Jim Harbaugh describes what the true meaning of a national championship would be for him, Michigan

Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh explained what the true meaning of a national championship would be for him and the Michigan program during a press conference the day before the Wolverines are slated to take on the Washington Huskies.

For Harbaugh, the value he sees in a championship would come down to the players and their families having the opportunity to be champions.

“It would mean so much for our players, for them to know what it’s like to be champions,” Jim Harbaugh said. “Just be simply referred to as national champions. And for their parents, for their parents to have their son be a champion, a national champion; for their grandparents to have a grandson; for their brothers and sisters to have a brother who is a grandson.”

If the Wolverines do beat the Huskies, then it will be the program’s first national championship since 1997. That was a shared national title, though. Michigan hasn’t been the only team to claim a national championship since 1948. That would change with a win.

For Jim Harbaugh, just as big as that bit of program history is having his family be able to know he was a national champion. It’s a title he knows he can’t have taken away once he’s earned it.

“What it would mean to me, for my kids to know their dad is a national champion. And for my parents and my brother and my sister. That’s the overwhelming thing, just that so many people would be able to enjoy that, be a part of that,” Harbaugh said.

“For my wife, for her husband to be a national champion. For me, not so much, but for everybody else, yeah, that would be huge.”

Jim Harbaugh dishes on his night-before-the-game routine ahead of CFP championship

Ahead of the national title game, Jim Harbaugh shared his routine for the night before the game and what he plans to do to make sure he’s ready to go.

“I really like to, the night before, you know, have that meeting, be with the team, be with the teammates, get together and watch — there’s still preparations to go over. You know, a review, re-write all my notes. But then get with the guys and have that meeting, get the red blood pumping,” Harbaugh said.

“Sometimes, the two nights before is the sleep you play on. I’ve always just liked — I have no scientific evidence to present to you on that. I just know, when I played, and sometimes when I coached, too, and just the night before the game, I don’t always sleep great. So I’ve convinced myself that if I get at least two nights, the night before the night before the game, if I get a great night’s sleep there, I go ‘that’s the night of sleep you’re playing on.’ Then, if you get a really nice sleep the night before a game, then that’s a real bonus. That’s the way I think of it.”