Most people either love or hate former Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh. The reasons people love him and hate him are basically the same reasons. It’s all a matter of perspective. Let’s break it down.
Why Former Michigan Head Coach Deserves Love
He Wins
Being a consistent winner as a football coach gets you beloved treatment from your supporters and loathing from those that don’t support your team. The fact is that Harbaugh has won everywhere he’s coached.
Starting at The University of San Diego, Harbaugh took a dreadful program and turned them into winners very quickly. His record at San Diego was 29-6 which included back-to-back 11-1 seasons. After a short tenure there as the bigger schools inevitably came calling, The “Khakis Man” went to Stanford and took over another bad program. Although his overall record was only 29-21, his last year the Cardinal went 12-1 which included an Orange Bowl victory.
Harbaugh was then lured to San Francisco to take over another struggling team. He finished his tenure as the San Francisco 49ers coach with a record of 44-19-1 and came within a whisker of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in the famous Harbaugh Bowl against his brother John. After a contentious final couple of seasons in San Francisco, Harbaugh took over the Michigan program, his alma mater. Michigan had been down before he came to Ann Arbor. Improvement was again immediate. After a few close calls getting to the conference championship, Harbaugh’s Wolverines finally broke through in 2021, beating Iowa for the BIG Ten Championship after finally getting past Ohio State the week before. Two more conference championships followed and after two failed appearances in the college football playoff, Michigan finally got their first natty since the 1997-98 season. As Harbaugh has been known to do, he left his current job to take over as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. People will say whatever they want about James Joseph Harbaugh but when they do they should include the fact that he wins wherever he goes.
He Cares And He Doesn’t
Almost immediately after taking over the Michigan program, Harbaugh started setting up satellite camps in SEC country as part of his recruiting efforts to get kids from all over the country. He even did some sleepovers at recruits’ homes. To say that SEC coaches like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart weren’t thrilled is an understatement. But true to himself, Harbaugh neither stopped nor apologized for what he was doing. In other words, he literally didn’t care about what others thought of his behavior.
Then during the 2023 season, Harbaugh took a very unusual pro-life stance. While this is neither the time nor the place for this kind of discussion, what Harbaugh said was quite remarkable. He came out and said that if any of his players got a woman pregnant that he and his wife would raise the child in lieu of the woman getting an abortion. This statement was completely unprovoked by any events. Harbaugh felt like he had something to say so he said it. This is another example of him not caring what others think of him and an example of how deeply he cares about people in general.
Deny Deny Deny
Most people not associated with the Michigan football program automatically assume that Harbaugh is guilty of something related to the spying scandal that has drawn a lot of attention in the media. Michigan fans for the most part don’t think too much of it.
Regardless of which side you take on this issue, Harbaugh remains steadfast that he didn’t know anything about it and that he did nothing wrong. The same stance applies to allegations of recruiting violations during COVID. Whether you love or hate Harbaugh, you have to appreciate on some level that he just doesn’t confess to doing anything wrong.
Competitive Fire
Speaking of the COVID season, it was a complete disaster in Ann Arbor. It was so bad that many in the fanbase wanted to run him out of town after pining for him before he came to town to save the program.
What did he do in response to the calls for his dismissal? He took a pay cut in base salary and added incentives to his contract to make up the difference if the team achieved certain milestones. Then Harbaugh reevaluated everything with the football program in an effort to turn things around.
The result the following season was a BIG Ten Championship and the program’s first-ever appearance in the college football playoff. While there was never any doubt about his competitive nature before this, the fact that he was willing to essentially look in the mirror and take a hard look at what he was doing as the man in charge spoke volumes about his flexibility (not considered one of his strong points) and determination to do anything and everything to fix things at Michigan.
His Players And Assistant Coaches Love Him
It’s no secret that Harbaugh is considered someone who can be difficult to get along with, especially when it comes to his superiors. The tension with his GM Trent Balkke during his time in San Francisco is well documented. The same goes for his relationship with current Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel although in public the two at least appeared to have repaired their relationship.
However, when it comes to his players and his assistant coaches they absolutely love him. During Harbaugh’s two suspensions last season, there was not one negative thing said about him by players or coaches. In fact, the players were seen wearing “Free Harbaugh” t-shirts.
When now head coach Sherrone Moore filled in for Harbaugh during the last three games of the regular season, he became highly emotional after each of the games when asked about his coach. That spoke volumes about how he felt about Harbaugh.
Harbaugh is without question one of the most polarizing coaches in all of football. Not too many people have a neutral opinion of him. It’s love or hate for most people. Either way, there are many reasons to love the guy and watch him succeed at his latest destination.
Main Image: Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK
