Nathan Buckley eventually drove away from the MCG at the appropriate time, satisfied that no-one at Collingwood has thrown in the towel.
An appalling start to Saturday night's AFL match against Hawthorn had Buckley wondering whether he should make an early exit.
But the Magpies staged a remarkable comeback to win by 18 points and lift the pall that Buckley acknowledges hangs over his coaching future.
Collingwood had the worst first term in Buckley's time as their coach.
It was shaping as the sort of massive loss that proves a tipping point in an embattled coach's tenure.
"I was thinking about jumping in the car and driving home, about 20 minutes into the first quarter, but I reckon most of the Collingwood fans were thinking that as well," Buckley said,
But in the same week he became a Dad for the first time, Magpies captain Scott Pendlebury led superbly from the front.
As key forward Darcy Moore and defender Tyson Goldsack also starred, James Aish earned praise from Buckley for his bravery in the third term.
Aish collided heavily with Hawthorn's Daniel Howe while going for a ground ball and the Magpies had to go to hospital with a likely cheekbone fracture.
Trailling by 34 points at halftime, the Magpies improbably kicked nine goals to one for the win - their best comeback in Buckley's coaching tenure.
"The players are clearly still invested, so it's belief,"' Buckley said of his post-game emotions.
"The players are clearly not ready to throw the towel in - no-one at the club is.
"You might have questioned that 15 minutes into the first quarter.
"Clearly when the question was asked, they responded in the affirmative and enough of them did."
To his credit, Buckley again did not shy away from the pressure he is under this season to stay Magpies coach.
"There's a pall over the club at the moment and there's a pall over me," he said.
"I can go and meet people ... I don't think I'm carrying it with me, I'm not bringing it to the conversation, but it's introduced.
"That's a reality, because it's a talking point.
"But if we perform better, we'll be okay ... (and) we will perform better."
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