I'm not necessarily arguing against bringing him back from comic book lore, or a comic perspective, or even a "does it make sense" perspective. "Nobody stays dead" is a true comic book thing, but I don't think it should necessarily be the case in the Marvel films.
For example, what if nobody dies in Infinity War pt. 1 or 2? Unless something major happens - like entire cities get demolished and millions of people actually die, Thanos will just be another would-be conqueror. All talk, but nothing to show for it. Even with 6 infinity stones.
As another example, I can't imagine how lame it would be in the Dark Knight Rises if somehow Rachel was alive, and Two Face managed to come back, because nobody truly dies.
I guess it would just suck if you were a director (even if you saw it coming) to kill off a character in an impactful way, but then for studio executives to retcon your decision later. Kind of takes the bite out of your film.
With that said... I don't really expect them to suddenly bring Quicksilver back or something like that. It's not like every major decision is being neutered by executives. But I don't necessarily won't the MCU to become a world where nobody dies or nothing major happens, because then the stakes become too low. The audience expects everyone to make it out alright, and there's a 99% chance they're right because the executives want to keep story opportunities open for future sequels, spin-offs, etc.
All that to say, I don't disagree with Coulson being alive from a lore perspective, just a creative perspective. And I could see why Whedon wouldn't be too thrilled about bringing Coulson back, but then getting involved to make sure it made sense.