Is Jim Harbaugh's dad a coach? Exploring the Harbaugh family legacy of sports excellence

Jim Harbaugh has established himself as a football coach with stints in college football and the NFL. He has taken the Michigan Wolverines the closest they have been to a national championship title in decades. Yet he isn't the only coaching genius in the Harbaugh family tree.

Many know that Jim’s brother, John Harbaugh, is the coach of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. But what about the brotherly coaching duo's father, is he a football coach? Here is all you need to know about the Harbaugh family’s football coaching pioneer.

Is Jim Harbaugh's dad a coach?

Jim Harbaugh's dad, Jack Harbaugh, is a football coach. In fact, he is the assistant head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. So, it is the father-son duo who has guided the Wolverines so close to the 2023 national championship.

Jack started coaching in the 1960s immediately after the end of his college football career with the Bowling Green Falcons. He started as an assistant at Perrysburg High School in Ohio.

After stints at various colleges and high schools, he helmed the Western Michigan and Western Kentucky football programs.

His association with the Michigan Wolverines started in 1973, when he took over as the defensive backs coach in Ann Arbor. Jack's last coaching gig was with the Stanford Cardinal in 2009 before his son made him the assistant head coach of the Wolverines before the start of the 2023 season.

Also, read: Jim Harbaugh reveals his little sleep secret behind Michigan's success ahead of CFP national championship: "I have no scientific evidence"

Why was Jack Harbaugh made the assistant head coach of the Michigan Wolverines?

Jim Harbaugh made his 84-year-old father the assistant head coach of the Wolverines football program as he served a self-imposed three-game suspension to start the season. While many questioned the decision of Jack to return to coaching after 14 years, to his son, it made the perfect sense.

“He watches every play, every practice," Harbaugh said in August. "He’s one of the coaches in the building, probably the most, that I go to. It’s my dad. That’s my best friend. I do what he tells me to do, when he tells me to do it, how he tells me to do it, and things just keep on working out well for me, so I’m just going to keep rolling with that.”

Well, it has paid off, hasn't it? Jim served another three-game suspension at the end of the regular season, this time for the infamous sign-stealing saga. But the Wolverines pulled through all of it and might win their first national title since 1997.