One of the winningest coaches in NFL history is now in the NFC East.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Giants are finalizing a contract with long-time Ravens head coach and long-time Eagles assistant John Harbaugh Thursday as their new head coach, replacing Brian Daboll, who was fired in November.
Harbaugh provides instant credibility to a franchise that’s averaged only 5 1/2 wins per season since 2013.
Harbaugh, 63, began his NFL coaching career with the Eagles under Ray Rhodes in 1998 and remained here through 2007. He coached special teams from 1998 through 2006 before Andy Reid promoted him to secondary coach in an effort to make him more marketable as a head coaching candidate. It worked when the Ravens hired him after the 2007 season.
He was head coach of the Ravens from 2008 through this year, reaching the playoffs 12 of 18 seasons and winning his only Super Bowl appearance after the 2012 season.
In 13 seasons since then, the Ravens are 4-7 in the postseason. The Ravens fired Harbaugh after they missed the playoffs this year.
Harbaugh’s 180 career wins as a head coach are 14th-most in NFL history, and his .614 winning percentage is 16th-best among 113 coaches who’ve coached at least 100 games.
Harbaugh takes over a team that’s had only two winning seasons since 2013, won just one playoff game since 2012 and has had five head coaches since 2015, not including two interim coaches.
Daboll, a candidate for the Eagles’ offensive coordinator vacancy, went 20-40-1 in four seasons before getting fired in November. He followed Joe Judge (10-23 in two seasons), Pat Shurmur (9-23 in two seasons) and Ben McAdoo (13-15 in two seasons). One-time Eagles draft pick Mike Kafka, Daboll’s offensive coordinator since 2022, served as the Giants’ interim coach after Daboll was fired, going 2-5 in seven games to end the season.
Their last winning coach was Tom Coughlin, who coached the Giants and led them to Super Bowl championships after the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
As soon as the Ravens fired Harbaugh, he shot to the top of the most in-demand coaching candidates league-wide. He also interviewed with the Falcons, but he seemed destined for East Rutherford from the start.
The Giants were linked to interview several other candidates, including former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak but aren’t known to have interviewed anybody other than Harbaugh.
Harbaugh inherits a talented, young quarterback in 22-year-old Jaxson Dart, the Giants’ 1st-round pick this year. Dart went 4-8 in 12 starts with 15 touchdown passes and five interceptions and also rushed for nearly 500 yards and nine touchdowns. Harbaugh reportedly spent time studying Dart once he became a candidate for the job.
Harbaugh coached at several colleges from 1984 through 1997 before Rhodes hired him in 1998. He was with Reid through six playoff seasons before replacing Brian Billick in Baltimore.