John Harbaugh Reveals 3 Reasons Why the Giants' Head Coaching Job Appealed to Him

Harbaugh only interviewed with the Giants despite having interest from other teams with head coaching openings.

New Giants Head Coach John Harbaugh speaks during a press conference welcoming Harbaugh at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh could have easily written his own ticket and joined just about any NFL team with an opening. 

But in the end, Harbaugh had specific criteria he was looking for, and the Giants were a team that met them, as he revealed three key things he was looking for following his dismissal from the Baltimore Ravens. 

“The first thing was the team. I mean, you'd want to go to a team that can win,” Harbaugh told Philadelphia sports radio host Howard Eskin for The Howard Eskin Show.

“I talked to (former Indiana and Georgia basketball coach) Tom Crean, my brother-in-law. When he was looking at jobs, it's like, ‘Go where you can win.’ So you gotta go where you have the best chance to win. 

“I felt really good about the team, the players, the quarterback, the defense, the front, you know, the building of the offensive line, the running back, the wide receiver. … I really like the team and I like the way I saw them play on tape.”

Harbaugh in particular praised the Giants for fighting down to the bitter end, even after they became the first team in the NFL to be eliminated from postseason consideration. 

“I think they wanna win. I think they wanna do the things it takes to win. I mean, you gotta work to earn the right to play football. And then you go play, and you let it go. And I think these guys wanna work in that sense,” he said. 

Giants team ownership was another factor in Harbaugh's decision. The veteran head coach praised the Mara, Tisch, and Koch families, opining that the ownership group is “first class” and expressing appreciation for their old-school values. 

“This is old-guard NFL, blue-blood people that are down-to-earth football people. And I love them. Every time I'm around them, I love them even more,” he told Eskin, adding that the principles held by ownership reflect across all levels of the organization. 

The last thing Harbaugh mentioned was that he believed the Giants presented the best chance for him to win at least one more championship. 

“I'm not a spring chicken; I'm a fall chicken,” he joked. “So I'm thinking right now, if I'm gonna take a swing in my October chicken days, I want to take a swing where we can have the biggest impact.” 

Giants fans are counting on that being the case starting in 2026.

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