Giants’ John Harbaugh has a surprising coaching idol

John Harbaugh is officially the Giants‘ head coach now that he has sat for Steve Serby’s Q+A.

One of the more interesting anecdotes from his interview with The Post’s columnist: A Baseball Hall of Famer is one of his biggest influences.

“Guys like Tony La Russa. I just think his wisdom is unparalleled,” Harbaugh said when asked to name coaches he admired. “I reach out to him all the time.”

The relationship appears to be tied to John’s brother, Jim Harbaugh. He and La Russa became friends over a decade ago when Jim was coaching at Stanford. La Russa, a three-time World Series winner and the second-winningest manager in baseball history, lives in the Bay Area.

John Harbaugh also named a trio of NBA coaches.

“Guys like Billy Cunningham and Doug Collins, a couple of guys when I was younger I looked up to and still stay in touch with … amazing, amazing coaches,” he said. “And even guys that I don’t know, I look at Erik Spoelstra down in Miami, I like the way his teams play.”

A few other coaching-related nuggets from Harbaugh in the interview:

What won’t he tolerate? “I won’t tolerate a lack of effort. That’s not negotiable, and you got to go out there and you got to play with great effort, play as hard as you can.”

How does he motivate? “Probably just try to motivate every day by being who I am, showing my personality and bringing a lot of energy.”

On his leadership style: “I would describe it as transformational. That’s the goal: transformational, impactful hopefully.”

What does he want his NFL legacy to be? “I would like to be remembered as a guy that loved the game, and you knew a team coached by that guy, you could recognize it when you saw it, you knew what to expect from those kind of teams, his players loved playing with that style of football, and they loved coming to work every day.”