Harbaugh Family Reflects on Jim's Renewed Enjoyment Coaching Wolverines

He's channeling his inner Jack Harbaugh, having fun with his team and the game, just like Dad did

Jim Harbaugh (top) smiling before the Illinois game. Jack Harbaugh (bottom) firing up Wolverines fans at 2016 Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Photos Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Jim Harbaugh is having fun, and that’s made all the difference the past two seasons.

He’s always been a lot like his father, Jack Harbaugh, a long-time college coach himself both as an assistant and head coach. Jack was driven, organized and passionate about football and his players.

However, as much as Jim said he was having fun in seasons prior to 2021, he never seemed to me like he was. I’ve known him since he was a teenager – umpiring summer baseball games he played in and covering every game he played for the Wolverines.

Jim had a great spirit as a kid. He was both confident and happy-go-lucky. That seemed to be true in his first year as his alma mater’s head coach in 2015, but something changed him after that 2016 double-overtime loss at Ohio State.

He began clenching his teeth a lot, smiling very little. Press conferences seemed like torture for him. He wasn’t having much fun in public.

However, did you see the video of him leading the Wolverines in “The Victors” after coming back to beat Illinois Saturday on Jake Moody’s last-second field goal?

Jim was absolutely giddy, and his players were smiling widely as they watched him, soaking in all the joy.

He looked just like his father in that moment. So much like him, in fact, that it was scary. But a good kind of scary.

During Saturday’s press conference after beating the Fighting Illini, Jim was beaming while talking about Moody – now the school’s career field goals leader with 65 – and included Jack, standing at the back of the press conference, in a comment:

“I’ve been watching Michigan football since I was a kid. I’m a pretty decent historian of Michigan football. I am nominating him for leg-en-dary status at the University. Can I get a second, Jack Harbaugh! You’ve seen a lot of Michigan football. We got a second!”

Son approached father and mother Jackie after the presser, and Jack informed Jim that his brother, John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens, agreed with everything he did in pressure coaching decisions in the fourth quarter.

When Jim departed for the locker room, I spoke with Jack, who was on Bo Schembechler’s coaching staff, 1973-79, at Michigan. He also happens to be the originator of a mantra Jim has continued: “Who’s got it better than us!?” Jack used to shout that to his three children when they were young.

I got Jack off to the side and said, “The last two years, Jim has reminded me of you. I see the joy in him that maybe he didn’t have a couple of years ago that he has now, and he’s just reminding me of you.”

Jack leaned back and smiled proudly, saying, “That’s interesting you say that because Jackie, my wife Jackie, mentioned that to me. I don’t see it because I don’t see me. But she mentioned the same thing. So, it’s interesting that you said that.”

Then he said, “Two years ago, there was a transformation here and it started within the team with Aidan Hutchinson and a senior group. They came to him and said, ‘Coach, we’re going to take care of things downstairs.’ He said last year was the easiest year he ever had to coach.

“And I think with that comes comfort. There are things in place around you that are working for you. And I think that caused him to – as you describe – (enjoy himself). And, and in my opinion, it was grassroots up through the team. And it was him (Jim), too. It’s been fun, yeah.”

He’s right about Hutchinson, who changed everything for the 2021 Big Ten championship team with both his relentless play and work ethic coupled with a joyful personality. And I think 2022 starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy and tailback Blake Corum are providing the same never-ending sunshine this season. Jim has gone so far as to compare McCarthy to himself as a Wolverine, while noting, “Only, he’s better.”

Jack said he hadn’t been coming to games because he didn’t want to leave Jackie alone at home while she recuperated from a broken bone in her left knee. She was using a cane for stability but came to this one, the last home game of the season.

I asked her about Jack’s comment that she’d also seen her husband’s joy in her son.

“I see it,” said Jackie. “I thought last year he did. But, you know, this year it’s a different mentality. They like each other. And when you have that kind of chemistry, you have a chance. I’ve seen it at other schools like Western Kentucky (where Jack was head coach) that if you like each other and like the coaches, it’ a chemistry. And not every team has it.

“In almost every game this year, those kids came through some way in the game. They found a way to get ahead, stay ahead, no matter what. It’s chemistry and I completely believe it.”

Jim Harbaugh and his daughter pose for a photo with his parents, Jack and Jackie.

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography

During the Illinois post-game press conference, Jim also said, “There’s no anxiety to it. We’re on a happy mission, not a grim mission. This was one of the biggest wins ever. I’m going to enjoy it, probably for about six hours…They play with joy and gusto every time they go out there.”

I joked with his mother about the knee, saying she had to stop doing Oklahoma drills at practices. She laughed and said the injury happened when she slipped in some water while picking up one of Jim and Sarah Harbaugh’s young children.

The Harbaugh’s have been a joy to know, and these are very special times for them.

Jim is smiling and enjoying his players, the wins, and even his press conferences.

He’s channeling his inner Jack, and it’s something to see.