The popular Irish defender has been a rock for Wednesday this season and has quickly endeared himself as a fans favourite with his lion heart displays at the back.
But because Lee Bullen did not start the season and Glenn Whelan's game was being affected with the responsibility of being captain, Coughlan eventually gave in to Sturrock after years of asking!
"The gaffer has asked me to take on the captaincy for the time being," Coughlan told Footymad. "Lee is the club captain but the gaffer has asked me to be the team captain, he tells me to do a job and I do it. I was uncomfortable with it as first and we have had several conversations about it, and I told him from the first day down at Plymouth that the captaincy didn’t take my fancy but he has specifically asked me to do it so I will.
"I didn’t want it because I am the new boy as well. Lee did a great job last year and I wasn’t part of the team who won promotion at Cardiff, they have got the club to where they are at the moment so who am I to come in and start dictating things? I have to be fair to the rest of the lads at the football club and I don’t want to come in and step on people’s toes but Paul thought otherwise!"
The former Plymouth and Livingstone star had had experiences at the bottom end of the table although he does think that Wednesday will avoid the drop if the team works hard in the last few months of the season.
He added: "I was part of a struggling team last year at Plymouth and we were the new kids on the block then and I have come into a similar scenario here at Wednesday – that’s probably one of the reasons why he brought me here.
"But I do believe that we don’t lack quality, I am very confident that we can climb the table. At the moment we are down at the bottom and in the dogfight, so it’s up to us to get out of it. There’s no point me praising the qualities of the lads which they do have but there has to be that work ethic to obviously go along with the quality we definitely have at times."
In other news at Hillsborough, Maurice Ross has moved to Wolves on a permanent deal after doing well there on loan from Wednesday.
The Owls have given him a free transfer after the Scottish international failed to make an impression in Sturrock's first-team plans.