John Johnson Passes Away; Tom Coughlin Confirms He Was Forced Out

 Posted by
Mar 022016
 
Tom Coughlin, New York Giants (December 28, 2014)

Tom Coughlin – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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JOHN JOHNSON PASSES AWAY…
John Johnson, who served as an athletic trainer with the New York Giants for 60 years, passed away on Sunday at the age of 98. Johnson retired after the 2007 season and was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor just last year.

“Johnny Johnson was one of the finest men I have ever known,” said team President and CEO John Mara. “He spent 60 years with our team caring for players from Charlie Conerly and Frank Gifford, right on up to Eli Manning. Nobody was more loved and respected than Mr. J. We were so pleased to be able to include him in our Ring of Honor this past season. He was part of the family and we will miss him terribly.”

“We have lost a great Giant,” said team Senior Vice President of Medical Services Ronnie Barnes. “Johnny looked after our players for over a half century. He was compassionate and caring and a true professional. His dedication to his profession and his poise and class were recognized by all.

“John had a stellar career with the Giants. He traveled with the team and was an indispensable member of the medical staff. He had so many stories about the early NFL and medicine before the arthroscope and advanced diagnostic technology.

“Leaving a legacy is something that we all strive to do, and John Johnson achieved that and more. He was a licensed massage therapist and physical therapist with tremendous hands. Michael Strahan sought him out and made John his personal athletic trainer. He cared for him with the same compassion that he had for Y.A. Tittle, Frank Gifford, and Charlie Conerly.”

For more on Johnson, see Remembering Giants Trainer John Johnson (1917-2016) by Michael Eisen of Giants.com.

TOM COUGHLIN CONFIRMS HE WAS FORCED OUT…
During a Tuesday FOXSports radio show, Tom Coughlin confirmed that he did not really resign as head coach from the New York Giants in early January. “Hey, do I agree with the move? Of course not,” said Coughlin. “I don’t, it hurts, it hurts. ‘Former’ is not a good word. I don’t like the word. But, nevertheless, that’s the way it is.”

“Don’t think that there aren’t some hard feelings there. There are,” Coughlin said during another interview on ESPN Radio. “That’s just natural. I just try to control them when the moment is right.”

The audio to the ESPN Radio interview is available at ESPN.com.

GIANTS DO NOT USE FRANCHISE OR TRANSITION TAGS…
The deadline for NFL team’s to designate an unrestricted free agent a “franchise” or “transition” passed on Tuesday. The New York Giants chose not to protect any of their 19 remaining unrestricted free agents. For a complete list of the 19 players, see the 2016 Free Agency Scorecard section of the website. Since the current system of free agency was inaugurated in 1993, the Giants have protected the following players:

  • OT Jumbo Elliott (franchise) in 1993
  • LB Carl Banks (transition) in 1993
  • TE Howard Cross (transition) in 1994
  • RB Rodney Hampton (transition) in 1996
  • RB Brandon Jacobs (franchise) in 2009
  • P Steve Weatherford (franchise) in 2012
  • DE Jason Pierre-Paul (franchise) in 2015

BOB PAPA INTERVIEW WITH QB ELI MANNING…
The audio of a Bob Papa podcast interview with quarterback Eli Manning is available at at PodBean.com.

ARTICLES…

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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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