A major announcement in the recent sports news cycle was the New York Giants hiring their new head coach John Harbaugh. Another important, yet seemingly overlooked, announcement involved their former head coach Tom Coughlin. It also involves an ECHL team and a great promotion in his former place of doing business.
On Friday January 23rd the Jacksonville Icemen, the ECHL affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres, will induct a life size bobble head of Tom Coughlin into the Jacksonville Sports Hall of Fame. The first 1,000 fans will be given replica bobble heads of the much smaller variety. That evening will also include an in person appearance by Coughlin as the icemen take on the Savannah Ghost pirates, who are the ECHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers.
The New York Giants are the team Coughlin is most known for being head coach of. During his tenure from 2004-2015 as head coach he won two Super Bowls, both against the New England Patriots. That includes the Giants improbable victory in Super Bowl 42 when the Patriots entered undefeated in the regular season and playoffs seeking to win a championship with a perfect record for only the second time in NFL history. The underdog Giants won in what remains one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.
Prior to that Coughlin was the inaugural head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, hence why he’s being inducted into the city’s sports hall of fame. The expansion Jaguars made the AFC championship game in only their second season and added another conference championship appearance with Coughlin. He was fired after the 2002 NFL season.
Even though most of his career was spent in New York whose metro area is home to three NHL teams, including sharing East Rutherford, New Jersey with the New Jersey Devils prior to their 2007 move to the Prudential Center in Newark, there seems to be little overlap between hockey and Tom Coughlin. An article from 2015 has him mentioning how his grandson plays roller hockey. While his former quarterback Eli Manning has been seen at numerous area hockey games since retirement this might be a new experience for his old coach.
The Jacksonville Sports Hall of Fame is a gallery at the Icemen’s home arena of VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena that honors local sports legends. Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, who has since joined the ownership group of other ECHL franchises such as the Tahoe Knight Monsters, was the first inductee. The life size bobble head is common place. The mascot of Jacksonville’s former ECHL team, the Lizard Kings, was a 2025 inductee. Inductions, and the surrounding activities, appear to be controlled by the Icemen’s ownership group of Zawyer Sports.