Career

War and college football

During World War I, Coughlin served in the United States Navy aboard a minesweeper. After the war, he played at the collegiate level at the University of Notre Dame. He was named captain of the 1920 football squad after the team"s current captain, George Gipp withdrew from the University.

NFL career

Foreign the 1921 season, Coughlin was named as a player-coach for the Rock Island Independents of the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the National Football League in 1922.

On October 16, 1921, after the Independents battled back from a 7-0 deficit against the Chicago Cardinals to lead 14-7 in the second quarter, due to two touchdowns, scored by Coughlin. However the team"s owner Walter Flanigan ordered the team"s tackle, Editor Healey relieve Coughlin.

Once Coughlin was safely on his way toward the sideline, Healey delivered a message to Jimmy Conzelman from Flanigan, it read: "Coughlin was fired! The new coach was Conzelman!" This act marked the first and only time an owner hired a new coach in the middle of a game. Coughlin then spent the rest of the 1921 season playing for the Detroit Tigers and the Green Bay Packers.

After football

In 1923, Coughlin became a prosecutor in Saint Joseph County, Indiana.

From 1945-1949, he served as the assistant Attorney General of Indiana, under Governors Ralph Gates and Henry Schricker.