Three days after their playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants announced that they would retain coach Tom Coughlin for the 2007 season. It was a surprising decision and one that disappointed many fans who were upset by the step backward the Giants took under Coughlin in 2006.

And it’s a decision that the Giants should reconsider now that a better coach has become available. The San Diego Chargers fired coach Marty Schottenheimer this week despite a 14–2 record last season, and if the Giants are truly dedicated to improving on their 8–8 record, they should fire Coughlin and hire Schottenheimer to take his place.

Coughlin has the Giants heading in the wrong direction. Although they made the playoffs last season, that says more about the lack of good teams in the NFC than it does about the Giants. Counting the playoffs, the Giants lost seven of their last nine games, and as they faded down the stretch, they looked like they had tuned out their coach.

The Giants were one of the most mistake-prone teams in the league last year despite Coughlin’s insistence that discipline is his top priority. In everything from running hardhitting practices to dictating what players wear to demanding they show up early to meetings, Coughlin’s style is grating. Just this week, Tiki Barber said Coughlin’s hard-driving ways are one reason he decided to retire while still in his prime. Barber was the Giants’ best player, and if Coughlin drove Barber away, he harmed the team more than he has helped it.

Schottenheimer, on the other hand, is demanding of his players while still maintaining good relationships with them. Schottenheimer has the same old-school football background as Coughlin, but while Coughlin still acts like he’s coaching in the Vince Lombardi era of coaches with complete and unquestioned authority, Schottenheimer has softened his approach as times have changed.

Of course, Schottenheimer may not seem like an upgrade for a Giants team that made the playoffs but failed to advance. His regular season record of 200–126–1 makes Schottenheimer one of the best coaches in NFL history … until the playoffs start. His postseason record of 5–13 leaves a lot to be desired. The knock on Schottenheimer is that his teams reach the playoffs but don’t go any further, and Schottenheimer has the most wins of any coach who has never taken his team to a title game.

But the Giants seemed so dispirited by the end of last season that the energetic Schottenheimer is the type of coach they need right now. And although coaching changes can be disruptive, Schottenheimer could take over the Giants without requiring a massive overhaul of either the roster or the coaching staff. None of the Giants’ current assistants have worked for Schottenheimer, but unlike most head coaches, Schottenheimer doesn’t insist that his assistants run any one system on offense or defense. He focuses on keeping the team organized and motivated while delegating the game plans and play calling to his staff. Schottenheimer-coached teams usually have a 3–4 defense and a conservative, run-oriented offense, but he lets the assistants dictate the details.

Although the Giants gave Coughlin a one-year contract extension last month, that was more about appearances than anything else: Teams rarely ask coaches to stay into the final year of a contract for fear that the players will tune out a coach they perceive as a lame duck. Barring a major improvement in 2007, the Giants will have a new coach in 2008.

Assuming they do go coach shopping next year, the Giants would likely have Schottenheimer near the top of their wish list, and they won’t be the only team interested in his services. A year from now multiple teams will want to interview Schottenheimer, and the Giants could lose out. Offering Schottenheimer the job now would be a wise preemptive move.

Practically speaking, there would be some hurdles for the Giants to clear before they could hire Schottenheimer. Firing Coughlin specifically to replace him with Schottenheimer would run afoul of the NFL’s rule requiring every team to interview at least one minority candidate before hiring a new head coach. But last month the Giants hired Jerry Reese as their general manager, becoming one of the few teams in the league whose front office is led by an African American. In light of that, no one could seriously suggest that the Giants aren’t meeting the NFL’s standards for diversity.

Everyone assumes Schottenheimer will spend 2007 out of coaching because no jobs are available for him. But the Giants aren’t the only team that would improve immediately by firing the current coach and hiring Schottenheimer. The Cleveland Browns would benefit if Schottenheimer returned to the place where his career started, the Detroit Lions might finally resemble a competent franchise with him at the helm, and several of the teams that hired new coaches this year might have hired Schottenheimer instead had they known he would become available.

The Giants were the first NFL team to give Schottenheimer a coaching job when they hired him as their linebackers coach in 1975. Getting him back as the head coach more than three decades later would give Big Blue reason for optimism in 2007 after a discouraging end to 2006.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.