Dolphins GM hiring could keep Giants in mix for John Harbaugh

The biggest development in the Giants coaching search Friday happened 1,267 miles away from MetLife Stadium.

While the Giants were interviewing Antonio Pierce to fill their vacancy, the Dolphins hired Jon-Eric Sullivan as their new general manager and put to bed rabid conspiracy theories that owner Stephen Ross was engaging in funny business to land John Harbaugh as head coach.

Hiring GM finalist Chad Alexander — a longtime Harbaugh family ally — over Sullivan would have stoked those flames.

Instead, Harbaugh remains in the cahoots-free mix with the Dolphins — Ross, a Michigan super-booster, is close with both Harbaugh brothers — but the Giants remain very much alive in the sweepstakes for the most desirable candidate on the market as the first week of the search ends. Harbaugh is expected to start scheduling interviews by the end of the weekend.

With a Super Bowl on his résumé, Harbaugh would surpass even Tom Coughlin (led the Jaguars to the AFC Championship game) and Dan Reeves (led the Broncos to three Super Bowl losses) among established coaches hired by the Giants. And that’s what the longest-tenured Giants offensive player is hoping to see from the fourth head coach of his career.

“Somebody that’s Tom Coughlin-esque,” 2019 draft pick Darius Slayton said earlier this week. “He brought a lot of things to this organization. It’s no mistake why he won while he was here. It was his personality and the way he went about his business. It takes a certain type of person to be a head coach in New York. It’s a tough job — there’s a lot of scrutiny — but you need to have a certain disposition to get the job done effectively. He probably embodies a lot of the qualities that we require now.”

If not Harbaugh, the Giants probably can’t get closer to replicating certain Coughlin-isms than one of his protégés.

Pierce played five seasons and won a Super Bowl as a captain for Coughlin’s Giants. Perhaps most significantly, Pierce was part of the leadership council formed in 2006 to help the hard-nosed Coughlin learn to be more humanizing toward players.

Years later, Pierce brought his mentor Coughlin out to Las Vegas in 2023 to help him get situated as interim head coach of the Raiders. Pierce went 5-4 to earn the elevation to full-time head coach but made a rookie mistake of hiring too many friends to his staff as favors, a league source said, and went one-and-done (4-13) in 2024.

The Giants reportedly are scheduled for a virtual interview Saturday with Broncos special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, who worked on the Dolphins coaching staff for eight seasons while Giants general manager Joe Schoen was in their front office.

Rizzi will become the second candidate to have a virtual interview, joining Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. Pierce, former Falcons and Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris, former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka completed in-person interviews.

The Giants have satisfied the Rooney Rule requiring in-person interviews with at least two external minority candidates and are unobstructed from making a hire. But the search remains in its infancy as Week 2 kicks off.

Harbaugh — who still could wind up in a GM-coach package with Alexander in Atlanta — and former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy are expected to have in-person interviews.

Former Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury could stop in after he left his post as Commanders offensive coordinator.

Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is scheduled for a virtual interview. Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb has been mentioned as a possibility.

And the interview request list really could take off soon as NFL restrictions soften.

While other teams with vacancies have been submitting requests to talk to coordinators participating in wild-card games even though those coaches are off limits until at least Tuesday, the Giants stayed quiet. Coaches whose teams played this weekend can conduct virtual interviews next week for the first time — win or lose — and then in-person interviews with all coaches under contract begin Jan. 19.

The Giants have connections to two defensive coordinators (Chargers’ Jesse Minter and Jaguars’ Anthony Campanile) and are said to be intrigued by at least two others (Rams’ Chris Shula and Packers’ Jeff Hafley).