January 18, 2008

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) -- All the time he spent in the background as an
assistant paid off for John Harbaugh, who welcomed the "opportunity of a
career" Saturday after being introduced as the new head coach of the
Baltimore Ravens.

Harbaugh brings 24 years of coaching experience with him, even though he
has never been in charge of an offense or a defense.

"I'm a football coach. I've been a football coach for a long time,"
Harbaugh said. "I'm proud to be the football coach of the Baltimore Ravens."

Harbaugh was promoted to secondary coach last season, and this month
emerged among six candidates to replace Brian Billick as the leader of
the Ravens.

Harbaugh had an unspectacular playing career as a defensive back at
Miami (Ohio) before starting his coaching career as a running
backs/outside linebackers coach at Western Michigan in 1984. He was an
assistant at the college level with Pittsburgh, Morehead State,
Cincinnati before joining the Philadelphia Eagles as special teams coach
in 1998.

"There's a lot of ways to prepare to be a head coach. I'm proud of the
path I took," Harbaugh said. "You pay attention to detail, you do the
best job you can, and good things happen."

With his wife and parents sitting in the front row of an auditorium at
the team training complex, the 45-year-old Harbaugh said, "This is the
opportunity of a career, and it's a dream of ours we've had for a long
time. We can't wait to get started."

He didn't care that the Ravens first offered the job to Dallas Cowboys
offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who turned down the bid after
receiving a raise from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and a promotion to
assistant head coach.

"As far as being perceived as the second choice ... that's irrelevant to
me," Harbaugh said. "I never thought about it in those terms, never
would. It doesn't matter. It's an opportunity to go forward."

When he fired Billick on Dec. 31, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said the
decision was the result of a "gut feeling." Choosing Harbaugh was no
different.

Before becoming owner of the Ravens, Bisciotti took pride in hiring
young, untested people for Aerotek, a highly successful staffing company
in the aerospace and technology sectors. He used that method in choosing
Harbaugh over an experienced head coach like Marty Schottenheimer.

"Do I like a guy that has to earn his resume? Yeah. I kind of made a
living on hiring people with thin resumes and it's worked out pretty
well for me in the last 25 years," Bisciotti said. "I think that works
to John's advantage. I said three weeks ago you have to take chances to
be successful. You have to be willing to do things that the masses
wouldn't do, or I don't think you will be able to separate yourself from
the masses.

"Is it a little bit more of a perceived chance? Yeah, but the time we
spent with John Harbaugh gave me a comfort level that we hired the right
guy," the owner said. "You go with your instincts, and I have pretty
good instincts. ... I like the fact that John gets to build his legend
right here."

Harbaugh inherits a team that followed a 13-3 season with a 5-11
disappointment in 2007. His first task will be to assemble a staff;
Bisciotti said Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, who was dismissed
with Billick, will be asked back if he doesn't get hired as head coach
of the Atlanta Falcons.

Ryan was one of six candidates interviewed for the job in Baltimore.
Only Garrett and Harbaugh received a second interview. New York Jets
offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, Marty's son, was among those
interviewed in early January.

Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said Saturday that Marty
Schottenheimer did not wish to be a candidate for the job until
Baltimore dismissed his son as an option.

Harbaugh is the product of a football family. His father, Jack, is
former head coach at Western Kentucky and his brother, Jim, is head
coach at Stanford and a former quarterback with the Ravens. John
Harbaugh learned plenty from those two, but also gave thanks to former
Eagles head coach Ray Rhodes for hiring him as special teams coach in
1998, and to current Philadelphia coach Andy Reid.

"I wouldn't be sitting here with this chance if it wasn't for Andy
Reid," Harbaugh said. "He's been my mentor for nine years now."

Now, it's time to see what the student can do. Harbaugh acknowledged
that some might question his credentials, but stressed that as a special
teams coach he had to deal with every player on the 53-man roster, which
of course is part of the job description for his new post.

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