Tom Coughlin didn’t really resign in the traditional sense as head coach of the New York Giants last Monday.

He was given the choice of stepping down before he was fired.

I wouldn’t have been so nice to give him an out.

Then there’s Chuck Pagano, the former defensive backs coach of the Browns under Butch Davis a decade and a half ago who was retained as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts when most thought he would get fired.

It’s a tale of two coaches who are at opposite ends of the spectrum in one important way – that is, being a good person.

Pagano is a great guy. He always seems to have a smile on his face, even when he’s battling a life-threatening illness.

Did his team struggle this year? Yes. But there was a reason. The Colts went through quarterbacks like water because of injuries. Their franchise guy, Andrew Luck, made only a cameo appearance.

But the Colts didn’t go 3-13, as the Browns did. Rather, they finished 8-8, just a game behind the champion Houston Texans in the AFC South, a division they had owned for a long time.

So the move by the Colts to keep Pagano was a smart one, and a good one.

Now for Coughlin. I call him Coach Sourpuss and have for a long time – exactly 21 years, in fact. And there’s a good reason. Actually, two of them.

It was 1994 and the head coaches of the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars, the two expansion teams set to begin play the following year, were making their rounds of all the NFL training camps to get some ideas. When they visited Berea, the Cleveland public relations staff made both of them available to media members.

The coach-to-be of the Panthers was Tom Capers, a native of tiny Buffalo, Ohio, near Cambridge and a product of the University of Mount Union in Alliance. He is currently the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers as they get ready to play the Washington Redskins in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs late this afternoon. He was a joy, gladly – and completely and honestly, it appeared – answering any and all questions.

Coughlin, the coach-in-waiting of the Jaguars?

Uh, not so much.

He frowned the whole way through the interviews, giving terse answers – when he gave any answers at all.

When you look up the term “miserable human being” in the dictionary of life, there’s a photo of Coach Sourpuss.

OK, perhaps he was just having a bad day.

No, that’s his full-time, 24/7 personality.

While coaching the Jaguars, Coughlin liked to frequent an Italian restaurant in Jacksonville following home games. In the Browns’ 1999 expansion season, the Jags finished 14-2 to win the Central Division and earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, only to get clobbered by the Tennessee Titans 33-14 in the AFC Championship Game.

So Coach Sourpuss was in an especially sour mood when he and his wife dined at the restaurant that evening. A little boy – a huge Jaguars fan who had been at the game that day – was eating at the restaurant with his family when he spotted Coughlin. When the boy approached Coughlin and asked him to autograph the souvenir program from the game that his father had purchased for him, Coach Sourpuss exploded on him, telling him to go away and leave him alone.

Then his wife exploded on him, telling him in no uncertain terms to shut up and sign the program. Coach Sourpuss did as he was asked. Like most bullies, he quickly backs down when someone stands up to him.

The Philadelphia Eagles have asked the Giants permission to speak to Coughlin about their head-coaching vacancy (that was necessary since Coughlin has a year remaining on his contract with New York). Eagles owner Jeff Lurie had better be careful what he wishes for.