SAN JOSE, Calif. — Be forewarned.
Uncle John will not be playing around.
So says the nephew about John Harbaugh and what awaits Giants players as they get together in the spring and learn what their new head coach is all about.
“I would say you’re gonna hit the ground running,’’ Jay Harbaugh said Wednesday during the Seahawks media session in advance of Super Bowl 2026. “There’s gonna be a focus on real substance, football and all the things that help you win and none of the things that don’t.
“He’s really ruthless in terms of making sure that the main thing stays the main thing. And it’s gonna be tough but intelligent, you’re gonna work hard but not to a point where you’re put in unnecessarily risky positions or wearing the guys out too much. You’re going to be coached and challenged but not unfairly and not without compassion. He really is in the sweet spot on a lot of things … being honest but not cold-hearted. He’s really a masterful leader, teacher. I couldn’t say enough great things about him.
“I’m really biased, I think my dad and him are as good as it gets.’’
Yeah, Jay Harbaugh is really biased. John is his uncle and Jim Harbaugh, the head coach of the Chargers, is his father. Jay thought about becoming an FBI agent but his family DNA was not having that.
Jim’s Ravens were eliminated from the playoffs on the final day of the regular season and John’s Chargers were one and done in the postseason, losing to the Patriots in an AFC wild-card game. Jay is the Seahawks special teams coordinator and he is the last remaining Harbaugh preparing for a game, looking to win it all by beating the Patriots on Sunday in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium.
Tracking Jay Harbaugh’s coaching path is akin to flipping through pages in a family album. He spent four years as an undergraduate assistant at Oregon State, working for Mike Riley — the head coach of the San Diego Chargers when Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback. Jay’s first NFL job came in 2012, hired by uncle John. In 2015, Jay moved on to Michigan, to work for his father.
After nine years, Jay returned to the NFL, hired in 2024 by Mike Macdonald to lead special teams in Seattle. Macdonald is not a Harbaugh but he might as well be, having worked for John in Baltimore and Jay in Ann Arbor before the Seahawks came calling.
Lest we forget, the Harbaugh who got this coaching thing rolling is Jack, the longtime head coach at Western Michigan and Western Kentucky — John and Jim’s father and Jay’s grandfather.
When he needed advice on anything to do with coaching, Jay Harbaugh never had to leave the living room.
“I’m really grateful for having those relationships and those resources as I grew up,’’ Jay said, “It’s like water to a fish, you’re just in it and that’s what you know, so being a part of those conversations about tough decisions and building a team and strategy, I’ve been exposed to that for a really long time and I’m really thankful.’’
This leads the conversation at holidays toward predictable subject matter.
“We’re not immune to the family gathering, hot-button politics, that type of stuff,’’ Jay said. “Those things find a way to rear their head at any time of family gathering. The football if it does go away it doesn’t stay away for very long.”
These discussions are not reserved for the actual coaches in the room.
“Not really, because grandma Jackie, all the women they know ball, they love ball,’’ Jay said.
Jay is not a bystander in all this. The Seahawks are still playing and that their special teams unit graded out as the seventh best in the league by Pro Football Focus is one of the reasons why.
“He is always dialing up and scheming,’’ kick returner George Holani said during the season. “He is making sure we have the right plays and the right players in the right spots. He is super locked in.”
Jay Harbaugh made the Super Bowl with John after the 2012 season. The nephew made it back. It is on to the Giants for the uncle.
“From the outside it looks like they have a lot of talent there or at least some players that really stand out,’’ Jay Harbaugh said. “I would imagine there’s going to be a feeling of togetherness and taking that talent and really turning it into a team. That’s really one of his super powers and I’m just super excited for him.
“He’s gonna do great. He’s just the type of person that’s gonna take whatever the situation is and make it something really good for himself and for the team. He’s gonna crush it. He just seems really excited and energized, and that’s not to say he was lacking any of that. He just loves a challenge. He loves when people don’t maybe believe in things being possible, that’s kind of an energizing thing to hear in our family in general.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
