By Charlotte Carroll, Ian O’Connor and Dianna Russini

New York Giants fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The Giants and John Harbaugh finalized a five-year deal on Saturday to make the Super Bowl XLVII champion their next head coach.

“It’s the New York Football Giants,” Harbaugh told The Athletic. “I can’t wait to get started. I know how great our fans are. I’ve seen them close up enough. We are going to build a team that’s going to play a brand of football that you will be proud of.”

Negotiations, which began late Wednesday night, continued through the week as the team and coach worked to hammer out a deal.

Harbaugh told The Athletic that he would report directly to Giants co-owner John Mara. Historically, the Giants have employed a different front-office chain of command, with the head coach reporting to the general manager and the GM to owners Mara and Steve Tisch. However, during his 18 seasons as the Baltimore Ravens head coach, Harbaugh reported directly to team owner Steve Bisciotti, and the coach negotiated a similar arrangement with the Giants. Harbaugh will be the first Giants head coach not reporting to the GM.

Harbaugh told The Athletic that he looks forward to building a strong partnership with Giants GM Joe Schoen, who is entering the final year of his contract.

Harbaugh said final negotiations involved “building the football operations structure.”

“The conversations with John and Chris Mara and Joe about that were great,” he said. “… We’re not going to be much bigger operationally, but it takes time to put that together in negotiations. It finally came together, and I like the start of where we are going, but we still have to build it out. We’re on the same page with it.”

Harbaugh drew interest from as many as nine teams following his firing by the Ravens, but the Giants launched a massive push to land the veteran coach. From the get-go, the Giants were the perceived front-runners to land the 63-year-old coach. Not only was Schoen in contact with Harbaugh in the hours after the firing, but he called Harbaugh’s agent repeatedly, per The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor.

The Giants also went to Harbaugh, with senior executive Chris Mara, the younger brother of co-owner John, telling The Athletic that he met with Harbaugh for a Sunday lunch and meeting at the coach’s home. There were phone meetings, and they all led to Wednesday’s day-long meeting, which began with Harbaugh flying in on Tisch’s private jet. The day included meetings, a tour of the practice facility and a meet-and-greet with quarterback Jaxson Dart. The visit was capped by dinner at a local restaurant, Elia Mediterranean, before Harbaugh departed.

“I’m very excited about these players,” Harbaugh told The Athletic. “I spoke with Jaxson two or three times at length, and I couldn’t be more impressed with him. Watched him on tape, he had a heckuva rookie season and he’s got the right mindset. That is one tough dude.”

While Harbaugh’s departure initially worried fans who didn’t want to let him out of the building, conversations continued, and by late Wednesday, news broke that Harbaugh was canceling his scheduled interview with the Tennessee Titans on Thursday at his home and working out a deal with the Giants.

Next up for Harbaugh comes assembling the staff and assessing the roster.

“I think the Giants roster is strong and it’s our job to make it stronger,” he said. “We are going to compete for the playoffs and for championships. I expect and want to make the playoffs next year.”