Michigan football HC Jim Harbaugh makes bold proclamation about coaching staff
Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh has built a solid coaching tree in his eight full seasons in Ann Arbor. Heading into year nine, he might have assembled his best staff yet.
Speaking with NBC Sports’ Kathryn Tappen in an interview from Big Ten Football Media Days released this week, Harbaugh raved about his group of assistants, saying all of them coach be head coaches some day.
“I rely on the people on my staff,” Harbaugh said, via NBC Sports. “They’re shoulder to shoulder with and they’re right down the hall and we’re all in it together. We’re like best friends. I mean, it’s like brothers really. My brother who’s a coach is in Baltimore [and] I’ve got these coaches that right down the hall that I treat them just like my brother and I walk down the hall and talk to them. We’ve got all our full-time coaches right now… ten of them will be head coaches. Mark my words.
“I’ve got a great staff [and am] really blessed that way. I wouldn’t want to go into a training camp or a game day with anybody else.”
Coaching has always been a calling for the eldest Harbaugh brother, who says that his desire to coach goes all the way back to his childhood.
“My dad was a coach. My brother’s a coach. Two uncles are coach. My sister’s married to a coach,” Harbaugh said. “I knew I was gonna be a coach when I was like five and the first time I could remember remembering things. I just got it in my head. I’m going to play as long as I can, then coach, then die.
“I just always knew. And of course my dad. And then so many great coaches that I played for. My dad, Bo Schembechler, Mike Ditka, Lindy Infante, Ted Marchibroda. It goes on and on from there. I’ve just always been influenced by the best.”
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For as passionate as Harbaugh is about coaching the Michigan football program, gameday might be the most brutal part of the experience. So often games can come down to the chess match on the sidelines, but Harbaugh hopes his players can make it easy on him most of the time.
“Routine wise, I’m superstitious about not being superstitious,” Harbaugh said. “And then game day is like sitting in a dentist chair getting root canal done on you for three hours. Same it is when I’m watching my own kids play sports. Same thing watching my own players.
“You want them to do well. You want to do good so badly. I just tell him to go out and get ahead and stay ahead. Get so far ahead that I can’t screw it up is I think the last thing I tell them.”
Harbaugh is 72-25 in eight seasons at Michigan and 25-3 over the last two years, capturing a pair of Big Ten Championships and trips to the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines are ranked No. 2 in the USA Today Coaches Poll ahead of the season and are considered one of the teams to beat for a national championship.
