Strahan, who missed eight of the last nine games, middle linebacker Antonio Pierce and Pro Bowl tight end Jeremy Shockey all welcomed Coughlin back for a fourth season.

“Like I’ve been saying, the coach is the real deal,” Pierce said. “He’s a good coach and he does a good job and we all share in what happened this season.”

Some fans, probably those who called for Coughlin’s job in the wake of a 30-7 loss to the Saints on Dec. 24, won’t be happy with the decision, Mara acknowledged.

“I am certainly sensitive to what the fans think,” Mara said. “I have received a lot of mail. But at the end of the day, you can’t make decisions on what the fans say, but what your eyes tell you and what your experience in the game tells you.”

Coughlin, who has a 25-25 record with the Giants, plans to meet individually with his coaching staff in the next week. Change is probable.

Coughlin made one move down the stretch, relieving offensive coordinator John Hufnagel after the Saints game and giving quarterbacks coach Kevin Gilbride the play-calling duties.

Despite reports that players were tuning out their no-nonsense coach, Mara insists Coughlin still has the respect of the team.

“I don’t buy that,” Mara said. “I think there is substantial support for him.”

Strahan agreed.

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“I know the perception is that he is unapproachable and distant from his players, but that’s not the case,” he said. “I had some of my best conversations with him this season, and he showed me how much he cared about me as a person and as a player.”

Mara said a major part of the interview process was listening to what Coughlin had to say about Manning, and he was satisfied with the answers.

“Eli needs to play more consistently,” Mara added. “He would be the first one to admit that. Something that I have been concerned about is his play over the second half of the season. There is nobody in this building that doubts his ability and that feels like he is not the guy to lead us to where we want to get to. But he has to play more consistently.”

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Coughlin believes Manning will improve next year, his third as the starter.

“He is the quarterback of the future, and certainly we have work to do there in consistency, in offensive point production, along those lines, but I’m very confident that we will achieve in that area,” Coughlin said.

Before joining the Giants, Coughlin was Jacksonville’s head coach from 1995-2002 and went 72-64.

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