John Harbaugh is officially head coach of the New York Giants. Finally. More than 48 hours after news broke that the Giants and the former Baltimore Ravens coach were finalizing a deal to bring him to New Jersey, that deal is finally done.
Harbaugh “accepted the job” on Thursday morning, with final details of a five-year contract still needing to be worked out.
Once the deal was complete, Harbaugh told ESPN:
”This is the New York Giants. I’m proud and honored to the head coach of this historic franchise, and especially excited to work with the Mara and Tisch families. But most of all, I can’t wait to get started with the great players on this football team to see what we can accomplish together.”
Harbaugh, 180-113 (.614 winning percentage) with a Super Bowl title and 12 playoff appearances in 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, was fired at the end of the season after Baltimore went 8-9 and missed the playoffs.
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The Giants are hoping Harbaugh, who had just three losing seasons with the Ravens, can finally turn around a franchise that has been floundering since letting two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom Coughlin go after the 2015 season. In reality, struggling since winning the 2011 Super Bowl, the last great accomplishment with Coughlin as head coach and Eli Manning as quarterback.
The Giants are 13-38 (.255 winning percentage) the past three seasons, second-worst record in the NFL behind the Tennessee Titans (12-39 (.235) during that stretch. Since they won the 2011 Super Bowl, the Giants have the fourth-worst record in the NFL (83-145-1, .369). Since 2017, the Giants’ 44-104-1 (.299) are a half-game behind the New York Jets (44-105, .295) for the worst record in the league.
During the last two seasons, the Giants are a combined 7-27. New York fired Brian Daboll midseason when the team was 2-8. The Giants went 2-5 with Mike Kafka as interim head coach.
The Giants’ ultra-aggressive chase of Harbaugh included a barrage of phone calls from GM Joe Schoen, as well as contact between Harbaugh and co-owner John Mara, Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin and even Daboll. Chris Mara also traveled to Harbaugh’s Baltimore home for lunch and a meeting.
In a poll asking Big Blue View readers their opinion of the hiring, 95.2% said it was a good one.
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