Chapter 1: Why is John Harbaugh considered untouchable by the Giants?
There is nobody right now that is more untouchable and more looked at in a positive way than John Harbaugh with the New York Giants. This man can do no wrong, no matter what goes on up until this point, until they start playing football games. John Harbaugh is the guy. And everybody very, very excited to see what he's going to do with... The New York Giants.
So Ian O'Connor's been on this thing from the get-go with Chris Mara and John Harbaugh. And he was the guy that we would go to to get updates on this story. And he sat down with John Harbaugh and got a lot of interesting tidbits out of him. about this whole process and the coaching staff.
And one of the things that was really interesting is the article starts out that John Mara really needed to process and take some time about this whole direct reporting to ownership thing.
And the reason, and there's truth to the matter, that Harbaugh's agent was keeping the Titans involved in the conversations because they didn't know for a fact that John Mara was going to come back and say, okay. that he really was considering saying that we've done this a certain way, our entire organization, and we're not going to break that chain.
So I give a lot of credit to John Mara for making different rules because this was that big of a hire. If this was another one of those coordinators who had never done it before, they would have kept it the same way. But this is what John Harbaugh wanted. He explained to John Mara what he wanted. And John Mara finally came back and said, that's it. You got a deal. Welcome to the New York Giants.
Yeah, I kind of thought ā I remember saying to you, we had one of those reports where the contract wasn't a done deal yet. We had kind of just assumed that John Harbaugh agreed to be the head coach of the Giants, and yet days were going by, and it was all about crossing the T's, dotting the I's, and yet here we were three, four, five days later.
Well, why isn't he the head coach of the Giants yet? Yeah. I only saw excerpts of this article. I don't get the athletic, but I saw excerpts of it. And the way I took it was there was a little bit of a sticking point. And not that it was going to hold it up in terms of him leaving or going anywhere else.
But if you're his representative, you had to make sure that if by chance ownership said no to this. You are going to be true to yourself, and this is the way I do things. My track record for the last 18 years speaks for itself. We win a lot of games. I'm going to come here and win a lot of games, but we're going to do it my way.
And if you're going to say no, then perhaps I need to go somewhere else. So I do give them a lot of credit for going forward because he really does seem like the right guy for the job at the right time. But to me, all it does is prove that there were maybe some dicey conversations there at the end.
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Chapter 2: What were the significant factors in Harbaugh's hiring process?
Here's what's going to be really interesting, though, is ā finding out when this draft happens, what Joe Shane's real role is in this. Because... John Harbaugh is the undisputed man in that building. Joe Shane now works for John Harbaugh. And I don't care what anybody says about titles or this or that. Joe Shane now works for John Harbaugh and ownership.
And when there's something going on and they went out of their way to give him everything they wanted and there's a disagreement on who they should draft, John Harbaugh is going to get the final say on it.
Yes, correct. This feels more like Joe Shane is a director of player personnel now as opposed to a GM. I'm not saying he's not the general manager. Of course he is, but you're right. When the coach has more power than you do, and the question I would have for you would be, let's say the Giants hadn't been struggling for years, and this is a new GM in year two of, let's say, a five-year contract.
I wonder if John Mara says yes to this. I think the position that Shane is in right now, having to do whatever is needed to win games to keep his job, I do think made it a little bit easier for John Mara to say, you know what, let's just do it because this hasn't worked the other way for years and years and years. And as he said, he wants a winner. It's been too long now.
Aside from the one year where they won the playoff game, which is great. No, they're not taking that away from them. They weren't a 13-win team that year. They won nine games. They did a nice job, and they won a playoff game. Then they went and, I think, if I remember correctly, then they get hammered by the Eagles the following week. Other than that little run of success, what has there been?
There's been nothing. So the timing of all of this with where Shane's standing in the building would be, I think, plays into it, too.
Yeah, and also Donna Ponte was hired by the Giants, who is one of the well-respected people out there in front offices. I wonder, when a hire like that happens, who is like a head of football operations deal, and then you got John Harbaugh, who is directly reporting to the owner.
I mean, doesn't it feel like we're getting into a, hey, Joe is here, and this is nice, and Joe is a part of this transition, but... Maybe at the end of next year, Joe's going to go somewhere else.
Well, that's very possible, but a lot of that to me will depend on how does this season play out, how much input does he have in the draft, are him and Harbaugh really working well together, and are they winning? Because while I agree with you right now, it kind of feels like the end, like he's still there, but...
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Chapter 3: What challenges did John Harbaugh face before becoming head coach?
was very curious and wanted to pique Rex's interest in possibly taking this job. Now, Rex is in a great spot on TV. I know he's a football coach, but he's in a great spot on TV. I would think if you're ESPN, you love having him because he makes headlines. He's not afraid to say what he thinks. So to me, it's a win-win for him.
The question would be, Rex has got to be around 60 at this point, I would think. He's definitely into his 60s now. Probably. If not here, are Rex's coaching days now over? If he doesn't latch on with John Harbaugh, he clearly isn't going to go be on Aaron Glenn's staff, and who knows how that goes. I don't know who else is hiring Rex Ryan at this point.
I know there were some overtures in Dallas, possibly his defensive coordinator, but no one's hiring his head coach at this point, I wouldn't think. And if he's comfortable in TV, that could be the long-term gain of plan at this point.