Baltimore Ravens Name Eagles Assistant John Harbaugh as Coach

The Baltimore Ravens hired Philadelphia Eagles assistant John Harbaugh as coach yesterday, replacing the fired Brian Billick.

Harbaugh, 45, has been with the Eagles for the past 10 seasons -- the first nine as special-teams coordinator and last year as secondary coach. He's never been a head coach on any level.

``I'm a football coach, and I am excited to be the head coach of the Ravens,'' Harbaugh told the team's Web site. ``It's a big job and an opportunity to work with great people. I cannot wait to get started.''

The Ravens, who were 5-11 this season, fired Billick on Dec. 31, ending his nine-year tenure with the National Football League team. Billick had an 80-64 record with a Super Bowl championship after the 2000 season and American Football Conference North division titles in 2003 and 2006.

Team spokesman Chad Steele, in a telephone interview, declined to disclose terms of Harbaugh's contract. He said Harbaugh would be introduced at a news conference today.

``He has worked very hard to become a head coach in the National Football League,'' Eagles coach Andy Reid said in a statement. ``John is a good friend, a great coach, and he has played a vital role in the success we have shared here.''

Postseason Trips

Philadelphia made the NFL playoffs six times during Harbaugh's tenure, with four straight appearances in the National Football Conference championship game and a loss to New England in the Super Bowl after the 2004 season.

Harbaugh's hiring leaves the Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons as the only two of the NFL's 32 teams looking for a coach. Joe Gibbs resigned as the Redskins' coach and president Jan. 8, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, while the Falcons haven't replaced Bobby Petrino, who quit Dec. 11 with three games left to become coach at the University of Arkansas.

The Ravens' decision came one day after Jason Garrett said he would remain as an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys, rather than accepting the Ravens' offer to replace Billick. Garrett, who also spoke with the Falcons, had the assistant head coach title added to his duties as Dallas's offensive coordinator two days ago.

Coaching Family

Harbaugh comes from a family of coaches. His father Jack was coach at Western Michigan and Western Kentucky. His brother Jim -- who played with the Ravens in 1998 during a 15-year career as an NFL quarterback -- just completed his first season as coach at Stanford, and his brother-in-law Tom Crean is the basketball coach at Marquette University.

Under Harbaugh, the Eagles had 15 NFC special-teams players of the week honorees, one special-teams player of the month and three special-teams Pro Bowl berths. Harbaugh was voted by his peers as the NFL's special-teams coach of the year in 2001.

He was a college assistant at Western Michigan, Morehead State, Cincinnati and Indiana from 1984-97 before joining the Eagles.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Bollerman in New York at dbollerman@bloomberg.net