FORMER NFL head coach Tom Coughlin led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl championships.
Both of Coughlin's Super Bowl victories - 2007 and 2011 - came against Tom Brady and the mighty New England Patriots.
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Who is Tom Coughlin's wife Judy?
Coughlin and his wife Judy have been married for 54 years.
The couple share four children and 11 grandchildren.
Their children include two sons and two daughters, Keli, Katie, Tim and Brian.
Tom and Judy currently reside in Atlantic Beach, Florida.
Judy has been by her husband's side for most of the functions related to his Jay Fund Foundation, which has raised more than $13million for people living with childhood cancer.
On August 24, in a New York Times op-ed, Coughlin revealed heartbreaking news surrounding his wife's health.
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What did Tom Coughlin reveal about his wife?
Coughlin opened up about caring for his wife, who suffers from a serious illness in the op-ed.
Coughlin explained that Judy was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in 2020 after she began showing symptoms four years ago.
The brain disorder slowly eliminates the ability to walk, speak, think and control bodily movements.
There's currently no cure for PSP or treatment to slow it down.
It’s been a four-year battle for Coughlin, his wife and their family.
Coughlin wrote: "Our hearts are broken. Judy has been everything to our family.
"For the past four years, we’ve helplessly watched her go from a gracious woman with a gift for conversation, hugging all the people she met and making them feel they were the most important person in the room, to losing almost all ability to speak and move."
“I’ve learned firsthand caregiving is all-consuming. It is mentally and physically exhausting. Sometimes you just need a break." Coughlin wrote.
The two-time Super Bowl head coach added: "When Judy is having a good day, then my day is good. But then there are dark days - those days that are so full of frustration and anger, they have me feeling like a failure and pondering the unfairness of the disease.
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"I’ve spent my entire life preparing for some of the biggest games a person could play, but nothing can prepare you to be a caregiver who has to watch a loved one slip away.”
Coughlin, who said he has been his wife's primary caregiver, said the best thing readers can do is honor those who have to perform that function for their loved ones.
"Judy’s decline has been nothing but gut-wrenching and has placed me in a club with the tens of millions of other Americans who serve as a primary caregiver for a loved one.
"Admittedly, transitioning from being with an N.F.L. franchise to full-time caregiver wasn’t easy. It’s still not easy. The playbook is either changing by the minute or so numbingly repetitious, you lose track of time and self.
"I am not seeking sympathy. It’s the last thing I want. It’s the last thing that most caregivers want. Taking care of Judy is a promise I made 54 years ago when she was crazy enough to say 'I do,'" Coughlin added.
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"I do want the players I coached in college and in the N.F.L. who thought all my crazy ideas about discipline, commitment and accountability ended when they left the field to know that is not the case.
"The truth is that is when those qualities matter most. A friend said we don’t get to choose our sunset, and that’s true, but I am so blessed to get to hold Judy’s hand through hers."
