Grace Harbaugh posts TikTok poking fun at her dad's suspension
It’s not the first Jim Harbaugh TikTok sensation — remember the dispatches from the family vacation? — but it is the latest. And his daughter, Grace Harbaugh, kept it topical and relevant with a video from Michigan’s home opening win against East Carolina.
In the stands in the student section — Grace Harbaugh is a Michigan undergrad and member of the water polo team — she did what all kids love to do: Make some fun at the expense of their dad. And of course his school-mandated three-game suspensions was the topic du jour.
In the brief video from the stands, Grace Harbaugh lip-syncs with a popular TikTok audio taken from a musical adaptation of the movie “Finding Nemo.”
“Where’s my dad. I’m all alone. I’m too small to be here on my own,” she mimicked singing while pretending to search the stadium for him.
The head coach might’ve been absent, but Harbaugh’s presence was felt on Saturday
Michigan opened and closed the Jesse Minter Era 1-0 on Saturday, dispatching East Carolina with ease in a 30-3 season opener. But the Wolverines didn’t minimize the absence of Harbaugh on the sideline.
Harbaugh, suspended by the school for three games to start the season amid an NCAA infractions case, watched the game from elsewhere in Washtenaw County on Saturday, though his presence was constant. Along with “Free Harbaugh” T-shirts worn in warmups, the Michigan team lined up in the “train” formation he first ran out in 2016, holding out four fingers to signify the number Harbaugh wore as a quarterback.
“I just want my coach back. It’s as simple as that. I just want him back,” Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy said.
McCarthy explained the sentiment behind the Harbaugh tribute and shared there was some pressure on the players for the call to not blow up.
“Yeah that was definitely a tribute to coach Harbaugh. I think he did that back in 2015 or 2016 when he first got here and we just wanted to attribute him in some way,” McCarthy said. “And it was actually funny, how many yards did we get on that play? Three, four?”
Sitting to McCarthy’s left, running back Blake Corum confirmed his recollection of the play — Michigan had a three-yard gain — before McCarthy shared how they needed to reach a certain threshold on the play.
“We had to get more than three, he said. Three was OK, but anything less than that, it’s like a bad tribute. So that was pretty cool to do that,” McCarthy said.