The Giants got the first shot. But they did not close the deal.
John Harbaugh was in the building Wednesday to interview for the vacant head coach position. With the Titans and Falcons also in the mix, the Giants hoped getting to lead off this high-stakes competition could be a significant development.
As it turned out, Harbaugh was not of the mind to come to a decision after his first visit. He plans to continue his tour with a meeting Thursday with the Titans at Harbaugh’s home in the Baltimore area.
A source close to Harbaugh told The Post in recent days that the “don’t let him out of the building’’ scenario was not completely out of the question, as far as the team that gets the first formal interview with Harbaugh conceivably making him an offer to secure his services and prevent him from looking elsewhere.
That did not happen, despite the Giants’ best efforts. Perhaps it was never going to happen.
The Giants have been all-in on Harbaugh since Jan. 6, the day he was fired by the Ravens after 18 years with that organization. There has been no secret that Harbaugh is their first choice to replace Brian Daboll, who was fired 10 games into this past season, with the Giants sitting at 2-8 a season after they finished 3-14. Harbaugh was let go after the Ravens in their regular-season finale lost to the rival Steelers, eliminating the Ravens from the playoffs.
The Giants pulled out all the stops. They sent co-owner Steve Tisch’s private plane to Baltimore to put up Harbaugh and charter him to their team facility in East Rutherford, N.J. This was in keeping in the full-court press the Giants put on and kept on for more than a week. General manager Joe Schoen has been in frequent contact with Harbaugh and his camp. Co-owner John Mara has made a pitch. Chris Mara, the Giants’ senior personnel consultant, had lunch with Harbaugh in Baltimore and met with him at Harbaugh’s home. Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning spoke with Harbaugh about the Giants.
So did Brian Daboll, who was extremely complimentary about the entire Giants operation and is believed to have assured Harbaugh that he would have no problem working with Schoen, as Schoen believes in a collaborative approach.
During his time with the Giants, Harbaugh also met quarterback Jaxson Dart, whose strong rookie season and potential is one of the Giants’ biggest assets.
Harbaugh, 63, was 180-113 in the regular season and 13-11 in the playoffs in his nearly two decades with the Ravens. He won a Super Bowl after the 2012 season, in his fifth year as a head coach. Harbaugh is a CEO type of leader, with a background as a special teams coordinator. Thus, who he hires as his offensive and defensive coordinators will be essential to his future success.
The Giants want to secure Harbaugh as their head coach and the rest will fall into place.
It could take as much as $20 million a year to get Harbaugh. The Giants knew that going into this chase and financial considerations will not be an impediment if a negotiation is forthcoming.
