Psychology Of Sports

The victory has redefined the 61-year-old Coughlin, the way it does any coach who wins a championship after so many years of trying. Coughlin, saying that it is “a very select group,” is one of only six current head coaches who can brag of leading a team to a Super Bowl victory.

“The perception of you does change,” Tony Dungy, the Colts coach who won his first Super Bowl in 2007, said Friday. “People are going to think that because you win, that now you have the answer. Now some of the things that you say do work.”

It has already happened to Coughlin. Against the backdrop of the scouting combine and the coming draft, reporters peppered him about the best way to nurture a young quarterback, given Coughlin’s success with Eli Manning.

The queries served as a jarring indication of how quickly things change. Before the Giants began one of the greatest playoff runs in league history — three road victories and a Super Bowl win over an undefeated team — the questions about Manning were far tougher, and usually centered on Coughlin’s inability to mold him into a consistent quarterback, never mind a championship one.

But now Coughlin is atop his profession, and even his peers said that the perception had changed.

“Championships define players, they define coaches,” Vikings Coach Brad Childress said. “I don’t think there is any question it changes the way you’re looked at.”

Coughlin enjoyed the warm reception, especially since championship teams