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Thomas McGaughey

Thomas McGaughey is in his third season as the Giants' assistant special teams coach. In his first two years with the team, McGaughey worked with special teams coordinator Tom Quinn to help the Giants' special teams become among the most productive in the NFL.

In 2008, three Giants special teamers - kicker John Carney, punter Jeff Feagles and long snapper Zak DeOssie - were named to the NFC Pro Bowl team. Carney, who was 44, and Feagles, then 42, were the NFL's oldest active players in 2008 and the oldest players ever voted to the Pro Bowl.

Carney, signed on Aug. 30, kicked 35 field goals in 38 attempts, a .921 percentage that is the best in franchise history. Two of his three misses were blocked. The one that wasn't was a 48-yarder. Carney's 35 field goals tied the team single-season record, which he shares with Ali Haji-Sheikh (1983) and Jay Feely (2005). Carney scored a career-high 143 points, the second-highest figure in Giants history and just five less than Feely's record of 148 in 2005.

Feagles continued to improve in his 21st season. He had a gross average of 44.0 yards and a net average of 40.2 yards on 64 punts. The net average was a career high and enabled him to realize a long-held goal of having a 40-yard net average for a full season. His previous best net average was 38.2 yards in 1995, his first Pro Bowl season. Feagles' gross average ties for the second-highest of his career and is just three-tenths of a yard less than the career best of 44.3 yards he set with Arizona in 1997.  He averaged 44.0 yards the following year. Feagles holds the NFL records for punts (1,649), punting yards (68,607) and punts downed inside the 20-yard line (531). Feagles is also the Giants' holder.

DeOssie has been the Giants' long snapper since his shortly after his arrival as a fourth-round draft choice in 2007.

In addition to the Pro Bowlers' exploits, the coverage teams played extremely well throughout the season. The Giants allowed only 140 punt return yards all season and their opponents averaged 5.8 yards a return, the NFL's third-best figure. The Giants had higher averages than their opponents on both kickoff and punt returns.

The special teams also excelled in the Giants' 2007 championship season. Kicker Lawrence Tynes, in his first season with the Giants, made 23 of 27 field goal attempts, plus the game-winning 47-yarder in overtime in the NFC Championship Game in Green Bay. Quinn and McGaughey employed three kickoff returners - Ahmad Bradshaw, Reuben Droughns and Domenik Hixon - and the Giants finished seventh in the NFL with a 23.9-yard average.

McGaughey joined the Giants after two seasons as the Denver Broncos' assistant special teams coach. In 2006, the Broncos held opposing punt returners to an average of 6.9 yards a return, the fifth-best figure in the NFL. The previous year, McGaughey worked with a Broncos special-teams that helped the club go 13-3 en route to capturing the AFC West title and advancing to the AFC Championship Game.

McGaughey was the Kansas City Chiefs' assistant special teams coach for the 2002 season. He broke into the NFL as a minority intern with the Chiefs during their 2001 training camp before working as a pro scouting assistant in an internship with the Houston Texans that year as the franchise prepared for its inaugural season.

McGaughey spent two years (2003-04) working at his alma mater, the University of Houston before joining the Broncos' staff. He served as Houston's special teams coordinator in 2003 and as special teams coordinator/ cornerbacks coach in 2004.

A safety in his playing days, McGaughey entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 1996. He competed in the training camps of the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles in 1996-97, respectively. He was on the Eagles' practice squad late in the 1996 season and was a member of the Barcelona Dragons' team that won NFL Europe's World Bowl in 1997.

McGaughey played for the Houston Cougars from 1991-95 and was special teams captain as a senior. He also lettered in track from 1991-93, competing in the 110-meter hurdles.

McGaughey, 34, was born in Chicago and grew up in Houston. He and his wife, Erika, have three children.

McGaughey at a Glance

2001                            Houston Texas                                    pro scouting internship
2002                            Scottish Claymores                             defensive backs/special teams
2002                            Kansas City Chiefs                             assistant special teams
2003                            University of Houston                         special teams coordinator
2004                            University of Houston                      special teams coordinator/cornerbacks
2005-06                       Denver Broncos                                  assistant special teams
2007-09                       New York Giants                                assistant special teams