For decades, the Giants had one rule: the head coach reports to the general manager, and the GM reports to ownership. That’s how Big Blue operated. But in mid-January, when owner John Mara finalized John Harbaugh’s hiring, he shattered that tradition. The move fundamentally reshaped who holds power in East Rutherford, and it’s not Joe Schoen. 

“Was told last week that Joe Schoen [GM] is basically relegated to handling scouting,” Pat Leonard of NY Daily News Sports reported on February 15. “Rest of the building reports to Dawn [Aponte, new senior VP], Dawn reports to John [Harbaugh]. This is continuing to go exactly as we told you it would when Harbaugh got hired.”​

The shift is seismic. Schoen once controlled the entire football operations. From contract negotiations, salary cap decisions, personnel moves, draft strategy, and free agency to roster construction. But now the GM is confined to scouting operations for the Giants.

Dawn Aponte’s arrival this February only reinforced that shift. Hired as senior vice president of football operations and strategy, she stepped into responsibilities that once belonged to Joe Schoen. The organizational chart tells the story: Mara placed his trust in John Harbaugh’s structure.

This hierarchy is a new territory for Schoen. But publicly, at least, he committed to doing what’s best for the franchise. 

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“Everywhere I’ve been — I’ve been in the league for 26 years — the head coach and general manager work together,” Joe Schoen said in January. “That’s the only way it’s going to work. Get on the same page and go through the process. 

“Again, we’ve done it everywhere I’ve been. I’m not worried about it. That’s just something on a piece of paper. Doesn’t matter. We need to work together, and we’re gonna come to a final conclusion. It’s always gonna be about what’s best for the New York Giants. I have no problem with that. I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Leonard had raised the possibility of hierarchical change earlier. He called it before Harbaugh even signed. The coach would “either want Joe Schoen gone or to reduce his power in the Giants’ new structure.” The prediction proved accurate. 

These recent revelations from Harbaugh validate everything Leonard reported. The coach spilled what really went down in those contract negotiations with Mara.

What did John Harbaugh demand from the Giants during contract talks?

The day Mara called to finalize the deal, Harbaugh didn’t know if the owner would agree to his terms. So, his agent didn’t rule out other teams like the Titans. Reports indicated the issue wasn’t money for the longtime Ravens coach. It was the terms he was accustomed to working under.

So when Mara called Harbaugh to confirm his status with the Giants, uncertainty hung in the air. Harbaugh had made his demands clear. Mara was still processing whether to break with Giants tradition.

“And he really wasn’t there yet,” Harbaugh told The Athletic on February 14. “He was trying to process it all, and I explained to John why it was important for me… I agreed with him that it doesn’t really matter in how we operate, but it did matter to me. I already had that (direct report to ownership) in Baltimore. It wasn’t new. I wasn’t comfortable not being that way.”

Harbaugh wasn’t sure if Mara would say yes. The conversation that morning hadn’t closed the deal. But to his surprise, Mara came around. “We have an agreement. Welcome to the New York Giants,” Mara told him. The Giants had their coach with a new power structure. 

However, this mirrors what Harbaugh said publicly when the Giants hired him.

“I think it’s kind of overblown a little bit in terms of how it works. The main thing is that it works and that we work together. That’s what matters,” Harbaugh said in January. “I promise we all report to the boss, and the boss is ownership.” 

This shift wasn’t a proactive evolution; it was a pure leverage play. Harbaugh, wielding a Super Bowl ring, held all the cards with teams like the Titans circling. The Giants folded because they had to. Senior personnel consultant Chris Mara openly admitted this structural exception was exclusively for Harbaugh.

“We’ve tried it both ways, and we’re just comfortable doing this with him,” Mara confessed. “I think with anybody else, maybe it might not have happened that way.”

The traditional “Giants Way” is dead. As the Giants approach the 2026 NFL Draft, Harbaugh is the undisputed apex of operations, and Schoen will either adapt or find himself out of a job.