Tom Coughlin addressed the media for the final time Tuesday as the head coach of the New York Giants.

Football has been part of his life for more than a half-century, from growing up in the game to playing halfback at Syracuse University to a long and distinguished coaching career.

He led the Giants to two Super Bowl victories and helped the G-Men earn another as part of Bill Parcells’ staff.

He knows a little bit about this game.

And when he looks back on the thousands of individuals who have crossed his path along the way, it won’t be the wins and losses he remembers first. It’s the lives that are intertwined.

From his Monday press conference, starting at the 9:14 mark:

“In professional football, the goal is to win. We all know that. It is a bottom line profession. We understand that completely. But my contention is … there is a higher ground. There’s a greater purpose. That purpose is team.

“In the NFL, it’s important to all 32 owners, to all coaches, whether they be young or old, to realize that we have an obligation to teach these young men the lessons, the principles and the life skills that they will need once their professional careers are over.

“And while it is the job of the head coach to get the technical football right … it is our duty to equip these men with the virtues that will last a lifetime – the values like honesty, trust, responsibility, respect, service and integrity. Those are the things that we teach in addition to the football.

“Not just winners on the field but better yet, winners in life. People you can be proud of. You’d like these people for your nextdoor neighbor.

“What has grown extremely important to me as I’ve grown in this position is relationships. … I still have a hard time when former players – Guys who we’ve battled together, they’ve been corrected, I’ve been mad at them, they’ve been mad at me – and after a year or two, sometimes not even that long, they walk up to me and say, ‘I love you, Coach.’

“And they follow that up by saying they have become better men, better husbands, better fathers, better friends because of their experience having been a New York Giant. And while the two Super Bowl trophies right out here are incredible accomplishments … I believe it is the unbreakable bond between coach and player that defines me as a coach and any humble success that we might have had here.”

SEE ALSO: Watch the entire Tom Coughlin press conference here