John Harbaugh agreed to become head coach of the Giants on Saturday, ending the New York team’s relentless quest to find its ideal candidate.
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Owners John Mara and Steve Tisch made the hiring official less than 72 hours after a lengthy interview and dinner with Harbaugh sealed the deal. The two sides began working on the contract Wednesday night, when it became clear Harbaugh fit the profile and canceled his meetings with other teams.
Harbaugh should report directly to the owners, rather than general manager Joe Schoen.
“Being the head coach of this organization is a tremendous honor,” Harbaugh said in a statement. I come from a football family and have a deep respect for the history and tradition of this organization. »
Harbaugh joins the Giants less than two weeks after being fired by the Baltimore Ravens, who made the playoffs 12 times under his leadership and won the Super Bowl during the 2012 season.
However, they missed the playoffs in 2025 following a botched field goal attempt in the final seconds of the season’s final game, leading the Ravens’ owners to change strategy and end their association with Harbaugh.
Schoen and the Giants jumped at the opportunity, signing a proven winner who has significant experience as a head coach in the NFL.
Harbaugh arrived earlier this week aboard co-owner Steve Tisch’s private plane, spent several hours at the team’s East Rutherford facility, spoke with young quarterback Jaxson Dart and was invited to dinner at nearby Elia Mediterranean Restaurant.
With the recruiting process complete, Harbaugh is now on a mission to turn around a struggling franchise that has made the playoffs just twice in the last 12 seasons and has never advanced past the second round in that span.
Todd Monken could follow him from Baltimore to take the offensive coordinator job, unless he takes a head coaching job in Cleveland or elsewhere.
Harbaugh was chosen over candidates like Kevin Stefanski, Mike McCarthy, Raheem Morris and Antonio Pierce, beating out some of the expected frontrunners who were pushed aside as soon as the 63-year-old became available.
The opportunity to work for a stable owner and with Dart made New York an attractive location compared to others, such as Tennessee, Atlanta and Miami.
The Giants have talented players on both sides of the ball, including running back Cam Skattebo, receiver Malik Nabers and left tackle Andrew Thomas on offense, Brian Burns and Abdul Carter, two specialists chasing down rival quarterbacks, and middle tackle Dexter Lawrence on defense.
They will have the fifth pick in the next draft to complete their squad.
It now falls to Harbaugh to change the culture of losing that has permeated the New York organization for most of the past decade.
If we include playoff games, the seven coaches who succeeded Tom Coughlin, Super Bowl champion in 2007 and 2011, had a record of 45 wins, 105 losses and one tie, for an efficiency percentage of .301.
Harbaugh has a record of 193 wins and 124 losses in 317 games in the league, a winning percentage of .609, since he took the reins of the Ravens in 2008.
He had spent the previous 10 seasons as an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles, primarily as special teams coordinator and defensive backs instructor.
This is Schoen’s second hire after bringing in Brian Daboll from Buffalo, where they were both assistants with the Bills, in January 2022. Management fired Daboll on November 10 after the Giants lost eight of the first ten games of his fourth season as head coach.
Mike Kafka took over as interim head coach after serving as offensive coordinator, and the team lost five straight games before winning its final two games to finish with a 4-13 record. Kafka interviewed, but was never a serious candidate.
Almost no one has compared to Harbaugh, giving the Giants a win away from the field that could be their biggest in several years.
