Tom Coughlin

Growing up, the toughest person in Coach Tom Coughlin’s life was not the local playground bully, the wise guy at the school bus stop, or any one of his rough and tumble friends. Not even close.

The person most respected and most feared was a St. Joseph nun, Sister Rose Alice.

“She was tougher, faster, she could hit harder and she could out-talk anyone,” said Coughlin, the head coach of the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

As an elementary school student at St. Mary’s School in Waterloo, N.Y., and an altar boy at St. Mary’s Church, Coughlin received a solid Catholic formation.

“The Sisters of St. Joseph were great,” said Coughlin. “They were totally dedicated to Jesus Christ, the Catholic faith and to the welfare of each and every one of their students.

Who I am today can be traced to the values I learned from the faith-filled Sisters of St. Joseph.”

Beginning with his Baptism, Coughlin looked to the tenets of the Catholic faith as the roots of his formation.

“The importance of conscience was pounded into you by the priests and nuns,” he said.

“I am far from perfect so it has always been vital for me to know that you can’t be a phony. There is no hiding from God.”