At some point, it appears that John Harbaugh is going to become the next head coach of the New York Giants, but that hasn’t quite happened yet. After visiting with the team on Wednesday, reports came out later that night that he had decided to take the job in New York.
Giants fans celebrated the hire, but the celebration has suddenly turned into concern, because two days later, there’s still no deal in place. The team had all day Thursday to finalize a contract with Harbaugh, but a deal didn’t get done, and as of Friday even, there was still no contract in place.
This probably isn’t a big deal, but this is the part where we’re going to point out there have been at least two occasions since 2000 where a coach verbally accepted a job, only to change his mind at the last second. The most famous instance came in January 2000 when Bill Belichick accepted a job to become head coach of the Jets, but then he decided to not to show up for the press conference. And the best part might be the fact that he turned in his resignation on a napkin.
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It’s not just Belichick, though. Less than 10 years ago, there was a similar situation with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. On Feb. 6, 2018, the Colts announced that they were going to hire McDaniels as their new head coach, but he never took the job, because later that night, McDaniels had a change of heart and decided to stay in New England.
It was a shocking turn of events that proved one big thing: No deal is done until the contract is signed, and right now, Harbaugh’s contract isn’t signed.
As of Friday night, Harbaugh’s contract is still up in the air. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the thing that seems to be holding up the negotiation process is that the two sides can’t agree on a “reporting structure.”
“It does not sound like this is about money, it sounds like it’s more about reporting structure and who is able to do what and how the whole organization is set up, which generally, are things you discuss during the lead up, during the interview, during the courting process,” Rapoport said. “It certainly seems like there was something lost in translation either from the John Harbaugh side or from the Giants side, I guess. There’s a lot to be handled. It sounds like they’re trying to handle it, but smooth sailing it has not been.”
It could be something as simple as who has final say on roster issues between Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen. According to Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, Schoen’s role in the organization may in fact be one of the hangups in the negotiation.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, a deal could come soon, but there’s also a small chance that it might not come at all.
“Harbaugh has been very methodical about doing his due diligence on all the interested teams,” Pelissero said Friday. “This is leaning toward John Harbaugh becoming the next Giants’ head coach, but it was not and is not a foregone conclusion.”
That being said, Giants fans probably don’t need to panic just yet. For one, the Giants somewhat acknowledged the fact that Harbaugh will likely be their next coach with a simple tweet on Thursday.
CBS Sports senior NFL reporter Matt Zenitz reported on Friday morning that the two sides “are still in the process of trying to finalize a deal,” but that “the full expectation remains that this will get done and that he’ll be hired as the Giants’ next head coach.”
Giants beat writer Art Stapleton also reported on Friday that it was just a matter of time before a deal got done, “This isn’t about John Harbaugh still making demands,” Stapleton wrote. “He’s the head coach of the Giants, spirit of the law. Letter of the law, they’ve got to go through the contract and make sure language works for lawyers on both sides. Again, the deal is agreed upon. It’s legal language now.”
Since Harbaugh hasn’t signed a deal with the Giants yet, other teams are free to contact the former Ravens coach, and it’s certainly possible that’s happening, but he might not be listening. Harbaugh was scheduled to interview with the Titans on Thursday, but he called that off and the presumption was that he called it off because he was going to take the Giants’ job.
According to Rapoport, the Titans are watching the situation in New York very closely. Kevin Stefanski is also watching because he appears to be Plan B for the Giants if things somehow fall through with Harbaugh.
“You have Kevin Stefanski, who may be the one if it does not work out with John Harbaugh, he is also waiting,” Rapoport said. “The entire coaching cycle is waiting for this deal to get done.”
At this point, it seems like the two sides just need some time to iron out the final details of the contract, but no one in New York should be celebrating Harbaugh’s hiring until there’s a signed contract in place, and right now, there’s no signed contract in place.