GIANT NOTES
Tiki Barber has spoken to friends who’ve played for Tom Coughlin and he knows what to expect the first time they sit down together.
“I was told he’s going to sit me down and tell me there’s one thing I need your assurance with and you know what it is,” Barber said yesterday.
He knows what it is. The fumble thing.
Coughlin during his introductory press conference was non-committal on player evaluations but did have this to say about Barber’s fumbling problem: “He is a very talented young man. It is obviously something he has to overcome, but we will help him.”
Barber says Jim Fassel was hard on him about the fumbles, but the harsh words came behind closed doors.
“Just because it wasn’t out there everyone assumes it was lax, but it wasn’t,” Barber said. “Jim would criticize guys like me in private.”
As for the new era about to start, Barber said he feels like a kid about to enter high school, hearing all this mean stuff about his new teacher. “You don’t know what to expect,” he said. “You’re nervous, excited.”
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News that Joe Gibbs was lured back into coaching by the Redskins stunned the Giants.
“We had heard a rumor that they were going to ‘shock the world,’ ” executive vice president John Mara said. “I don’t know what that means in connection with that franchise. This is pretty good.”
Mara said the Giants did not contact Gibbs. “He was not someone we thought about,” he said. “We’re happy with the guy we got. He’s been out of [coaching] so long he wasn’t on a lot of people’s radar screens.”
One of Coughlin’s candidates for defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, signed with the Redskins. Dick Jauron and Bill Callahan (interviewing with Nebraska) are other possibilities.
One player who cannot be happy about the hiring of Coughlin is kicker Mike Hollis, who spent the entire season on the injured list. Late in the 2002 season playing for the Jaguars, Hollis said, “It’s very hard to come to work happy” playing under Coughlin and added, “He lays down the rules but he’s not specific enough with the rules and then guys get fined for silly, petty things.”
Coughlin’s response? “Mike was a young man who had a lot of anger and it surfaced sometimes.”
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GM Ernie Accorsi did speak with LSU coach Nick Saban before hiring Coughlin. “I think there was some interest expressed but as far as I was concerned it was too little, too late, and we had a conviction on Tom,” Mara said.
Coughlin will install several new rules that limit media access. Practices will be closed and assistant coaches cannot talk to the media during the season, except during training camp and the bye week.
