'Home run hire:' Giants making John Harbaugh next head coach

Pat Leonard, New York Daily News on Jan 15, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — The Giants scored their biggest win in years by landing their No. 1 target:

John Harbaugh is expected to be New York’s next head coach.

Harbaugh, 63, agreed late Wednesday night to coach the Giants, and the two parties were working Thursday to finalize an agreement to make it official, a source told the New York Daily News.

The longtime Baltimore Ravens coach reportedly will receive a contract in the neighborhood five years and $100 million. That’s worth every penny to the Giants, a franchise with four Super Bowls desperate to reclaim the glory of its distant past.

“It’s a home run hire for the Giants,” Super Bowl champion Chris Canty, a former Giant who played for Harbaugh in Baltimore, told the News. “Harbs will bring a level of discipline and accountability that has been missing since Tom Coughlin.”

Coughlin led the Giants to Super Bowls in 2007 and 2011, but the Giants have been to the playoffs only twice in the 12 seasons since they last lifted the Lombardi Trophy.

So they knew the stakes when they hosted Harbaugh at the Giants’ facility in East Rutherford, N.J., all day Wednesday. And they brought him to nearby Elia Mediterranean Restaurant to close the deal in a private room with a Giants contingent that included executive Chris Mara, director of player personnel Tim McDonnell and GM Joe Schoen.

The wine flowed, and so did the excitement. It became clear that Harbaugh felt comfortable enough at Tim Salouros’ restaurant for the owner to crack a joke.

“I said, ‘As a fan, Coach, are you ready to join the Giants? Or else we won’t let you leave the building,' ” Salouros told the News on Thursday with a laugh.

Harbaugh dined on a pan-roasted Alaskan filet of Halibut over cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, mushrooms and crab meat, finished with a yellow romesco purée.

He and the Giants’ brass also sampled appetizers from fried calamari and shrimp to octopus, zucchini and eggplant chips, Greek salad and a fried Saganaki cheese.

Harbaugh still flew home from Teterboro Airport to the Baltimore area on Wednesday evening, but he knew New York was where he wanted to be.

He canceled a planned Thursday visit from the Tennessee Titans in anticipation of closing the deal with the Giants on Thursday, and that took the biggest name on this year’s coaching carousel off the board.

Harbaugh, who won a Super Bowl in 2012 and built a career .614 winning percentage during 18 seasons in Baltimore, instantly restores credibility and professionalism back to a Giants franchise that has lost its way.

The Giants knew they needed to make a big hire. Schoen promised a sweeping search that would turn over every rock. And he interviewed several candidates, from former Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski to Denver Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi.

But once the Ravens fired Harbaugh last week, the Giants went all-out for one man.

Chris Mara, who has stepped into a larger role during co-owner John Mara’s cancer battle, visited Harbaugh at his house last weekend to set the table for the coach’s visit to New Jersey. The Giants leaked tons of information about their heavy pursuit of Harbaugh to thrust their pursuit into the spotlight.

And Harbaugh appreciated the love.

The two big questions now are what will become of Schoen in this new arrangement and who will be Jaxson Dart’s new offensive coordinator.

Sources told the Daily News during the process that they expected Harbaugh to either want Schoen out of the picture or that he would reduce Schoen’s role significantly at the very least in a more head coach-centric structure.

But early indications are that Schoen is as on board with this hire as anyone.

Todd Monken, Lamar Jackson’s most recent offensive coordinator in Baltimore, is the leading candidate to follow Harbaugh to New York to call plays for Dart.

Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb and Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase are two names that intrigued the Giants as potential coordinators during this search, as well.

Interim Giants defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen, a close friend of Schoen’s, has always been expected to stay if Schoen does. That search always could evolve.

The big picture ramifications of Harbaugh’s hiring internally will be fascinating. He is expected to bring significant change to how the Giants run their building in all departments, which will shake up the organization.

The Giants seem to understand how badly they need it, though.

They have a 44-104-1 (.295) record and one playoff appearance since the start of the 2017 season.

Landing Harbaugh could be their first big win of many in their quest to get back on track.