ALBANY – The other day, while sitting around with a bunch of his new teammates, Renaldo Wynn glanced up and saw Tom Coughlin standing before him. What happened next absolutely stunned the veteran defensive end.
Coughlin asked Wynn what he thought about the Giants’ training-camp set-up and how everything was going.
“It wasn’t even about football!” Wynn said yesterday, a look of wonderment on his face and an incredulous tone in his voice. “It was like ‘Hey, how you doing?’ But you see the sincerity. It’s not like he’s just coming up to you to say something just to say something. I can get used to this right here.”
Way back when, Wynn got used to another Coughlin. The same with linebacker Danny Clark. The two have a combined 21 years in the NFL with nine different teams and both were escorted into the league by Coughlin, who drafted Wynn (first round out of Notre Dame, 1997) and Clark (seventh round, Illinois, 2000) when he ran the show in Jacksonville.
The personality adjustments Coughlin made last season when the Giants stunned the world with their Super Bowl victory are well documented, but for Wynn, 33, and Clark, 31, seeing the changes up close is a revelation. They cannot believe this is the same man they played for, the same coach who this off-season summoned them back to come play for him again, this time as additions to a championship defense.
“It was a rough road in our first interaction; I don’t mean in a negative way. It was just tough, and a lot of guys would run from it,” said Clark, who is vying for the starting weak-side linebacker spot.
“Me, I looked it in the eyes and said this guy gave me my first opportunity and he’s a standup coach, he’s successful, it wasn’t hard to sell. He said to me on my visit ‘You’re deciding between Houston and here? C’mon, that’s Houston, an expansion team, we’re the best organization in the world.’ ”
It did not take long for Clark to understand the breadth of Coughlin’s transition. Clark recalled Coughlin’s training camp with the Jaguars as “rough and brutal and Coach was just the same.” That is not what he’s seen with the Giants.
“This is a good deal, the best training camp I’ve been a part of,” Clark said. “It’s player friendly. He takes care of us on so many levels, he makes sure he gets the work he needs out of us. This is not the guy who drafted me in 2000. He’s definitely evolved and understands the game has changed a bit and players have also.”
Of course, players as they mature also gain a greater perspective of Coughlin. Clark said his oldest stepson is deciding on colleges and that Coughlin gave him some advice based on his own children’s experiences. That’s not all.
“We were talking about where we’re from, and I said I think I have Irish background, he said he thinks he has Irish background, he urged me to go over to Ellis Island to see where our people came in,” Clark said. “Things of that nature I would have never dreamt of speaking to Tom Coughlin about. It’s definitely manifested itself in something special. I think that’s one of the reasons why this team has been successful.”
Told of the impression he made, Coughlin smiled and said, “He’s a little older too now, you know.”