Jim Harbaugh


James Joseph Harbaugh is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League. He previously served as the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2015 to 2023, the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, Stanford University from 2007 to 2010, and the University of San Diego from 2004 to 2006. Harbaugh played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986 and in the National Football League for 14 seasons from 1987 to 2000, with his longest tenure as a player with the Chicago Bears.
Harbaugh was born in Toledo, Ohio. His father, Jack Harbaugh, was a football coach, and the family lived in Ohio, Kentucky, Iowa, Michigan, and California. He attended high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Palo Alto, California, when his father was an assistant coach at Michigan and Stanford, respectively. After graduation from high school in Palo Alto in 1982, Harbaugh returned to Ann Arbor and enrolled at the University of Michigan and played quarterback for the Wolverines, starting for three seasons. As a fifth-year senior in 1986, he led Michigan to the 1987 Rose Bowl and was a Heisman Trophy finalist, finishing third.
The Chicago Bears selected Harbaugh in the first round of the 1987 NFL draft. He played 14 years as a quarterback in the NFL, with Chicago from 1987 to 1993, the Indianapolis Colts from 1994 to 1997, the Baltimore Ravens in 1998, and the San Diego Chargers in 1999 to 2000. He first became a regular starting quarterback in 1990 with Chicago. In 1995 with Indianapolis, he led the Colts to the AFC Championship Game, was selected to the Pro Bowl and was honored as NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
From 1994 to 2001, while still playing in the NFL, Harbaugh was an unpaid assistant coach at Western Kentucky University, where his father Jack was head coach. In 2002, he returned to the NFL as the quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders. Harbaugh returned to the college ranks in 2004 as the head coach at the University of San Diego. After leading San Diego to consecutive Pioneer League championships in 2005 and 2006, he moved to Stanford in 2007, where he led the Cardinal to two bowl berths in four seasons, including a win in the 2011 Orange Bowl. Immediately afterward, Harbaugh signed a five-year deal as head coach of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, where he led the team to the NFC Championship game in each of his first three seasons after the franchise missed the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons beforehand. He and his older brother, former Baltimore Ravens and current New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh, became the first pair of brothers to serve as head coaches in NFL history. Their teams played in a Thanksgiving Classic game in 2011 and in Super Bowl XLVII at the end of the 2012 season.
Harbaugh accepted the job as head football coach for the University of Michigan Wolverines in 2015. Harbaugh led the team to three consecutive Big Ten Conference titles, including berths in the College Football Playoff in the 2021 and 2022 season, eventually winning a national championship in 2023: the school's first since 1997, and the first undisputed national championship since 1948.
On January 24, 2024, Harbaugh left Michigan to return to the NFL, signing a five-year contract to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, leading them to back-to-back playoff appearances in his first two years as head coach.

Early life and education

Born in Toledo, Ohio, on December 23, 1963, Harbaugh is the son of Jacqueline M. "Jackie" and Jack Harbaugh. His mother is of half-Sicilian and half-Polish ancestry and his father is of Irish and German ancestry. Both Jim and his brother John were born in Toledo, while his father was an assistant football coach at nearby Perrysburg High School in Perrysburg.
During Harbaugh's childhood, the family moved frequently, as his father held assistant coaching positions at Morehead State, Bowling Green, Iowa, Michigan, Stanford, and Western Michigan. Harbaugh played for the junior league Ann Arbor Packers and then for Tappan Junior High, before moving on to Pioneer High School. When his father became defensive coordinator at Stanford, he transferred to Palo Alto High School, graduating in 1982.
Harbaugh received a Bachelor of Arts with a major in communications from the University of Michigan in 1986.

College playing career

1982 and 1983 seasons

In February 1982, Harbaugh committed to play football for Bo Schembechler's Michigan Wolverines football team. He came to Michigan with a "high school reputation as a slick California passer."
As a freshman in 1982 Harbaugh, age 18, and junior Dave Hall were backups to quarterback Steve Smith who had broken Michigan's single season record with 2,335 yards of total offense in 1981. In the 1982 season, Smith started all 12 games, and Hall handled the limited backup role. Even as Smith struggled, coach Schembechler expressed a reluctance to play Harbaugh, saying, "To suddenly pull some freshman out of the bag, I don't think you can do that, in today's football." Harbaugh did not see any game action in 1982, registered no statistics, and retained four years of eligibility under the NCAA's redshirt rule.
Harbaugh performed well in the annual spring game in April 1983, completing 10 of 15 passes for 116 yards. After the game, coach Schembechler noted, "Harbaugh is a fresh talent who'll be all right, but he has a lot to learn." While Harbaugh was touted as the team's "pass-oriented quarterback of the future," he spent the 1983 season as Michigan's No. 3 quarterback behind Steve Smith and Dave Hall. Smith started 11 games, and Hall started one game, while Harbaugh completed two of five passes for 40 yards in limited action. Harbaugh completed his first pass for Michigan on November 5, 1983, in a 42–10 victory over Purdue.

1984 season

In the spring of 1984, Harbaugh was in a three-way competition for Michigan's starting quarterback job. Three-year starter Steve Smith had graduated, and his backup, Dave Hall, was lost to a knee injury. The 1983 competition pitted Harbaugh against sophomores Chris Zurbrugg and Russ Rein. In April 1984, Schembechler said, "Harbaugh is coming along pretty well. He's having a pretty good spring. Zurbrugg has emerged as a good prospect. There's kind of a battle in there." In the 1984 spring game, Harbaugh impressed observers as he completed 17 of 26 passes for 161 yards and an interception. Schembechler said after the game, "We've been happy with Jim all spring. He's shown a lot of maturity." After spring practice, Schembechler announced his depth chart with Harbaugh as his No. 1 quarterback.
In his first collegiate start, Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a 22–14 upset victory over a Miami Hurricanes team that was led by Bernie Kosar, had won the 1983 national championship, and was ranked No. 1 in both the AP and UPI polls. Harbaugh completed 11 of 21 passes for 162 yards and two interceptions. The Detroit Free Press praised Harbaugh for "pinpoint passing" that "kept Miami's defense on the run."
In his second start, the Wolverines lost to a Washington team that finished the season ranked No. 2 in both the AP and UPI polls. Harbaugh threw a career-high 37 passes in the game, completing 17 passes for 183 yards, three interceptions, and his first collegiate touchdown pass, to Vince Bean.
After the loss to Washington, Harbaugh led Michigan to victories over Wisconsin and Indiana. Harbaugh completed 25 of 39 passes for 272 yards in those games. On October 6, 1984, a 19–7 loss to Michigan State in the fifth game of the season, Harbaugh sustained a badly broken left arm in the third quarter when he dove for a loose ball and collided with Spartan linebacker Thomas Tyree. Harbaugh had to be carried from the field on a stretcher and missed the remainder of the season. Harbaugh completed 60 of 111 passes for 718 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions during his shortened 1984 season.

1985 season

By April 1985, Harbaugh's arm had healed, and he completed 10 of 16 passes for 146 yards in the annual spring game. Harbaugh was the starting quarterback in all 12 games for the 1985 Michigan Wolverines football team that compiled a 10–1–1 record, outscored opponents 342–98, defeated Nebraska in the 1986 Fiesta Bowl, and finished the season ranked No. 2 in the final AP and UPI polls. He led the nation with a passer rating of 163.7.
On October 26, 1985, Harbaugh set a school record with 283 passing yards in a 42–15 victory over Indiana. After the game, Harbaugh was asked for his reaction to setting the school's passing record and responded, "Records are nice, but everything we do here is team oriented. Everyone's telling me about the record, but they should tell it to Paul Jokisch and Eric Kattus and John Kolesar. They caught the passes."
On November 16, 1985, in a 48–7 victory over Minnesota, Harbaugh completed 13 of 18 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns. After the game, Harbaugh praised the offensive line, noting, "I've never had more time to throw in my life—junior high, high school." Harbaugh's 13 completions against Minnesota gave him 123 for the season, breaking the school record of 118 set by Steve Smith in 1982.
On November 23, 1985, Harbaugh led Michigan to a 27–17 victory over Ohio State. In the fourth quarter, Harbaugh completed a 77-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Kolesar, giving Michigan a 10-point lead with nine minutes remaining. Coach Schembechler said after the game that the 77-yard touchdown was "a play that took the starch right out of their sails." Columnist Mitch Albom wrote after the game that Harbaugh's pass to Kolesar was an image that would last: "The image that repeats will be that of Jim Harbaugh dropping back in the fourth quarter and uncorking a soaring spiral that rose high and long as flanker John Kolesar ran underneath it, his steps seemingly in sync with the revolutions of the ball, so when it fell, it fell right into his arms, almost gently." Harbaugh completed 16 of 19 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns.
In the final three games of the 1985 regular season, Harbaugh completed 41 of 50 passes for 706 yards, nine touchdowns, and no interceptions. For the season as a whole, he completed 145 of 227 passes for 1,976 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also led the nation with a 163.7 passing efficiency rating in 1985.