VIENNA, VIRGINA - - Stanford football coach Jim Harbaugh made a name for himself early in his first year with the Cardinal. Taking an undermanned Stanford team into the L.A. Coliseum to play Pete Carroll’s powerful Southern California Trojans, a blowout was expected.
Insiders thought that if the Cardinal could stay within two touchdowns of mighty USC, it might be a stepping stone for Harbaugh to build on.
Somebody forgot to give that script to the coach. Instead of hanging in there for a half or three quarters, Stanford fought USC on nearly even terms.
Finally in the fourth quarter, USC ran out to a nine-point lead and appeared to have Stanford on the ropes. However, Harbaugh’s team evaded the knockout punch and scored the final 10 points and come away with a shocking 24-23 victory. It was clearly the highlight of a 4-8 season.
The win might have startled most coaches in their first year in a BCS conference, but most of those coaches do not bring the experience that Harbaugh does to his job. Not only did he have a notable playing career at
Harbaugh’s father Jack was an assistant coach at
There’s more to the Harbaugh coaching tree. Former college football coach and ESPN analyst Mike Gottfried is Jack’s cousin, and Gottfried’s nephew Mark Gottfried is the head basketball coach at
Jack Harbaugh spent seven seasons (1973-1979) as defensive backs coach at
“I must have kicked him out of a hundred practices,” Jack said.
Young Jim even once put his feet up on the head coach’s desk.
Jack took the Stanford defensive coordinator job in 1980, and Jim starred at
He worked summer jobs and went to football camp on Stanford campus. But without a scholarship offer from Stanford -- it was suggested his skills were too raw -- Jim Harbaugh became a star at
Schembechler was blown away by Harbaugh’s cocky attitude, but
As a future coach himself, Harbaugh acted like one in practice. When a teammate dropped a pass or gave what was less than full effort, Harbaugh would provide and earful.
Harbaugh’s tendency to shoot from the hip as a player came after a huge loss to
Schembechler later said he told Harbaugh, “You better be right!” and noted he would have been more concerned if Harbaugh didn’t expect to win. But Hanlon said that the head coach rallied the coaches around their field general.
“Bo told us, the son of a gun has made a statement, and now we’re going to have to back it up,” he said.
The Wolverines won 26-24, the second of Harbaugh’s back-to-back wins over the Buckeyes. He was named All-America and Big Ten Player of the Year that season.
Hanlon knew Harbaugh had great coaching potential.
“He has studied the game of football -- if you don’t know what you’re teaching, you’re not going to be a good coach,” he said.
Throughout his 16-year NFL career, Harbaugh spent pro offseasons as an unpaid consultant on his father’s
The Hilltoppers won the I-AA national championship in 2002.
Jack’s style was significantly different from his son’s. While Jim expected greatness from himself, the elder Harbaugh was humble.
When the Hilltoppers won their national title, Harbaugh was nearly in shock. After 41 seasons, he finally won championship. He guided Western Kentucky through a remarkable turnaround to its first football title, avenging an early loss by defeating
Harbaugh stood in disbelief on the sidelines as the clocked ticked down to zero. “I’m a very average coach,” he said.
“There is no possible way to explain the emotion I felt,” he said. “I was fired at
John Harbaugh does not have to take a backseat to his more famous brother of father. A key member of the Eagles coaching staff, Harbaugh earned a solid NFL reputation by building one of the most consistent special teams in the league. He spent nine seasons in that position before Andy Reid promoted him to secondary coach in 2007.
John Harbaugh wants to follow in the family tradition and become a head coach. He interviewed for the head coaching position at UCLA before the Bruins filled their opening with Rick Neuheisel.
The move from special teams to defense was not just a career move as far as Harbaugh is concerned. While he clearly has further career aspirations, he wants to learn everything there is to learn about coaching.
“It’s a chance to do something different and learn more about the game, and that’s exciting to me,” Harbaugh said. “Maybe it helps me contribute to the team in a different way, maybe it shakes the secondary up a little, maybe it makes the whole thing a little better.
“If it helps me with my career down the line, that’s fine. But that’s not why I did this. If I spend the next 10 years coaching defensive backs here? That would be great, too.”
Why wouldn’t it be? He’s a Harbaugh and he’s on a football field.
Just as it was meant to be.
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Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.