First of all, Coughlin was only interested in the Giants job. It was the talk around the league at the time that Coughlin was the Giants' man all along and that Coughlin only wanted that job.
Second, it was considered something of a joke around here at the time that with all the head coach speculation, Donahoe would just hire some Steeler crony like Mike Mularkey. And lo and behold, he ended up doing just that! Once we started hearing Mike speak to the media was when people around here began to consider that he might work out.