Fact-check: Does Jim Harbaugh chew tobacco? Latest rumor around Michigan HC debunked

Jim Harbaugh has created history with the Michigan Wolverines. He led the team to a flawless season and ended it by getting home the national championship title to Ann Arbor. With this, he has certainly earned his place in the Michigan folklore for years to come.

But the legendary status comes with an increased bit of scrutiny. Rumors have been flying around that the Wolverines head coach likes to chew tobacco. Here is what we know about the rumor so far.

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Fact check: Does Jim Harbaugh chew tobacco?

Jim Harbaugh does in fact chew tobacco. It is an old habit of the Michigan Wolverines head coach which has been evident to the fans since forever. But an incident dating back to 2009 puts a stamp on that for real.

Harbaugh was coaching at Stanford at that time and the Kansas Jayhawks wanted to hire a new head coach. He went for the interview and according to an old Athletic report, emptied a can of coke before popping in a ward of tobacco mid-interview, and went on to use the coke can as a spitter.

The interview was attended by Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins, among others and Harbaugh reportedly wanted them to see the real side of his life, with all his quirks.

But he didn't get the job and Kansas never really could become a football school, apart from that one season under Mark Maningo in 2007, when they almost made it to the national championship game. What if they had really hired Harbaugh at that time? Would the Jayhawks be a big college football team right now?

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Jim Harbaugh: The newly-minted Michigan coaching legend

Jim Harbaugh has always been a great coach. He even tried his hand in the NFL, taking the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2013. Well, the Lombardi trophy went to his brother John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens that year but almost everybody agreed that Jim had a bright future in coaching.

Fast forward to 2023 and the Wolverines hadn't won a national title since 1997. They had a lot of off-field distractions going on with Harbaugh's suspension and the whole sign-stealing saga.

But the head coach still managed to coach them to a 12-0 finish in the regular season, a blowout win against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten championship game and a nail-biting OT win in the Rose Bowl against Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide.

Then it was the day of reckoning on Monday night. The Wolverines relied heavily on their run game and came out 34-13 winners. There was the national title they were waiting for since what felt like eternity. And Harbaugh wrote his name in the history books.