John Harbaugh Explains Why He’s Excited to Coach the Giants

After the past 11 days, you might’ve expected to hear relief in John Harbaugh’s voice. But that’s not what I got on Saturday. It was something else familiar—real enthusiasm.

Less than an hour after a five-year deal was pushed over the goal line, and Harbaugh officially became the 24th head coach in the storied history of the Giants, the 63-year-old Super Bowl champion’s focus was already starting to turn to what was next. And that’s because what’s next best explains why East Rutherford ended up being the place for him.

“It starts with the players,” Harbaugh told me, detailing his decision. “I’m just fired up to coach these guys and get to work.” Punctuating those final words, he added, “It’s a great group, and I’m looking forward to building this team up.”

A lot went into the decision that Harbaugh spent a week deliberating over, and the past few days finalizing with his agent, Bryan Harlan, and the Giants.

The history of the franchise was a factor. So, too, was ownership.

But it’s instructive that Harbaugh first mentioned the players. He ran into Cam Skattebo in the training room on his visit, and a few other guys lifting weights. More than that, he studied the Giants’ roster, along with the other six teams that pursued him. He saw in New York a team that could contend.

And that started with the quarterback. As part of his intense research into the teams with coaching openings, Harbaugh studied the quarterback situations in each place. That meant taking a hard look at younger guys such as Michael Penix Jr., Cam Ward and the Giants’ own Jaxson Dart. It meant working through guys who’ve been in the league longer, like Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa. It even meant checking out Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore, before Moore decided to return to school, with the Raiders holding the first pick.

It ended with a few conclusions, and some conviction on Dart, who only backed that up when Harbaugh got to meet him Wednesday.

“First of all, all the quarterbacks of these teams, I was impressed with all these guys,” Harbaugh said. “They’re all up-and-comers; they’re all gonna have really great careers. But getting to know Jaxson, because this went a little further, I got a chance to talk to him, and I was really, really excited talking ball with Jaxson Dart. His mindset is exactly what you’re looking for. His enthusiasm and excitement for the game, and for every part of football, that really got me fired up.”

Then, there was the role of ownership, and that was complicated by controlling owner John Mara’s cancer battle. Mara was as involved in the search as he could be, but his brother, Chris, who’s worked in personnel for the Giants for years, did take the baton at times.

And one of those times was for a trip to Baltimore last week to visit Harbaugh at his home, as the Giants’ pursuit kicked into high gear.

“I would say [ownership played] a very big role—that’s probably what got it started,” Harbaugh said. “Because you’re at the owners meetings over the years, you get to know John Mara especially. Through the competition committee conversations we’d always have at the combine or the owners meetings, just from a football standpoint, we’d dig deep on all that stuff, and he’s always just a great guy to work with—a classy, wonderful, honest good-natured person. I always felt like we hit it off that way over the years. So I was excited for that, because I had a good feeling about it.

“And then getting to know Chris, spending time with Chris, I’d never really gotten to know Chris before. He was great. He came over to my house. We sat down. He took me through how the organization is built, how the ownership works. And then visiting with and getting to know Steve [Tisch], I’d never met Steve before. What a wonderful guy. He was so much fun to be around. So that was kind of the start of the basis of it. That was the most intriguing thing right out of the gates, the family nature of the ownership.”

Harbaugh also did his research into the Giants’ family, too.

He talked extensively with legends Eli Manning and Michael Strahan. He also reached out to the highest-profile coaching hire the franchise had made before this one. And Tom Coughlin—who was in a similar spot in 2004 to Harbaugh’s, coming aboard later in his career after a lengthy and successful run with an AFC team—was, as he saw, as impactful in advising Harbaugh to take the job.

“The No. 1 guy for me was Tom Coughlin; I spent a lot of time talking to Tom,” he said. “Even today, I talked to Tom numerous times. That was probably my No. 1 go-to guy about the Giants that’s not currently in the organization.”

All of it led into Wednesday night, when Harbaugh verbally accepted the job.

In the three days to follow, though, there was still much to work out. John Mara’s condition has elevated Chris Mara into an organizational role. Joe Schoen was retained as general manager. The Giants had—going back to Hall of Famer Bill Parcells and five-time Executive of the Year George Young, and most recently with Schoen and Brian Daboll—always been set up with the coach reporting to the GM, and the GM reporting to ownership.

In the course of finalizing the five-year deal, the Giants made the concessions they needed to, moving away from a model they’d employed and believed in for decades. Both Harbaugh and Schoen will report to the Maras. The Giants also committed to building the team’s football operation out in a way that would give Harbaugh the resources that he had over the years in Baltimore (the Ravens are generally seen as one of the NFL’s most forward-thinking organizations).

And that, to Harbaugh, again comes back to the players—getting the best ones he can, and giving the ones he’s got the best chance to succeed.

Harbaugh: ‘I’m very grateful’

So with all of it done, and a chance to take a deep breath, Harbaugh had a lot to consider.

It was just 13 days ago that Tyler Loop’s 44-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right, costing the Ravens the AFC North title and a berth in the playoffs. It was 11 days ago that, after an afternoon of meetings, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti informed Harbaugh that he was going to let him go after 18 years. It’s been 10 days of nonstop research and negotiation and so much to consider. He’s confident he’s in the right place now, and under the right circumstances.

Still, Harbaugh would concede that it’s difficult to explain what all of this has been like.

“That’s such a great question, Albert. I wish I had the words to describe it,” he said. “It’s probably something you have to, at some point in time, sit back and reflect on. But I would have to sum it up with incredible gratitude and appreciation. And if I’m being honest with you, just appreciation for the power of the almighty Lord. I read so much where God is our protection and our shield. And I feel like we all go through a lot in life. And from a football perspective, this has been quite a drama that we’ve been through, through the season and the end of the season, and into the last 10 days. I feel like God’s had my back the whole way.

“And I’m very grateful. And not just that, of course. It’s the people that love you, they have your back, and that’s what matters the most. I would just say when you go through something like this, and you try to understand it, [you] put your faith in your creator and the people that love you, I’m very grateful to have that.”

And by the sounds of it, ready for all that’s ahead.

Harbaugh: ‘I’m very grateful’

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