arguably the best coach and quarterback in league history. Moreover, the Giants became one of the worst franchises in the NFL over the last decade after Coughlin was replaced.

Several esteemed coaches are in waiting alongside Coughlin: Mike Shanahan, George Seifert, and Chuck Knox, among others. Coughlin is one of just two eligible coaches with 175 career wins and multiple Super Bowl victories. He retired from coaching nine years ago and is still waiting — hopefully, that wait will cease at the decade mark.