Best of the Giants on WFAN: Restoring pride

**Evan Roberts** (0:02)
Jackson on Long Island. What's going on, Jackson?

**Tiki Barber** (0:04)
What's up, Jackson?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:06)
Good morning, guys. How are you?

**Tiki Barber** (0:07)
All is well.

**Evan Roberts** (0:08)
Good.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:09)
So, I'm calling to come Shaun Smurfs on Harbaugh. I'm a disgusted Jet fan, but Evan, you used Parcells, which is obviously right, but you can even look at examples of coaches around the league who came in and changed franchises even now. A guy like also the last name, Parball, who went to LA and changed their franchise. A guy like Vrabel, which is the best example because they have a young quarterback in the second year who shoot a lot of flats in his first year, was super athletic. Gerard Mayo was there and no one knew what the hell was going on over there. And then Vrabel comes in and all of a sudden then the Super Bowl. And I'm not suggesting that the Giants are going to the Super Bowl.

**Evan Roberts** (0:45)
No, but you're suggesting and you're totally right about it. And I think as a Jet fan, because he said he is a Jet fan, we're so jealous of this, is that if Mike Vrabel took the Jet job instead of the Patriot job and the Jets tried, and there were plenty of reports that he literally considered the Jet job. Like it was genuine. If he takes the Jet job, the Jets are in a much different place today. And I know that because competency matters.

**Tiki Barber** (1:10)
Yeah, of course.

**Evan Roberts** (1:10)
Shaun Payton is a name he didn't use, but let's use him. Like that's a franchise changing head coach. And I happen to think John Harbaugh is in that same bucket.

**Tiki Barber** (1:17)
Yeah, and he was talking about Jim Harbaugh going to the Los Angeles Chargers, but the Chargers weren't in like dire straits. But when Jim Harbaugh went to the San Francisco 49ers, coming off the Mike Singletary era, really the Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary era, I don't think, and I'm looking at it, they had one 500 season in the Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary era.
And it was in 2009 They were 8-8. That was their only non-losing season. Jim Harbaugh's first year in San Francisco in 2011, 13-3, go to the Conference Championship, 11-4, lose the Super Bowl, 12-4, lose the Conference Championship.

**Evan Roberts** (2:06)
The moments...

**Tiki Barber** (2:08)
Coaching matters. You said it earlier. A thousand percent. It's a simple statement that often gets lost because we have this, I don't know, this unproven faith in people we like as head coaches, but good coaching is, it is... If you have it, you're going to find ways to win.

**Evan Roberts** (2:27)
And I think your example you just gave, our last caller brought us to the water and now you drank it very well. The Jim Harbaugh comp, his brother, is San Francisco. It's like one of the great examples of all time because to lay it out even further, eight straight years where they didn't have a winning season.

**Tiki Barber** (2:42)
Right, because you go back into the Dennis Erickson era.

**Evan Roberts** (2:44)
That's right, from Mariuchion, losing seasons, losing seasons, number one pick on Alex Smith. He's one of the biggest busts in NFL history. Jim takes over, 13 wins during the Conference Championship. The next year, they're in the Super Bowl. And then when he leaves, they go back into the abyss.

**Tiki Barber** (2:59)
That's right.

**Evan Roberts** (2:59)
Until Kyle Shanahan turns him around.

**Tiki Barber** (3:01)
That's right.

**Evan Roberts** (3:02)
So they are a great example of how coaching matters and Mike Vrabel going to the Patriots and not going to the Jets. And look, we'll see about Aaron Glenn. I don't want to throw him away after one year, the odds are he's not going to be a successful head coach.

**Tiki Barber** (3:15)
Right. I mean, he feels like if he is, it's got to happen and you're...

**Evan Roberts** (3:21)
It's got to happen now or else he's going to lose his job.

**Tiki Barber** (3:24)
It's a different era because when you think about the post-Jim Harbaugh San Francisco era, they were losing seasons until Kyle Shanahan got there.

**Evan Roberts** (3:31)
Yes.

**Tiki Barber** (3:31)
But they were two losing seasons with Kyle Shanahan.

**Evan Roberts** (3:34)
Took time.

**Tiki Barber** (3:34)
And then since then, they've been fantastic.

**Evan Roberts** (3:37)
Yeah, it took time. I just think, unfortunately, in Aaron Glenn's case, I don't know if he's surviving a four or five win season. I sat on the air yesterday.

**Tiki Barber** (3:43)
No, he's not. Because he doesn't have the background that Kyle Shanahan had.