For years, Chris Mara has been the recipient of the hateful slings and arrows of frustrated New York Giants fans needing someone to blame for the bad decisions and on-field failures by the team during the past 14 years.
That should be over now. No, that HAS to be over now.
If you are excited about the Giants’ hiring of decorated head coach John Harbaugh as their new coach, and you should be, you need to thank Mara for the critical role he played in making that happen. You should probably be apologizing to him, too, for castigating him when you have no idea what role he did, or did not, play in any of the decisions made by the organization in recent years.
‘Kudos’ to Mara for his aggression in taking a leading role in making sure Harbaugh came to the Giants. And, quite honestly, for stepping to the plate when his brother, CEO John Mara, and the Giants’ organization needed him most.
John Mara, as we all know, is battling cancer. The 71-year-old patriarch deserves ‘Kudos’ of his own for fighting through his health crisis to do everything he can to aid the Giants’ search for a new head coach. He has, by all accounts, been showing up the Giants’ facility every day and participating in the head-coaching interviews, asking questions and offering his opinions.
Anyone who saw John Mara walk unsteadily into the field house on Tuesday with family members supporting him on both sides understands, though, the toll his battle has taken on him.
After past coaching hirings, John Mara has always been available to media. It is, in fact, usually Mara who introduces a new coach This time it was an obviously nervous GM Joe Schoen. This time, when media wanted someone from ownership to speak with after Harbaugh’s introduction, it was Chris Mara who was engulfed by reporters.
I have covered the Giants since 2007 and been fully credentialed to attend games, practices, and events for more than 15 years. In that time, Tuesday was the first time I have seen Chris Mara step into that role. He’s been a good big brother, and a good soldier for the organization, throughout the search for a coach.
It was Chris Mara who took the lead, along with Schoen, in pursuing Harbaugh. It was Chris, with help from Tom Coughlin, who drove to Harbaugh’s home outside of Baltimore to meet with him to ensure he understood the depth of the team’s interest.
“I just wanted to make an impression from an ownership standpoint. I think I did that,” Mara said on Tuesday after Harbaugh’s introductory press conference. “And I just was really conscious of the fact that there was going to be so many different openings, especially with some of these playoff teams that were possibly going to get rid of their coaches.
“So that’s why I thought it was important to beat everybody to it, and that’s what we did.”
Driving to Baltimore to meet with Harbaugh was Chris Mara’s decision.
“We discussed it [the interest in Harbaugh] as a group, as an ownership, and as an organization. And I decided that it was time to act on it. And Friday night, before the playoff game started, I talked to John and Steve [Tisch] and said, I’m driving to Baltimore tomorrow, and I’m going to talk to John,” Chris Mara said. “Tom Coughlin set it up for me in terms of contact info. I had never talked to John Harbaugh in my life until I got to his house.”
Chris Mara said Coughlin told him bluntly to “Get your ass down there” to Baltimore. He did, and he and Harbaugh “hit it off really well,” laying the groundwork for Harbaugh to eventually sign on the dotted line.
“When I left his house on that day, I drove there, I drove home, and I talked to John, I talked to Steve, and I said, this guy wants to be a Giant,” Chris said.
Chris Mara, 68, knew how badly his big brother wanted to bring Harbaugh to New Jersey.
“My emotions were, let’s get it done,” Chris Mara said. “Because John, he was really high on Harbaugh, and I knew that’s who he wanted. We cast a wide net on the whole coaching staff, and he was number one on it.”
Being front and center is a new role for Chris Mara.
“I’m just helping him [John Mara] any way I can, and he’s here every day, pretty much,” Chris said of his brother. “We talk all the time, and no one has a better idea about the league than him, so I’ve learned a lot from it. I’ve kind of taken the reins when he’s not able to.”
John, and Giants fans, need to thank him for that.
See More:
