Jim Harbaugh shares advice Kirby Smart gave him ahead of national championship

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh spoke with a coach who has had plenty of success in national championship games ahead of Monday’s showdown with Washington.

Harbaugh said on the Big Ten Network on Saturday that he got advice from Georgia head coach Kirby Smart ahead of this year’s national championship game.

Smart’s message to Harbaugh was simple.

“Get rest, first, getting back from the West coast,” Jim Harbaugh said. “That was quite a trip. I talked to Kirby Smart. That was one of the pieces of advice that he gave me was that it’s going to be a short turnaround and a lot of travel time and make sure you get the guys plenty of rest. So we’ve done our best to do that.”

Michigan played Alabama in a physical, hard fought, overtime game this past Monday in the Rose Bowl and will play Washington in Houston this Monday.

The Wolverines must balance working hard to get ready for the game with also making sure they are ready to go physically.

“Also putting in the game plan and getting prepared, getting practiced, putting the finishing touches on it now and getting ready for Monday night,” Harbaugh said. “But yea, just super excited, super thrilled to be here.”

Jim Harbaugh led Michigan to the College Football Playoff each of the past two seasons. Now, he has the Wolverines in the national championship game for the first time. For Harbaugh, this is a dream come true.

“These things, you watch every year. I do, anyway, whether it’s the football, the basketball, the water polo national championship, baseball and think, ‘Boy, that’d be great to be there.’ And here we are,” Harbaugh said. “It’s been a full year of dreaming about it, working, hoping and here we are. So just a feeling of honor. Let’s have at it.”

Jim Harbaugh compares national title game to coaching in Super Bowl

While this will be Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s first national championship game as a head coach, he has led a team to the Super Bowl before.

The Big Ten Network interviewed Harbaugh at media day on Saturday before the national title game, and the head coach likened the big games in the two levels of the sport.

“Very similar, because it’s the playoff mentality. You win or go home,” Harbaugh explained. “That really starts late in November. November to us was like every game in November was a playoff, then that proceeded into, followed by playoff game in Indianapolis, then another last week. So yeah, 15th game, not as many as the NFL, but it’s in that same category now, which is great.”