John Harbaugh was back in his Baltimore-area home Saturday, catching up with his wife on Valentine’s Day while remembering the call from New York Giants co-owner John Mara last month that changed his life.
Harbaugh was sitting in his dining room on Jan. 17, packing boxes with Ingrid as they talked through the different scenarios in play. The 18-year coach of the Baltimore Ravens had received a text from senior Giants executive Chris Mara that his older brother would be reaching out shortly, and at 3:15 p.m., the call came in.
Harbaugh was not certain what John Mara would say. They had talked that morning without closing the deal — Mara had yet to commit to Harbaugh’s request to report directly to him rather than to the team’s general manager, Joe Schoen, which would be keeping with long-standing Giants tradition. As president and CEO of the Giants, Mara was clearly making the final call.
“And he really wasn’t there yet,” Harbaugh told The Athletic in an interview Saturday. “He was trying to process it all, and I explained to John why it was important for me. … I agreed with him that it doesn’t really matter in how we operate, but it did matter to me. I already had that (direct report to ownership) in Baltimore. It wasn’t new. I wasn’t comfortable not being that way.”
That’s why his agent, Bryan Harlan, was still speaking with the Tennessee Titans, keeping them in the game just in case. When Harbaugh answered his phone that fateful afternoon, he didn’t know what to expect. “It could’ve gone either way,” he said.
As Mara started speaking, his tone was businesslike, freezing the candidate with anticipation. Finally, Harbaugh heard Mara say, “We have an agreement. Welcome to the New York Giants.”
Harbaugh hugged Ingrid and DocuSigned the contract three hours later. Day 1 had begun with a five-year, $100 million-plus deal to accept what he saw as a dream job almost immediately after the Ravens fired him. Harbaugh hadn’t built an entire staff since 2008, his first year as a head coach on any level, so his work over his first 30 days on the job would be critical to realizing his stated goals of making the 2026 Giants a playoff team and, at some point, of winning another championship ring.
At 63, Harbaugh has needed to push himself at a much younger man’s pace. This is what that frantic scramble looked like as Harbaugh began making the Giants his.
After many sleepless nights, Harbaugh was usually arriving at the team’s East Rutherford, N.J., facility at 4 a.m. He started his mornings by working out with a member of his strength and conditioning staff, often Aaron Wellman or Drew Wilson or Ron Shrift, in a program that is a merging of Ravens and Giants philosophies and is broken down into three-week cycles defined by different exercises and tempos. Sometimes the emphasis was on explosion, other times on deceleration.
Mondays were about circuit training. Tuesdays were leg days. Wednesdays were upper-body days. Thursdays belonged to cardio. Fridays emphasized the core, shoulders and arms. If Harbaugh doesn’t look his age, this routine is why. His leg squats are impressive, and he still looks like he can match his career-best bench press (335 pounds) as a college safety at Miami of Ohio.
His breakfasts consisted of energy bars, oat bars and the oatmeal packs that his assistant, Megan Rosburg, lifted from her hotel lobby. Lunches and dinners came courtesy of the food prepared for the scouts who were in for all-day meetings to set up their draft and free-agency boards.
Harbaugh tried and usually failed to get out of the building by 8 p.m. Back at his team-supplied apartment, he would make more texts and calls to assistant coaching candidates, grab a few hours of sleep on the best nights, send more texts to candidates at godforsaken times, then return to the gym and start that engine all over again.
The intense workouts were followed by a nonstop blur of meetings and interviews. Harbaugh had numerous in-depth conversations with John Mara about football strategy and hiring issues, and he was in constant communication with Schoen even when the GM was booked into draft and free-agency sitdowns.
“I had high expectations for Joe, and I would say he’s lived up to those high expectations,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve worked really well together. We talk multiple, multiple times every day … and a lot of things come up. ‘We hired an analyst, so what are we paying him? What did the Raiders or Eagles say when we asked for permission to speak to someone?’ Joe’s been a smart judge of tactics and situations.”
Harbaugh was heavily involved in the hiring of the NFL’s chief administrative officer, Dawn Aponte, as the Giants’ senior VP of football operations and strategy; she’ll oversee analytics, salary-cap management and player contract negotiations. As another sign of Harbaugh’s considerable influence in the organization, Aponte will report to him.
As will, of course, the 31 members of his newly appointed coaching staff, including his eight-member strength and conditioning team. When adding up the people interviewed for those 31 positions, the sources contacted for opinions on those people, and the applicants who were considered and deserved a respectful response for their interest, Harbaugh made hundreds upon hundreds of calls and texts.
He emerged with what appears to be an eclectic, high-quality support system, minus his slam-dunk choice as offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, who took the head-coaching job with the Cleveland Browns. Asked whether the consolation prize, Matt Nagy, could end up being the equal of Monken, Harbaugh said, “Of course. Of course. I expect Matt to be the best ever. I’m hoping he’ll be the best offensive coordinator to ever coach the game; that’s what we’re shooting for.”
Harbaugh ran a more wide-open derby on the defensive side of the ball. He even acted on a suggestion he first made on WFAN Radio by speaking with his former assistant in Baltimore, ESPN analyst Rex Ryan, about the coordinator position. “I talked to Rex about that job at length,” Harbaugh said. “Rex is a guy I love and have a lot of respect for.”
But Harbaugh decided on another former Ravens assistant of his, Dennard Wilson, after receiving a strong recommendation from his successor in Baltimore, Jesse Minter. He also saw fellow Ravens aides Chris Horton (assistant head coach/special teams coordinator) and Willie Taggart (running backs) as no-brainer hires.
The Giants announced the finalization of the staff Friday. The hours poured into the process made it impossible for Harbaugh to get into Manhattan for dinner or anything else. He wants to see a Knicks or Rangers game at the Garden, though Ingrid, a Brooklyn Nets fan, would prefer to catch a game at Barclays Center.
No matter what happens with New York’s basketball and hockey teams, Harbaugh could own the city if he ends years of NFL misery by winning the Giants’ first title since Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady out of two.
“I’ve heard people say the parade in New York is the most incredible thing ever,” Harbaugh said. “Coach Coughlin told me that, and I have a vision, like, ‘Wow, I want it. I want to see that. I want to be in that parade.’
“But with that being said, what I’m thinking about is what the team looks like that earns the right to be in that parade someday. What do we have to build to get there? That’s really what I’m consumed with.”
Long a prominent branch of the Andy Reid coaching tree, Harbaugh is waking up Sunday, his 30th day in office, proud of the fact that his own tree now includes a Super Bowl champ in the Seattle Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald. But Harbaugh has too many coaching years left in him to bask in a protégé’s glory. Harbaugh wants to become the first coach to win Super Bowls with different franchises.
First, he has a house to sell in Owings Mills, Md., and a house to buy in New Jersey, while fitting in a trip to the NFL Scouting Combine.
“This feels right. It feels like an amazing new chapter,” Harbaugh said. “I need things to be organized, to look right, to be in their proper place … and I’m starting to see it all coming together.
“You start putting systems of offense, defense and special teams together, having those conversations with coaches about how we’re going to build our terminology out. Building systems, to me, is so important, and now it’s starting to take shape. That’s what I’m excited about.”
Harbaugh is installing a program designed to teach a losing team how to win. If it fails, his first month as Giants coach shows it won’t be for a lack of trying.