I really enjoyed this even though I’m not a huge football or giants fan, so I’m sure anyone who is a fan of both will love it even more. The pace worked well - I always enjoy detailed game recaps - and I enjoyed the individual, in-depth descriptions of each player.

A Giant Win by Tom Coughlin with Greg Hanlon
Forward by Eli Manning

As a Giants fan, it was an honor to be selected to review this book which tells the story of how the ‘07 New York Giants beat the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. The events are chronicled by Coach Coughlin and are woven in with stories of other games from the season as well as other events throughout his own life that helped him coach this team to victory. I really enjoyed learning more about Coughlin and his personal life. He mentions many of his personal values which he always brought to every team that he worked with. The book was also very insightful as to how the game of football worked. Coughlin mentioned many details that I wouldn’t have normally paid attention to as a fan.

I really enjoyed that Coach Coughlin also talked about many of the players on the team. He shared his experiences with them both on and off the field which really gave you a sense of how this team operated as a family. Coughlin also talked about his own family and how they helped him become the person he is today.

Throughout the book, Coughlin also mentions the Jay Fund, which is a foundation he started to help families with children who are battling cancer. Coughlin started the fund when one of his players from Coaching in Boston College passed away after an 8 month battle with leukemia. After watching Jay’s family struggle and being there for them during those 8 months, Coughlin vowed that he would help families battling childhood cancer. Over the years, many of his players have helped with fundraises for the foundation and still come back to this day to help.

Coach Coughlin ended the book talking about one of the hardest parts of his life. That is taking care of his wife, Judy, who was diagnosed with a rare form of palsy essentially losing her ability to take care of herself or even speak. I know firsthand how hard it can be to be a caregiver to a loved one. I watch my mom look after her parents almost every day. Coughlin wanted to share this part of his life as he wanted other caregivers to not feel alone. He wanted them to feel seen and heard and that he knows what they are going through. He also hopes that more can be done to aid the millions of caregivers across the country who often don’t get the help they need caring for their loved ones.

This book was definitely a MUST read for GIants fans and all football fans. I would like to thank NetGalley, Tom Coughlin, and Grand Central Publishing for allowing me to read this advanced copy of A Giant Win! It was great being able to relive the greatest Super Bowl ever through the eyes of the coach who helped lead the team to victory!

Loved learning about Tom and his coaching ways. Great insight into building championship teams with the giants.

Former New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin has produced an unexpectedly enjoyable and revealing memoir with his new book, A Giant Win.

Coughlin was notoriously grouchy during his run as a coach, but in this book he engages with readers about his life and specifically his Super XLII champion Giants team and the Super Bowl game where they knocked off the previously undefeated New England Patriots in one of the greatest upsets in NFL history.

In addition to details about his own life and his coaching life, Coughlin fondly dives into the backstories of several of his prominent players in a way that likely would have been impossible for him in the midst of coaching these same men.

The book moves quickly and stand still for too long in any one spot, probably at least in part due to the structure of building it around the progression of the Super Bowl game itself. Giants fans will be sure to love the book, but any fan of pro football will find much to enjoy.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Giant Win is a perfectly serviceable “football athlete/coach memoir” that isn’t going to bring any earth-shattering revelations to the table but is probably a pleasant walk down memory lane for any Giants fans.

The biggest wrinkle here is the primary focus on the Giants’ especially unlikely 2008 Super Bowl victory over the seemingly unstoppable New England Patriots. Coughlin structures his book around the game and then uses events and players from the game as springboards for some longer passages giving everything more context. While his media portrayal as a strict disciplinarian was slightly overblown (at least as far as he tells it, but he’s probably right), Coughlin did run a decently tight ship and if there were any crazy acts of debauchery committed by the 2007 Giants they aren’t depicted here. Rather, you get some largely positive reflections on players like Michael Strahan and Eli Manning who were crucial to the championship and how Coughlin and his coaches prepared for and coached one of the best Super Bowls ever.

Coughlin enjoyed a long and mostly-successful coaching career across college and professional football and although you learn a little bit about his younger years there’s not much about his tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars or even his second Super Bowl victory with the Giants in 2012. Maybe that will be another book or something, but I would have appreciated trading a bit of depth for breadth. The latter part of the book does deal with Coughlin caring for his wife as she battled the devastating brain disorder progressive supranuclear palsy near the end of her life, which was emotionally powerful and hopefully at least a little therapeutic for Coughlin.

I grew up in New Jersey and was a senior in high school in 2008 and though I wasn’t a Giants fan I did have some affinity for the team (only psychopaths or people from Boston root for the Patriots). If you’re considering the book you’re probably a Giants fan and if so you’ll enjoy it and find it pleasant and nostalgic. A lot of it will be familiar to you, but there is probably enough material that is new/you forgot about to make it a fun read and worth the time investment.

7/10

I'm a lifelong Giants fan, and I remember this game fondly, so I was excited to read this book. Super Bowl XLII is considered by many of the greatest upsets, as well as one of the best games, in the NFL ... leading up to the 18-1 Giant Loss season for the New England Patriots. This book is a detailed account by Coach Tom Coughlin of the win, as well as the individual players who contributed to the winning team. It's quite a detailed recap of the game. I loved the fact that Eli Manning wrote the forward. I also appreciated the information on Coughlin's Jay Fund and the final chapter on Judy, Tom's wife, who recently passed. This is a book NY Giants fans, and perhaps football fans, in general, will enjoy.

As a lifelong NY Giants fan, born in NY and raised in NJ, and a Boston resident since August 2007, I am very aware of the game that ruined the New England Patriots quest for a perfect season. And I’m accustomed to people calling it a fluke. Reading Tom Coughlin’s A Giant Win was an enjoyable experience for me - reliving Super Bowl XLII, while learning more about the play calling, the players, and the practices/games leading up to the historic win. And cementing that it was not a fluke but a team who worked and was coached to defeat the undefeated. The book’s forward is written by Eli Manning, MVP of the legendary game. If you have a Giants fan in your life (or anyone who appreciates football coaching), this would make an excellent holiday present, as it comes out 12/6. Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. I’ve already preordered copies for my fellow Big Blue friends and family. LET’S GO GIANTS!!

Super Bowl XLII has been considered by many to be not only the best Super Bowl in the history of the game but also one of the biggest upsets in professional football. The New England Patriots had won their previous 18 games that season and looked to become the first NFL team to win 19 games in a perfect season. However, the New York Giants, a team that New England defeated during the regular season, ended those dreams with a stunning 17-14 victory. The coach of that team, Tom Coughlin, writes about that game and the many players who contributed to the victory in this book.

If a recap of the game is what a reader wants, they will certainly get that. Nearly every play is covered by Coughlin, and especially each series and how it was important to determining the outcome is discussed. Of course, there are extra pages devoted to some of the more famous plays such as the “helmet catch” by David Tyree and the winning touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burris.

Speaking of Manning, he writes the forward for the book. His football career and a little of his life is covered by Coughlin in the early portion of the book. Coughlin does this throughout the book for nearly every player on that Giants team. After discussing a few plays in which certain players made key blocks, gains or tackles, Coughlin will talk about that player and how he contributed to the Giants’ success – not only in that game but for the season or their time with the team.

Coughlin also discusses his own career from bouncing around various assistant coaching jobs to becoming the head coach at Boston College as well as his time as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Giants. He also includes pages about his family (which included a Giants offensive lineman, Chris Snee, who is his son-in-law) which gives a little bit of a memoir feel, but this book is certainly not one of those. It instead is a very good look at the coaches, players and events of one of the most memorable games played in NFL history.

I wish to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin has written a book about the Giants' surprising and memorable win in the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots in 2007 (which, to be clear, capped the 2006 NFL season).

Veteran fans of the team might read that bit of news and mutter to themselves ... "Again?"

Coughlin has gone through this territory before. Immediately following that championship, Coughlin wrote "A Team To Believe In." It appeared in the bookstores in September, 2007, and at 224 pages it checks in as a quick recap of the season. Now one of the great rules of publishing in sports books is that if a team from the New York City area wins a title, books will quickly follow. The New York market is huge, of course, and the parts of the publishing industry have been known to be carried away about such things. (Was there anyone on the New York Knicks roster in 1970s who didn't write a book?)

Coughlin won another championship after that, and has since retired. Apparently he has decided to go back to the well on that first title, as he's written "A Giant Win."

The sequel, if that's the right phrase, covers the territory you'd expect. The skeleton of the book essentially covers the play-by-play of that Super Bowl, hitting most of the big plays in detail. There's a lot going on in one single snap at the line of scrimmage in a football game. Coughlin takes his time in reviewing how the slightest action often can make the difference between an incomplete pass than a long gainer. It's a thinner margin than most civilians can imagine. The terminology is occasionally a problem, especially for those who couldn't describe the various routes by a wide receiver without hints.

That format allows Coughlin to go off on some tangents, and one thing remains clear. The coach is still very fond and thankful for the players that helped him win a championship. The bond between players and coach on such teams is stronger than most people realize. John Muckler had coached the Edmonton Oilers to a Stanley Cup in 1990, and for years he obviously stayed in touch with players over the years - even trying to acquire them when he ran the Buffalo Sabres. You really do walk together forever when you win a title.

Maybe Coughlin is a little over-the-top when describing some of his players, but it's quite understandable under the circumstances. And it is interesting to read about some of the interactions between player and coach. For example, defensive end Michael Strahan one time had to calm down Coughlin, explaining that the players were in good shape and in control of the situation.

The coach also uses the opportunity to discuss his own life, starting in upstate New York. It's not easy to put Waterloo, New York, on the map. Its major claim to fame is that it was the first place in America to celebrate Memorial Day right after the Civil War ended. Now, naturally, Coughlin's name is on the welcome signs in the town and on the high school football stadium. He went to Syracuse University and then moved into coaching.

Coughlin also takes time throughout the book to plug "The Jay Fund." That non-profit group was started when one of his players at Boston College, died of leukemia. The idea is to help those families who are affected by childhood cancer; it has raised $13 million for that cause. Family members have embraced it, and ex-players still turn up for events. Good for Tom; good for the others too.

The last chapter is a sad one. Tom's wife, Judy, has been sick in recent years and needs constant care. Coughlin, with his help, tries to make her comfortable. It's not the retirement they envisioned, but Tom's devotion under difficult circumstances is noted and appreciated.

"A Giant Win" goes by very quickly. After reading it, it's easy to agree with Coughlin on a major point. The win by New York over a previously undefeated team was not a fluke. The better team won. For the Giants fans who want to relive one of the most memorable Super Bowls of all time, this ought to work.

A Giant Win is without doubt a giant win for fans of the New York Football Giants. Who wouldn't want to relive the 2007 Super Bowl upset over the 17-0 Patriots, just about play by play, through the eyes of Head Coach Tom Coughlin? Pure gold, manna from heaven. Especially since every play Coach Coughlin describes gives him the chance to go in depth about the players and coaches involved.

But would this be worthwhile if you're not a Giants fan? I say yes: Despite my own fandom, I found this account a real eye-opener in learning about the details and nuances of football -- there is more going on than meets the eye, you'll never see the game the same again, you'll be looking for those details and nuances with every play.

As just one example: the three plays leading up to the Giants' winning fourth quarter TD were the same play call, the only time offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride says he ever called the same play three times in a row -- which is astonishing because they look like three different plays, especially astonishing because they didn't work the first two times! Coughlin describes the different available options in this play, and how a barely seen bit of communication between QB Eli Manning and WR Plaxico Burress made it work the third time around.

I do wish Coach Coughlin was not so relentlessly positive, though. I might even go so far as to say the sugarcoating is laid on way too thick. Fans may be able to get past that -- after all, isn't that what we do as fans (especially as Giants fans these last five years)? Non-fans who read this for the football may find it a hindrance.

Otherwise, this is a gem of a football book -- priceless for fans of the team, with valuable insight for all football fans. Thanks to NetGalley for an advance reading copy.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for an ARC of A Giant Win in exchange for my honest opinion.

Being a lifelong fan of the NY Giants, I was extremely happy to get an ARC of this book. It did not disappoint. Giants fans will never forget the 2007 season. The story of David and Goliath, in football. This was a behind the scenes look leading up to the Super Bowl. From Tom Coughlin’s different coaching experiences and what he learned from other coaches to taking down Tom Brady and the Patriots.

I loved reading about the relationships between coaches and players. I always knew there was a special bond between Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin. I knew there was respect amongst everyone on that team. But reading about it, and all of my favorite players, took it to a whole new level. I don’t know that we will ever see a NY Giants program like we had that year. I hope one day we do.