Background and career
John William Harbaugh ( HAR-baw; born September 23, 1962) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He previously coached the defensive backs for the Philadelphia Eagles and served as their special teams coach for nine years. In 2008, Harbaugh was hired as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, serving in the role for 18 seasons. Harbaugh and his younger brother, former San Francisco 49ers and current Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, are the first pair of brothers in NFL history to serve as head coaches. Their father, Jack, served 45 years as a college defensive coach, an assistant coach, and a running backs coach. In the 2012 NFL season, John and the Ravens defeated Jim and the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. Harbaugh led the Ravens to 193 wins (including playoffs) over his 18-season tenure, the third-most wins in the NFL over that span, and surpassed Brian Billick for the most wins by a head coach in Ravens franchise history. Harbaugh led the Ravens to 13 winning seasons with only three losing seasons. His 24 playoff game appearances are the second-most by any head coach in the NFL since 2008. Harbaugh is also the only head coach in NFL history to win a playoff game in six of the first seven seasons of a coaching career and has the most road playoff wins by a head coach (8). Outside of winning Super Bowl XLVII, he guided the Ravens to six AFC North division championships, four AFC Championship appearances, and a franchise-best 14–2 record in 2019. On January 6, 2026, Harbaugh was fired after 18 seasons as Ravens head coach. Two weeks later, he was hired as the Giants' head coach.
John Harbaugh was born in Toledo, Ohio, to Jackie Cipiti and Jack Harbaugh. He attended Tappan Junior High School, now Tappan Middle School, and graduated from Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, during which time Jack was an assistant under Bo Schembechler at the nearby University of Michigan. At Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Harbaugh was a standout three-sport athlete, competing in football, basketball, and track. Harbaugh attended college and played varsity football as a defensive back at Miami University, where he graduated in 1984.
Interested in pursuing either law school or coaching after college, Harbaugh chose to enroll in classes at Western Michigan and work as a volunteer coach underneath his father, Jack, while he decided, turning down offers for coaching positions at Kansas and West Virginia. He continued to coach at Western Michigan through 1986 before going on to work in coaching positions at Pitt in 1987, Morehead State in 1988, Cincinnati from 1989 to 1996, and at Indiana in 1997.
He was first hired in the NFL in 1998 by the Philadelphia Eagles' then head coach Ray Rhodes, and was one of four assistant coaches retained by new head coach Andy Reid in 1999. As such, he is in the Sid Gillman coaching tree. In 2004, he was mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Gary Darnell as the head football coach at Western Michigan, where he had earned a master's degree and was an assistant football coach from 1984 to 1987. In 2007, after serving as Eagles' special teams coach for nine years, he became their defensive backs coach. This fulfilled his request to head coach Reid and improved his chances of landing a head coaching job since executives at that time viewed special teams coaches as unqualified to move up to head coach.
On January 19, 2008, Harbaugh was hired as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens after Jason Garrett, the team's first choice, decided to stay with the Dallas Cowboys after receiving a raise and a promotion to assistant head coach. At the time of his hiring, Harbaugh had no head coaching experience at any level, and had never been an offensive or defensive coordinator in the NFL. He impressed team owner Steve Bisciotti and Vice President of Player Personnel/General Manager Ozzie Newsome. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick also recommended Harbaugh to Bisciotti by phone during the interview process. On January 23, 2008, Harbaugh hired longtime NFL offensive coach (and former head coach) Cam Cameron as offensive coordinator.
On September 7, 2008, in his debut as a head coach, John and his Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals 17–10. In his first season as a head coach, Harbaugh guided the Ravens to an 11–5 regular season record, good enough to qualify them for the playoffs with a Wild Card berth. In the playoffs, he led the team to victories over the Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.
