Tom Coughlin, as only Tom Coughlin can, had a directive for Chris Mara when John Harbaugh unexpectedly hit the coaching market.

"Get your ass down there."

It wasn't the first time that Mara, the Giants' senior player personnel executive and member of the franchise's ownership board, had been yelled at by the former head coach. It certainly wasn't the last, either.

"He was absolutely over the top (for Harbaugh)," Mara said Tuesday after Harbaugh's introductory press conference. "He yelled at me 15 times before it was done. And once we got it done, he yelled at me again."

Coughlin's yelling has led to screams of joy from Giants fans.

The high-stakes process began on Tuesday, Jan. 6, when the Ravens parted ways with Harbaugh. Coughlin, upon hearing the news, texted his old friend and colleague.

It wasn't a message of sorrow. It was congratulations for an 18-year run that produced 193 total victories, including a Super Bowl title the year after Coughlin won his second as head coach of the Giants.

Harbaugh responded with a paragraph, at the bottom of which read: "By the way, if you have a minute, I could use some advice."

It turned out to be giant advice.

Coughlin called Harbaugh, and the initial conversation was general. Harbaugh wanted to know about the franchise, how ownership interacted, and just the overall way the building operated. That led to more talks,

Meanwhile, the Giants never thought Harbaugh would be available in the first place. Once he was, Mara said they felt the head coach was "very gettable." In order to land the sought-after coach, though, they had to act and not react.

Mara then got his you-know-what to the Baltimore area.

"We discussed it as a group, as an ownership and as an organization, and I decided that it was time to act on it," Mara said. "On Friday night before the playoff games started, I talked to John (Mara) and Steve (Tisch) and said, 'I'm driving to Baltimore tomorrow and I'm going to talk to John.' Tom Coughlin set it up for me in terms of contact info. I had never talked to John Harbaugh in my life until I got to his house.

"I just wanted to make an impression upon him from an ownership standpoint. I think I did that, and I just was really conscious of the fact that there were going to be so many different openings, especially with some of these playoff teams that it was possible they were going to get rid of their coaches."

Harbaugh, unsurprisingly, left an impression on Chris Mara.

"He's a born leader," Mara said. "Sitting next to him, I could just tell. He looks at the whole picture – not one side of the ball, not special teams, not defense. He looks at the whole picture."

On the drive home, Chris called his brother John and Tisch.

"I said, 'This guy wants to be a Giant.'"

A thorough negation played out, but it "wasn't really a big deal, to be honest with you," Mara said.

It was natural, just like their conversation at Harbaugh's home. It was the first time the decorated coach was going through the process in 18 years, and he rightfully wanted to cross all of his t's.

"My objective was to explain to him about ownership," Mara said. "Then he asked me eight million questions about players, about facility, about structure. We just had a man-to-man talk for a couple hours while the game was going on in the background. He wanted to know about a lot of the players, some of the coaches we have, and I gave him some first-hand information on them."

It led to a perfect match in Coughlin's eyes.

"John Harbagh is a man of principle," Coughlin said on the “Giants Huddle” podcast. "His dad was a coach, so he's been in that particular environment all his life. He loves coaching. He loves working with people. He has an excellent personality. His whole theme is about everyone working together to be the very best that you can possibly be. And I think that's something to keep in mind about everyone in the building, everyone in the building performing at a championship level. That's what John Harbaugh will be looking at as he investigates the people."

Coughlin added: "As long as everyone is on the same page, John will be easy to engage with. However, you cross the line the other way, as in the players who want discipline, they want accountability, they've openly said that. They want to be held to a standard, and I think it starts right out with effort. That's what this thing would be all about. That's why there isn't any question in my mind the situation in New York with the Giants and John Harbaugh are coming together at the right time historically."

Speaking of history, Coughlin explained the relationship between head coaches and Giants ownership.

"For example, the Mara family goes back to the start of the National Football League," Coughlin said. "So, historically, it's all there. It's all there about Mr. (Wellington) Mara, if you want to just do a little bit more reading and understand his incredible contribution to the game. For me, it was Wellington Mara and Bob Tisch when I was hired in 2004, two great, great people, great human beings, very supportive, that type of thing. Knowing what history is and knowing the way in which the Giants operate, John (Harbaugh) is quickly going to discover they're football people. They're football people, and they're engaged. They have a lot of opinions (laughs). You've given me credit for John (Harbaugh) being there. Chris Mara did a great job. Chris did a great job representing John (Mara) and the Giants and laying the whole thing out and working with John (Harbaugh) throughout this whole process. Even in its darkest hour, I would say to John, 'John, please give great thought to how this can be put together so that this dream of yours and the Giants can come to fruition."