Information about Jim Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh
Title	Head coach
College| Stanford
Conference| Pac-10
Team Record	2-4
Born	November 23 1963 (1963--) (age 45)
Place of birth	Toledo, Ohio
Career Highlights
Overall	31-10-0
Coaching Stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Awards
1995 AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year, 1995 UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year Indianapolis Colts ROH 1x Pro Bowl selection (1995) NFL.com stats
School as a player
1983-1986 1987-1993 1994-1997 1998 1999-2000 2001	Michigan Chicago Bears Indianapolis Colts Baltimore Ravens San Diego Chargers Carolina Panthers
Position	QB
Coaching positions
1994-2001 2002-2003 2004-2006 2007-present	Western Kent. (Assist.) Oakland Raiders (QBs) San Diego Stanford

James Joseph "Jim" Harbaugh (born December 23, 1963 in Toledo, Ohio) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and finally the Carolina Panthers of the NFL. He was drafted by the Bears out of the University of Michigan with the 26th pick in the first round of the 1987 NFL Draft.

On December 18, 2006, Harbaugh was named as the head coach of the Stanford Cardinal football team.^[1]

College career

Harbaugh was a four-year letterman at the University of Michigan and finished his college career in the top five in passing attempts, completions, completion percentage, passing yards, and touchdown passes for them. Playing for Bo Schembechler, he was a three-year starter (though he broke his arm and sat out the balance of the 1984 season) and led the Wolverines to appearances in the Fiesta and Rose Bowl games. As a junior, Harbaugh led the nation in passing efficiency and quarterbacked one of Bo Schembechler's best teams ever. The 1985 team posted a 10-1-1 record, a 27-23 win over Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, and a #2 ranking in the final polls -- the highest finish ever for one of Schembechler's Michigan teams. As a senior in 1986, Harbaugh guided Michigan to a 11-2 record and Rose Bowl berth while earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors and finishing third in the Heisman balloting. Harbaugh was also named to the Big Ten's All-Academic team, as well as the 1986 AP and UPI All-American teams.

NFL career

Harbaugh entered the NFL as a first-round draft pick by the Chicago Bears in 1987. He played seven seasons for the Bears and passed for a career-high 3,121 yards for Chicago in 1991.

From 1994 to 1998, Harbaugh quarterbacked the Indianapolis Colts, and in 1995, achieved career highs in completion percentage (63.7) and touchdown passes (17). While with the Colts, he led the team to the AFC Championship game and came within one dropped Hail Mary pass of taking the Colts to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1970. In 1995, he was voted to the Pro Bowl, was named Comeback Player of the Year and AFC Player of the Year, and was runner-up in the NFL MVP voting. With the Colts, Harbaugh completed 746 of 1,230 passes for 8,705 yards and 49 touchdowns and won the NFL passer rating title in 1995 with a rating of 100.7. In January 2005, Jim was inducted into the Indianapolis Colts Ring of Honor as one of the most successful and popular players in the club's Indianapolis era.

After leaving the Colts, Harbaugh started for one year with the Baltimore Ravens in 1998, sometimes splitting playing time with Eric Zeier. Then he played two years with the San Diego Chargers. In 1999 he led the Chargers to an 8-8 record, but in 2000 the Chargers finished with a 1-15 record behind Harbaugh and rookie Ryan Leaf. Harbaugh signed with the Detroit Lions prior to the 2001 season, where he was expected to backup incumbent starter Charlie Batch. However, on the eve of the regular season, the Lions cut him and traded for Ty Detmer. Harbaugh then closed out his NFL career with the Carolina Panthers in 2001, where he dressed for 6 games but did not compile any statistics.

For his NFL career, Harbaugh played in 177 league games with 140 starts. He completed 2,305 of 3,918 passes for 26,288 yards with 129 touchdowns. He was nicknamed "Captain Comeback" (the second player to be so nicknamed after Roger Staubach) for his ability to win games in the fourth quarter after overcoming significant point deficits.

Coaching career

During his final eight seasons in the NFL (1994-2001), Harbaugh was an NCAA-certified unpaid assistant coach under his father, Jack, at Western Kentucky University. Serving as an offensive consultant, he scouted and recruited high school student-athletes throughout several states including Florida, Indiana and Illinois. He was involved in recruiting 17 players on WKU's 2002 Division I-AA National Championship team. His father was a football coach for 18 years, including 14 years as Head Coach at Western Kentucky.

Harbaugh was an assistant coach with the Oakland Raiders in 2002-2003. In 2002 he was an offensive assistant coach, and in 2003 he was the quarterbacks coach.

Prior to the 2004 season, Harbaugh was named head football coach at the University of San Diego. In his first year, he directed the Toreros to an overall mark of 7-4, including 5 straight wins to end the season. The following year, the team improved to 11-1 and won the 2005 Pioneer Football League Championship. In 2006, USD again went 11-1 winning their second consecutive Pioneer League title in the process.

On December 18, 2006, Harbaugh was named the head football coach at Stanford University, replacing Walt Harris. Harbaugh's father, Jack, was Stanford's defensive coordinator from 1980-1981, while Harbaugh attended Palo Alto High School, located directly across the street from Stanford Stadium.^[1]

This lead to a very notible highlight from the Stanford's game on October 6, 2007. Stanford faced off with the, USAToday Coaches Poll #1-ranked team, USC Trojans in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Harbaugh led the Stanford Cardinal in a stunning 24-23 upset with a touchdown in the final minute. USC was favored by 39.5 points going into the game. Stanford's victory ended USC's 35-game home win streak (the prior loss also being to Stanford 6 seasons prior).

Controversy

Harbaugh stirred some intra-conference controversy in March 2007, when he was quoted as saying rival-USC coach "Pete Carroll's only got one more year, though. He'll be there one more year. That's what I've heard. I heard it inside the staff." Upon further questions, Harbaugh claimed he had heard it from staff at USC. The comment caused a rebuke from Carroll. ^[2] At the Pacific 10 Conference media day (July 26, 2007), Harbaugh praised the Trojans, stating "There is no question in my mind that USC is the best team in the country and may be the best team in the history of college football"; the declaration, especially in light of his earlier comment, garnered more media attention. ^[3][4][5][6]

On May 4, 2007, Harbaugh was quoted in the San Francisco Examiner making comments about the University of Michigan's football program.^[7] In touting Stanford's academics, he stated "the [Michigan] athletic department has ways to get borderline guys in and, when they’re in, they steer them to courses in sports communications. They’re adulated when they’re playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won’t hire them."^[7] Harbaugh stated that he had wanted to major in history at Michigan, but was told early in his freshman year that he shouldn't major in history because it was too demanding academically.^[9] The comments generated negative reactions from members of the Michigan football program, including alumni, current players, and head coach Lloyd Carr.^[10] Michigan running back Mike Hart noted that Stanford had recently taken a Michigan student-athlete as a transfer,^[11] and openly questioned whether Harbaugh would be welcome to ever coach at his alma mater.^[10] However, following up on Harbaugh's comments about football players being steered to easy majors, the Ann Arbor News reported that as of the spring of 2007, 82% of Michigan's scholarship football players who had declared a major were majoring in general studies.^[13] This debate led to in depth research on the subject. This led to an ESPN article to identify that many of these student-athletes taking "general studies" do choose majors before their junior year.^[14]

Personal

Jim has two sons, Jay and James, Jr., and one daughter, Grace. His brother, John, is currently the Secondary Coach with the Philadelphia Eagles and his brother-in-law, Tom Crean, is Head Basketball Coach of Marquette University.

Harbaugh has been very active in Community Service ventures. He has been actively involved with the Harbaugh Hill Foundation, the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children, Western Kentucky University, the Jim Harbaugh Foundation, the Uhlich's Children's Home and the Children's Miracle Network.

Harbaugh is co-owner of Panther Racing in the Indy Racing League. The main car for the team carries Harbaugh's old jersey number, 4. When the team won the 2001 and 2002 IRL championship, the team, which had the option of going to #1, chose instead to keep the #4 for its association with Harbaugh's career. When Harbaugh was with the Carolina Panthers, #4 had been given to kicker John Kasay so Harbaugh wore #14, for A. J. Foyt.

References

External links

• Profile from Stanford Department of Athletics website
• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.

Preceded by Neal Anderson	Bears 1st round draft pick 1987	Succeeded by Wendell Davis & Brad Muster
Preceded by Mike Tomczak	Chicago Bears Starting Quarterbacks 1989-1993	Succeeded by Steve Walsh
Preceded by Jeff George	Indianapolis Colts Starting Quarterbacks 1994-1998	Succeeded by Peyton Manning
Preceded by Dan Marino	NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award 1995 (Co-Award Winner Garrison Hearst)	Succeeded by Jerome Bettis
Preceded by Ryan Leaf	San Diego Chargers Starting Quarterbacks 2000	Succeeded by Doug Flutie
Preceded by Jason DesJarlais	University of San Diego Head Football Coach 2003–2006	Succeeded by Ron Caragher
Preceded by Walt Harris	Stanford University Head Football Coach 2007–	Succeeded by Current head coach

•  • [ e] Decatur Staleys/Chicago Bears Starting Quarterbacks
Dressen • Conzelman • Driscoll • Molesworth • Masterson • Luckman • Lujack • Blanda • Brown • Bratkowski • Wade • Bukich • Concannon • Douglass • Huff • Avellini • Phipps • Evans • McMahon • Tomczak • Harbaugh • Walsh • Kramer • Krieg • Matthews • McNown • Miller • Chandler • Stewart • Hutchinson • Krenzel • Orton • Grossman

•  • [ e] San Diego Torero Football Coaches
Kuhn • McCutcheon • Platz • Pecarovich • Gray • Vinci • Logan • Williams • Brian Fogarty • McGarry • DesJarlais • Harbaugh • Caragher