Blockbuster Giants coaching hire John Harbaugh, who led the 2012 Ravens to a Super Bowl XLVII title and won Coach of the Year for Baltimore in 2019, takes a timeout during his transition to Big Blue and the Big Apple for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: Describe the feeling of holding the Lombardi Trophy.
A: I was too young (49, chuckle) to realize at the time how momentous it really was and how hard it is to get. It’s an ultimate type of a moment, but then like any moment, it’s fleeting and it’s gone, and the real accomplishment is in the ongoing moments and the relationships and things like that I think truly matters. The feeling in holding the Lombardi Trophy is the feeling that you’re sharing an accomplishment with all your brothers, your family … that shared jubilation. That’s what that moment’s all about.
Q: Have you noticed the Giants’ four Lombardi Trophies in the glass class in the lobby?
A: Yes I have, and I have a spot (laugh), I do, in my mind’s eye, my dreams, I have a spot picked out for the fifth one. That’ll be a great moment when it happens.
Q: Are you into visualization?
A: I have dreams, I have visions. I have a vision for what’s possible and how to go about doing it. But I’m not sitting here visualizing shooting free throws 50 times laying on my back so I could become a better free throw shooter, which was the exercise that we were taught in seventh grade. I’m kind of past that one. … I visualize about the next team meeting, the next practice. When you start thinking about the Super Bowl, that’s not how you get there. You got to earn your way in there.
Q: Is it realistic or unrealistic to believe that you can do what Mike Vrabel has done in New England?
A: Of course it’s realistic, I mean, all things are possible.
Q: What are the traits of the ideal John Harbaugh football player?
A: Any football player — a high school player, peewee player, you’re All-Pro, you’re a Hall of Famer — a true football player is a guy who loves football, who loves to play football and likes everything about football and plays football for the sake of the game, for the love of the game … not for what the game can give me or can provide me and anything like that … the high school star that plays football because he gets the pretty girl, so to speak, like the old song says, but because he likes what football is. To me, it all starts with that. And from that stem all those other qualities — how hard they play, how physical they are. I always feel like a player shows you how much he cares about the team, about the game and about his teammates by how hard he plays. Not always how well you play, but how you play.
Q: What will “play like a Giant” mean?
A: We’re not going to use that particular term. We’re going to have our thing, whatever it might be, that comports with the great history of the New York Football Giants. It’ll be something that Giants fans can be proud of, I’m quite sure. They’ve seen a lot of great football. They know what it looks like. It’s going to look like that, and not just that. … The goal of this generation is going to be to raise that standard, raise the bar, to that level. That can be wins and losses but it can also be what you see, how hard you play, how disciplined, how physical and what level of enthusiasm and joy do you bring to the game? Those are the things that we’ll be trying to raise the bar on.
Giants head coach John Harbaugh walking past a Super Bowl poster as he was introduced as the new head coach at a press conference at the Giants Training Facility.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Q: Describe your leadership style.
A: I would describe it as transformational. That’s the goal: transformational, impactful hopefully.
Q: What are your non-negotiable standards and principles?
A: Well, our dad always told us you never lie, never cheat, never steal. That’s a pretty good place to start. Try to not think too highly of yourself, probably the No. 1 thing. Pride goes before the fall.
Q: What is your definition of mental toughness?
A: Your ability to handle both triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same. You know where that comes from? Rudyard Kipling.
Q: I was going to say Jack Harbaugh.
A: No, no, no. You’re a journalist, you should know literature! Rudyard Kipling (laugh).
Q: Your definition of physical toughness?
A: There’s a lot of different types of physical toughness. Physical toughness probably is embodied in mental toughness, emotional toughness. How about somebody that’s in a tough relationship, you know? Somebody that’s struggling with some certain situations. Maybe someone that’s struggling even with like addiction or something like that, the physical pain that goes with things like that. It goes all across the board, it’s not football related … it’s human nature related. The ability to have hope under distress in the most challenging circumstances. I think you see it every day by people everywhere all the time. That’s what I admire. Physical toughness on the field? Heck yeah, those guys love to put their bodies out there and put ’em on the line and throw their bodies around, and I admire that very much, and respect it. Although I still think it pales in comparison to the things that you’ll see in everyday life that people face every single day in terms of mental and physical toughness that they display. Often for the cause of others, especially for their family and the people that they love to make the sacrifices that are required to make a difference in their lives.
Kate Mara speaking to Jack Harbaugh at the press conference for the new New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh at the Giants Training Facility in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Q: What won’t you tolerate?
A: I won’t tolerate a lack of effort. That’s not negotiable, and you got to go out there and you got to play with great effort, play as hard as you can.
Q: You’ve been described as a problem solver.
A: I do think problem solving is the essence of everything. Every journey is navigating circumstances, and it’s one problem after another to solve and to conquer and to overcome — whether it’s by being clever or sometimes by being, like you said before, tough, mentally tough, physically tough. Sometimes it’s about being relentless, sometimes it’s about just being really smart and try to figure something out. Sometimes it’s listening to wise counsel. Sometimes it’s being obedient and doing what you’re told. It can be a lot of things, but generally speaking, yes, I would say that problem solving is a key.
Q: How do you motivate?
A: Probably just try to motivate every day by being who I am, showing my personality and bringing a lot of energy.
Q: Who are coaches in other sports you admire?
A: There’s a lot. But guys like Tony La Russa. I just think his wisdom is unparalleled. I reach out to him all the time. Guys like Billy Cunningham and Doug Collins, a couple of guys when I was younger I looked up to and still stay in touch with … amazing, amazing coaches. And even guys that I don’t know, I look at Erik Spoelstra down in Miami, I like the way his teams play.
Q: What did you admire or respect most about Tom Coughlin?
A: The thing I admired about Tom, and I still do, is his genuineness. His genuine, genuine belief in things that he thinks are important and believes in. And I also think that the things that he genuinely believes in are the things that are self-evident football truths. He is a relentless advocate of the self-evident football truths, and that’s one of the reasons he was such a great coach. And he’s a really honest man, caring man. When we went to Iraq with a bunch of coaches — it was Coach Coughlin, Coach (Bill) Cowher, Coach (Jon) Gruden, Coach (Jeff) Fisher and myself — and he was definitely the Papa Bear for all of us, Coach Cowher too … he kept us all in line (laugh), like slapping the back of our necks, back of our heads when we were getting out of line and not paying attention.
Q: What do you know about Bill Parcells?
A: I’ve only met him a couple of times before games when he was coaching. I think back to when he was in Dallas and I was in Philly as a special teams coach. I love his style, his creative unabashed honesty, man … his tell -it-like-it-is reality check. Probably the most I know about Coach Parcells other than I read his books, is Sean Landeta stories (laugh). Just the way he would make a point … kind of an offhand, even sarcastic way maybe, or funny way, and yet maybe it’s such a dagger of a truth that you need to understand to be successful or whatever it might have been … reality genius kind of guy.
Q: Are you a combination of those two?
A: No, no, no, no, no … I’m a combination of my mom and dad probably for sure.
Q: How important is a leadership council for you?
A: We believe in (the) leadership council, meet with them weekly as much as we can, and I think the players have a pulse on things, and ultimately it’s the players’ team, the players are responsible for the team in the end. It’s their team, and they should have a say in things.
Q: What are your first impressions of Abdul Carter?
A: Loves the game. I would say a relentless determination, a big heart for football. … I like his play style, I think he’s just scratching the surface.
Q: Cam Skattebo?
A: The first time I saw him he screamed from the treadmill. He didn’t really say any words, it was just like a primal scream. That’s how I picture him right now — he’s a primal scream, that’s who he is.
Robert Sabo for NY Post
Q: Jaxson Dart.
A: I like his enthusiasm for the game, his desire to do the work that is required in order to earn the right to play the game. That’s what I love about him.
Q: Describe your conversation with him at the facility when you met him.
A: I had fun. I didn’t want it to end. I love talking to him, I love texting with him. But not just Jaxson, I mean all the guys you feel that way about. That’s why, for me, that’s why you coach, because you get to have these relationships with these guys that have a shared love for football and a shared determination to be the best that you can be, and you get to pursue that every single day with these guys in conversations and in actions, in the weight room, on the practice field, the meeting room. That’s why you can’t get enough of coaching, that’s why this is just such a great job. It’s the joy of all that.
Q: Your former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald is coaching the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
A: Proud, just so proud. So impressed. I’ve seen his whole journey, from the first day he graduated from college and joined us as an intern coach in our coaching development program we started. We’re still doing it, we’re carrying it on to the Giants for young coaches. So many of these coaches go into the NFL and now we’re going to have our first head coach in the Super Bowl, man! He’s such a good dude, such a smart, hard-working good man. I’m so proud of him.
Q: You’re a history buff. Who are some of your favorite historical figures?
A: I like American history probably more than anything. I’m a big fan of Ronald Reagan. I’m a big fan of Teddy Roosevelt. Big fan of Abraham Lincoln. John F. Kennedy, real high on the list. Martin Luther King (Jr.). … I like all the heavyweight boxers, like starting with Jack Johnson.
Q: What drives you?
A: What drives me is my desire to glorify our Heavenly Father. That’s what drives me, to do the right thing, to do good works.
Giants head coach John Harbaugh at a press conference where he was introduced as the new Giants head coach. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Q: Describe your father Jack.
A: I think that (brother) Jim and I are both a reflection of him as a coach. We both have that enthusiastic style, but we also have that edgy style that he had that we saw growing up … got to have both. The biggest thing about our dad — and our mom, too — they always made us feel like we could do anything. We got in trouble a lot, we got disciplined a lot, we got spanked plenty. But we were always led to believe and feel like we were capable of doing anything. Anything and everything was possible if we worked hard and we did the right thing. That’s always been there. We never thought that we couldn’t do something.
Q: Describe your brother Jim, who now coaches the Chargers.
A: The most creative, funnest, toughest person I know. I think he’s the best coach in football. Jim Harbaugh is so much fun. People have no idea. They have no idea what this guy’s about. Everybody that knows him loves him.
Q: What did you tell your Ravens team during the 2013 Super Bowl XLVII blackout against your brother’s 49ers?
A: I said, “There ain’t no mountain high enough, there ain’t no river wide enough, there ain’t no valley deep enough to keep us from winning this game, so let’s go.”
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: How about the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit? That’d be the three. If we’re going to get outside of the realm of the Almighty Deity, I would go with Lincoln, I would go with Thomas Aquinas, and I would probably go with Paul of Tarsus.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: Probably “Shawshank Redemption,” “Rocky I” and “Forrest Gump.” I rotate between those three movies for which one’s the best one.
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Marlon Brando in “The Godfather.” I don’t know if I can beat that.
New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh arrives to be introduced at a news conference. AP
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Julia Roberts.
Q: Favorite singer/entertainer?
A: Tom Petty.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Football and pasta bolognese.
Q: How do you want to be remembered in NFL legacy?
A: I would like to be remembered as a guy that loved the game, and you knew a team coached by that guy, you could recognize it when you saw it, you knew what to expect from those kind of teams, his players loved playing with that style of football, and they loved coming to work every day.
Q: One last message for Giants fans?
A: You’re going to get our very best every single day, I promise you that.
