John Harbaugh Reflects on Move to Giants’ Head Coaching Role

No one ever likes to be fired from a job, especially when the dismissal is made public, as is the case in the National Football League, and when it comes after over a decade at the position you previously held.

And yet that’s the situation that John Harbaugh, the new head coach of the New York Giants, found himself in after the Baltimore Ravens, the team he headed for 18 seasons, decided to go in a different direction after failing to make the postseason for the first time in the last four years.

But that’s all behind Harbaugh now as he settles into his new role with Big Blue in what has been a whirlwind of a time between getting acclimated with the area, hiring a new staff, doing deeper dives into the player personnel, attending meetings, and doing media interviews about his transition to the Big Apple.

But for the 63-year-old Harbaugh, everything has gone as smoothly as can be, and the reality has quickly settled in.

“It does feel like the New York Football Giants," Harbaugh told Brian Kilmeade of FOX News Channel’s FOX & Friends when asked if he feels like he’s the Giants head coach.

“I mean, it got a big sign right over there that says New York Football Giants. We got the four trophies up here (in the field house).”

Harbaugh, didn’t take long to decide that the Giants job was the one he wanted if the team felt the same way about him, which of course turned out to be the case given the full court press that team ownership put on that ultimately convinced Harbaugh that the Giants were the first and only team he would interview with during the recently completed hiring cycle.

There were some minor bumps along the way, specifically working out the language in his contract, which took an extra couple of days from the time he agreed to take the job to when the deal was officially signed. But all along, Harbaugh never had any doubts that things would work out.

“I always kind of knew it was going to be the Giants. And I felt like, man, this is what I thought it was going to be like. This family environment. First-class operation.

“Had a chance to be in New York City–this fan base. That was all a really big deal. But it can't just end at that. It can't just end with a good feeling. It had to be something that we knew we could build together the right way.”

Even though the team is 7-27 over the last two seasons?

“No team is as far as you think. No team is as close as you think,” he told Kilmeade. “Every team in the National Football League is kind of on the same plane.

“It's not like college football, where you have these big swings. So this team is good enough to do great things next year. But you got to earn it.”

The Jaxson Dart factor

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was a big appeal for John Harbaugh. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

One of the big attractions for Harbaugh when it came to the Giants job was quarterback Jaxson Dart, with whom the head coach had a chance meeting during his formal interview, one that lasted nearly two hours.

“When I looked at the film, I saw a talented quarterback,” Harbaugh said of Dart. “I saw the same thing I saw with Lamar Jackson.

“Jaxson Dart–got to create an offense for this quarterback at this point to give him a chance to be the best he can be. He's going to play Jaxson Dart ball.”

Dart is just one piece of the puzzle, albeit a big one, but overall, Harbaugh said he feels good about the Giants and has an idea of what he wants the team to look like. He’s hired a highly experienced staff of assistants who, unlike past staffs, have the vision but not the methods to make it a reality, aligning with what Harbaugh wants the Giants to be moving forward.

Which is what?

“What you can say with certainty: The New York Giant football team will get off the bus and walk into every one of those stadiums this year, and we'll expect to win the game,” Harbaugh said.

“We're playing the kind of football that's going to make the fans proud.”

And if they don’t, which again Harbaugh is not expecting to be the case, he knows that the fan base, which has been deprived of a consistently good football team, is not going to be shy about speaking up and cranking up the heat.

Harbaugh, though, said he can handle it.

“Yes, I can take it,” he said. “What are they going to do? They're going to say bad things about you?”

People can say what they want, but at the end of the day, Harbaugh is worried about one thing and one thing only: winning.

“I can't wait to go and start throwing punches,” he concluded.

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The Jaxson Dart factor

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