The Giants yesterday called a press conference and a fiery team meeting broke out.

And there was no doubt who was in charge.

“What we must all be about right now, immediately, is the restoration of pride,” Tom Coughlin said, loudly, clearly and passionately. “We must replace despair with hope and return the energy and the passion to New York Giant football.”

With that, the Giants officially entered into a brave new world, presided over by Coughlin, their blood-and-guts new head coach, who arrived as advertised, promising changes in just about everything this franchise had come to know in seven years under Jim Fassel.

“I believe that the young men who represent the New York Giants want strong leadership,” said Coughlin, who promised to provide just that. “They want clear and stated objectives. They want superb detail and organization. And [they want] discipline, which provides us all with the courage and the confidence to win in this league in the fourth quarter.”

Whew.

“Music to our ears,” said John Mara, the Giants executive vice president.

The Giants chose Coughlin over three other candidates – coordinators Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel of the Patriots and Lovie Smith of the Rams – because of his previous head-coaching experience in Jacksonville. What they got is a 57-year old, no-nonsense general who is all business all the time, signed to a four-year, $12 million contract to clean up the mess left behind by a 4-12 season.

Looking as authoritative as a commander, wearing an American flag pin on his left lapel, Coughlin made a smashing first impression and no doubt sent a warning to any player who might have reached a comfort level under Fassel.

Try this one on for size. When asked about the Giants roster, Coughlin said he needed more study time but was aware of the injury factor and the number of players who ended the season on injured reserve. “Which is a cancer, let’s face it,” he said. “It is something that has to be corrected. It is a mental thing, I believe, as much as anything else.”

Nothing is as it was. Coughlin favors hard, long practices in full pads, especially in training camp. He made it clear he’s not going to linger long with the media. All this delights the Giants front office.

“He’s just got an almost blind commitment to winning,” GM Ernie Accorsi said. “Everybody can say that, you have to see it and feel it, I think we saw it and felt it.”

When pressed to compare the new coach with the old one, Accorsi said, “I don’t want to say anything that reflects on Jim. Jim had a good run here, but I think every team needs the things that [Coughlin] represents.”

Co-owner Wellington Mara admitted that during the search process, “I always was rooting for Tom, just because I knew him better than the others.” He likened Coughlin to a drill instructor. Asked if he felt the players will be nervous with Coughlin on the scene, Mara added “I hope they are.”

While stating, “We all grow, we adapt, we study, we learn,” Coughlin clearly is not going to go soft after his firing by the Jaguars last year. He says he has pared away some of his strict rules – assistant coaches can now wear sunglasses at practice – but is adamant that obeying his commandments is the way it will be.

That means you’d better sit up straight during his team meeting.

“That I believe in,” he said. “I have spent a lifetime trying to improve concentration and focus. I don’t know how a guy who’s slouching can pay attention to what is going on.”

When a cell phone rang during his press conference, Coughlin stopped in mid-sentence. “That’s a big-time fine right there, a huge fine,” he said without hesitation.