Son of Jaguars' Coughlin escapes N.Y. disaster
Sept. 11, 2001
By Pete Prisco
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
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The terrorist attack of New York's World Trade Center hit close to home for Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin. His son, Tim, was in one of the towers at the time of the attack, but luckily was able to escape without injury.
Tom Coughlin (Allsport)
"My son Tim works for Morgan Stanley on the 60th floor of the World Trade Center, in the building that was hit by the second plane,'' Coughlin said. "My son Brian was able to reach Tim on his cell phone as he was on the 29th floor going down the stairway to leave the building. At the time, Tim did not know that the second plane had crashed into the building in which he worked.
"I spoke to Tim when he got to street level and again later in the day. He got out safely, and my family and I thank God for that. But we are all equally burdened by those who lost loved ones today, and for those who are awaiting word about their loved ones.''
The Jaguars plan to conduct practice as normal Wednesday, unless the situation changes. There is a chance several players who flew out of town on their normal day off may not be able to get back since the FAA will not open airports until Wednesday at noon at the earliest.
That could be a problem league-wide since players do travel on Mondays, then return late Tuesday night on their day off for Wednesday practices and meetings. If the games this weekend are played, and that's something the NFL will decide in the next 24-48 hours, the loss of practice time could have some bearing.
Although league officials have not decided on a course of action for this weekend, several league sources say they think the games will be canceled out of respect for the dead from the horrific tragedies on Tuesday. |
