"Tom Coughlin hospitalized for one night after breaking ribs, puncturing lung in bicycle accident". cbssports.com. July 30, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
On August 24, 2021, in an OP-ED he penned for the New York Times, Coughlin chronicled his wife's battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a brain disease that “ erodes an individual's ability to walk, speak, think and control body movements”, and also affects a person's memory and motor skills and is—sadly—incurable. His wife is said to have been a huge personality that helped hold their family together and has been married to Tom for 54 years, thus making the acute and chronic progression into needing full round-the-clock care that much more difficult. Coughlin, sighting the marriage vows he made over five decades ago, did not seek sympathy as he spoke of himself providing much of the care and described what a “good” day looked like as well as a bad. The N.Y. Times piece was a look into what the legendary coaches normal day now looks like and is an insightful glimpse into the day to day heartache brought forth from this rather rare disease.
