Perusing the list of New York Giants all-time head coaches, one statistic jumps off the page – the last one to have a winning record here is Tom Coughlin, who rode off into the sunset in 2015 along with two Super Bowl championships. There have been six (including interim) field bosses who were unable to fill those big shoes and it’s been a carousel of mistakes… until John Harbaugh arrived, that is.
After 18 years as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, the Toledo, Ohio native arrives with one of the strongest resumes in professional football, which includes a Super Bowl win in 2012 (over the San Francisco 49ers, a team coached by his younger brother Jim), the 2019 AP NFL Coach of the Year and a lifetime record (regular and postseason) of 193-124, a .609 winning percentage. His teams made the playoffs 12 times, won the AFC North six times and finished second on eight occasions. They had double digit wins 11 times and it was a rarity for the Ravens to finish under .500, which only was the case three times.
Perhaps luckily for the Giants, one of those was last year when the Ravens finished 8-9 and missed the postseason. Baltimore let him go and a mere two weeks later, Big Blue welcomed him with open arms and the feeling was mutual.
“I wanted this job,” Harbaugh told reporters in January at his introductory press conference after signing a five-year contract. “To be on the biggest stage in the biggest sport, I know the challenges. I understand the expectations. I know the fans are hungry for a winner.
“We’re here with one mission; to become, to earn the right to be called the world champions in New York, and that’s what I plan to do.”
A staple of Harbaugh’s Ravens teams was their staunch defense and they would make opponents pay for every yard. They balanced that with an offense that could move the ball downfield in a number of ways; ground and pound on some Sundays and big name quarterbacks who could put the ball between the numbers from anywhere on the field to a solid group of wideouts and tight ends at the same time.
There are some similarities between the 2025 Giants (4-13) and the 2007 Ravens, a 5-11 team with a lot of holes and question marks, especially on the offensive side of the ball. In 2008, the team drafted quarterback Joe Flacco 18thoverall and he and Harbaugh would grow together with a quick turnaround to flip the regular season record (11-5) and secure two road playoff wins.
There are fewer veterans on this Giants squad and they are going through more of a rebuild than that first Ravens team, but Harbaugh has become one of the most respected coaches in the league and that carries a lot of weight in turning this thing around. Dart, 23, isn’t a rookie, but only has 14 games under his belt. He showed enough promise with his arm and legs to bring a lot of high anticipation and expectations from the Giant faithful.
The one thing that seems like a given is that Dart should have better stability and wisdom as far as his head coach goes. Harbaugh may currently be at the bottom of that coach’s list, but he has a better than good chance to finish up as one of the best choices by a team with a long and illustrious history.