  In the conventional QCD sum rule calculation for the $\pi NN$ coupling beyond
the soft-pion limit, there are three distinct Dirac structures, each of which
can be used to construct separate sum rule. We point out subtleties in the
previous sum rule results, based on one of the Dirac structure, associated with
using either the PV or the PS coupling schemes in modeling the phenomenological
side. We propose a sum rule coming from a different Dirac structure, which is
independent of the coupling schemes used and has less uncertainty in the OPE.
The obtained value is $g_{\pi N}=9.76 \pm 2.04$ where the uncertainty mainly
comes from the quark-gluon mixed condensate.
