Browns coaching search: What John Harbaugh had, what he could be looking for — Terry Pluto

CLEVELAND, Ohio — I talked to some people who worked closely with John Harbaugh in Baltimore.

Because Harbaugh was just fired as the Ravens head coach, it’s a delicate situation. So I agreed not to use the names of my sources.

The bottom line for the firing in some of their minds was “John had been there for a long time. Sometimes, it’s time for a change.”

Harbaugh was with the Ravens for 18 years. The only NFL coach with his current team longer than that is Mike Tomlin, who just finished his 19th season with the Steelers.

It was Pittsburgh’s 26-24 victory over Baltimore that put the exclamation point on the Ravens’ decision to fire Harbaugh. Suppose Baltimore’s Tyler Loop had made the 44-yard field goal. Harbaugh would still be coaching in the playoffs.

But the kick was missed. Harbaugh finished the season with an 8-9 record.

Now, there are eight teams (counting Baltimore) looking for a coach. That means there are probably seven that have an interest in hiring Harbaugh.

Lamar Jackson started 107 games at QB for Harbaugh in Baltimore.AP Photo/Adam Hunger

What Harbaugh had in Baltimore

Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot reported the Browns have an interest in Harbaugh, who won’t be interviewing with any team until next week.

He comes from the Ravens, one of the most stable organizations in the NFL.

Harbaugh had a very close relationship with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. Two of the people talking to me about Harbaugh said the coach will be looking for several of the attributes in an owner that he had in Baltimore.

He coached the Ravens to the 2012 Super Bowl title. In the next five years, they had records of 8-8, 10-6, 5-11, 8-8 and 9-7. They made the playoffs once in those five years.

From winning the Super Bowl in 2012 to the end of the 2019 season, Baltimore won only a single playoff game. Ravens fans wanted a coaching change because of the lack of postseason success.

The Ravens never blinked. Harbaugh was their guy.

Bisciotti trusted him. The same with GM Ozzie Newsome. Harbaugh knows how important it is to have the right ownership/front office combination. It will be one of his highest priorities.

Ultimate stability

In his 18 seasons in Baltimore, he had one owner and he had two guys in charge of player personnel: Newsome and Eric DeCosta. When Newsome stepped away from being the full-time GM, DeCosta moved up. He already was with the Ravens when Harbaugh was hired in 2008.

Those key people were there when Harbaugh was hired. Newsome is still involved as an executive vice president.

As my sources told me, Harbaugh will be looking hard at ownership and the front office as he interviews with teams. For example, Cleveland and other teams will have to convince him they can supply talent.

And yes, they have to show they’ll be patient.

The Browns can point to the six-year run of former coach Kevin Stefanski with only two winning seasons as a positive. They can mention GM Andrew Berry’s recent draft, which is very promising.

No matter where Harbaugh interviews, he won’t find a situation with the same continuity he had in Baltimore.

John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco in 2015. Flacco started 163 games for Harbaugh in Baltimore.AP

2 QBs in 18 years

Joe Flacco and Harbaugh arrived in Baltimore in 2008.

In the next 18 years, Harbaugh would have only two starting quarterbacks. Others started due to injury.

But Flacco was the starter from 2008 to the middle of the 2018 season. That was when Lamar Jackson took over.

Consider this: Flacco and Jackson combined to start 270 of the 293 games coached by Harbaugh in Baltimore.

He broke Flacco in as a rookie. He switched to Jackson during Jackson’s rookie season.

Two quarterbacks in 18 years …

None of the teams looking for a coach have anything close to that continuity at QB. Nor do they have a QB with the talent of Jackson.

At the age of 64, it would be hard for Harbaugh to go to a franchise where huge question marks loom over the QB position. Then again, most teams looking for a coach also have QB problems.

Kevin Stefanski and John Harbaugh are both looking for work. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com

He is ‘relentless’

Over and over, that is the word I heard about Harbaugh.

One year, he handed out T-shirts reading “Embrace The Grind.”

Another year, the T-shirt theme was “Embrace the Uncomfortable.”

He expects his people to arrive early and stay late. Not just the coaches and players, but others around him. I’m told Harbaugh will check out the work ethic of the key people in the places where he interviews.

Harbaugh is 63, only 18 months away from being of Medicare age. The man has the energy of a young coach. He remains driven to win – even more so after being let go by Baltimore.

Yes, Harbaugh has Cleveland and Midwestern roots. His mother attended Shaw High. He was a Browns fan as a kid. He was born in Toledo, went to high school in Ann Arbor (His father coached at Michigan) and graduated from Miami (Ohio).

That said, he also knows this will probably be his last big move as a coach. He has to get it right. He will be careful. A Cleveland connection or a chance to revive the franchise probably won’t be enough to bring him to the Browns.

Money won’t do it

Some Browns fans have emailed, “Tell Jimmy Haslam to back up the truck and give him all the money he wants.”

It will take more than that.

Harbaugh made $17 million in 2025. Starting in 2026, he had three years left at more than $50 million on his Baltimore contract.

“If I were John, I’d sit out a year, take the money and play golf,” a friend of his told me. “John already has received some TV interest. I’d do the TV work and play golf. But that’s not John. He’s a coach. He wants to coach.”

He’ll want to be well-paid, but money won’t drive his decision.

Harbaugh bought a home in Baltimore in 2008 when he was hired. He purchased a bigger house in 2014. Nice homes, but he doesn’t embrace extravagance. He won’t be impressed primarily by dollar signs.

He is a coach who has had only three losing records in 18 seasons. He made the playoffs 12 times.

While Harbaugh will show up at interviews well-prepared, the teams talking to him will have to do their own sales job on why he should pick them.