INDIANAPOLIS — Tom Coughlin is the Giants’ boss, and Lord knows he is going to let the players hear it if they aren’t getting it done. The coach’s metamorphosis that got him and the Giants to a Super Bowl four years ago, and puts him in another five days from now, has been well-documented, but that doesn’t mean the 65-year old coach had gone all touchy-feely.
“I still get yelled at,’’ offensive line coach Pat Flaherty said. “There’s two things that get me yelled at, when we don’t run the ball well enough and we don’t pass protect well enough. Other than that I’m in great shape.’’
The Giants are in great shape with Coughlin and, as it turns out, he is in great shape with a staff that churns out game plans, develops players and staunchly believes in his ability to make it all work.
“You respect him for the way he approaches this thing and how hard he works,’’ Mike Pope, the wizened tight ends coach, said. “He’s the model for all of us. Nobody’s going to spend more hours there than he does, nobody’s going to look at more film than he does.’’
COMPLETE GIANTS SUPER BOWL COVERAGE
Coughlin yesterday was seated behind a raised platform in the center of the action during the collective overkill that is Super Bowl XLVI Media Day because, after all, he’s the head coach and for better or worse, it all revolves around him. Far off to the side, nearly tucked to the left of the Patriots end zone inside Lucas Oil Stadium, were assistant coaches who abide by Coughlin’s decree that they are seen and not heard.
Just as he receives the brunt of the criticism when things go wrong, Coughlin currently is being hailed for his steady hand in guiding the Giants from a 7-7 record into Super Bowl XLVI, where the Patriots will be waiting on Sunday.
“He’s really got a pulse on us, got a pulse on the players,’’ cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta said. “He’s done a great job of adapting, molding, doing what he needs to do to push the right buttons, to get not only the staff to perform but the players to perform. Not overreact. It’s easy when things go bad to push the panic button. He didn’t do that at all. Never has.’’
The four-game losing streak that dropped the Giants to 6-6 figured to suck the life out of this season, but Coughlin kept breathing.
“To really be able to resurrect a team, that’s the hardest thing in the world,’’ Pope said. “You’re not dealing with confidence when you lose four in a row, you got to say you believe in what we’re doing. Well, those guys are looking at this with a crooked eye, OK good but why aren’t we winning? To be able to resurrect from those ashes to be here today is remarkable.’’
David Merritt, the coach in charge of the safeties, like Flaherty and Pope has been on Coughlin’s staff since his arrival with the Giants in 2004 and sees someone who is a rock of stability.
“He has never changed,’’ Merritt said. “This man, although he may do it at home to his wife, Judy, and I’m quite sure they have had a lot of sessions they have discussed back and forth, but as far as his approach to the staff and the players it has never changed. Maybe his voice has gotten more boisterous, maybe a little more sense of urgency, but he has never changed.’’
Flaherty recalls that his very first staff meeting with Coughlin brought him back to his days coaching at Penn State.
“It reminded me of the days I worked for Joe Paterno,’’ Flaherty said. “That’s a shock for some people but it wasn’t for me. I’m talking about detail.’’
Coughlin busts into the Hall of Fame discussion if the Giants win their second Super Bowl in four years, an achievement that would be born out of his ability to adapt but not change.
“The guy does not deviate from what he believes in and what he preaches to these players,’’ Pope said. “I think he’s probably called old-school because some of the things the modern player doesn’t necessarily want to hear, they kind of grew up in a land of more freedoms and more individuality. He has held the course.’’
It is a course that, again, runs through the Super Bowl.
paul.schwartz@nypost.com