Jim Harbaugh addresses spiritual journey, what it would mean to end as National Champions

Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines have been on a journey since losing in the College Football Playoff against TCU last season.

While there’s been a ton of drama surrounding their program, Harbaugh and company are undefeated and the top seed entering the CFP for the third consecutive season. Ahead of a clash with the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Rose Bowl, Harbaugh took some time to reflect on the time his team has put in.

“So many things. In a lot of ways, it has been — it has been a spiritual journey. It’s been a mission. Daily, weekly, monthly, it’s a year now. It’s on year with this team, that they’ve been on this mission. It’s been a happy mission. It’s been a joy, to watch guys make the choice to play as a team. To be unselfish. To play for each other. To give it their very best,” Harbaugh said. “As I said before, you know it when you’re on a real ball team, and that’s what our team is. Coach Schembechler talked many times about — when I was a kid heard it, heard it when I played at Michigan — the team, the team, the team.

“In so many ways, this team is the team, and couldn’t be prouder, and couldn’t be more excited to lead this team into battle in the Rose Bowl.”

While Harbaugh has delivered a bevy of Big Ten titles to Michigan, the coach’s focus is on bringing a national title to Ann Arbor. He spoke about what it would mean to accomplish that goal.

“What it means is that your players know what it’s like to be a champion,” Harbaugh added. “That’s the special feeling. That their parents know what it’s like to have a son, or a brother, or a grandson, who’s a champion. For me, for my wife to have a husband who’s a champion. My parents, to have their son be a champion. For my kids to know what it’s like, to have their father be a champion.

“It’s not for me anymore. It’s for all them, and all that we’re associated with. They know what that feeling is like, and now they want to go do it again. That’s the feeling.”

Continuing, Harbaugh elaborated a bit on what he meant by stating a title wouldn’t be for him, it’d be for loved one and all the supporters of the Wolverines. He made some fascinating points.

“I’ve just had many of those moments, many of those successes,” Harbaugh stated. “Just get more joy seeing their faces, seeing their family’s faces. Just how happy it makes them. When you’re a parent — that’s where it comes from, really.

“When you’re a parent, you’re just hoping, you’re praying, you’re supporting that your child’s going to find something that they’re passionate about. Once you see them find something that they’re passionate about, you want to see them work through that. Then to watch them become the very best, it just does not get any better than that.”

Alas, time will tell if Michigan and Jim Harbaugh can finally break through to the other side, but it all starts Monday at the Rose Bowl.