Harbaugh on "Huge" show - not leaving

Submitted by OldDad67 on

Listened to Bill Simonson's (The Huge Show) interview with Coach Harbaugh yesterday. Huge asked him "Do you ever see yourself coaching anywhere else except the Universiy of Michigan?" Coach responded without hesitation "No, and I'm happy and productive and I think the thing that gives you that ... peace.. is it's not about me ..

He goes on to talk about family and the success of his brother, John etc. but seems totally at peace with where he is and he isn't remotely thinking about going anywhere else.

The whole interview is about 25 minutes. The section above starts at 20:27.

 

http://www.wbbl.com/the-huge-show/

 

Edit: "coaching" "else" sheesh

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Stringer Bell

February 4th, 2016 at 9:02 AM ^

Good to hear.  I certainly don't see him leaving any time soon, but I could see him, after about a decade of success and a few national championships, giving the NFL another shot.  But that's well down the road and for now I'm just enjoying the ride.

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SoDak Blues

February 4th, 2016 at 9:10 AM ^

Agree to some extent; however, I really think he wants to be better than Bo (I know, sacrilege).

As competitive as the two of them are, wouldn't he want to stay at Michigan for the duration of his career and leave as the winningest coach in Michigan history? Here's to hoping he retires in maize and blue. 

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NorthSideBlueFan

February 4th, 2016 at 9:29 AM ^

 to judge that?  I just dont think that the wins record means as much these days.

For example, if JH won a National Title or for sake of arguement let's say he won two (please baby Jesus make it so,) wouldn't that be better than Bo's total wins record?  Times have changed so much I just don't see any way he stays long enough to ecliplse Bo's tenure and/or win total. 

For me personally, he has to at least win at least 1 National Title and be in the championship game another time to be in the discussion because there is no way he will be here anywhere close to how long Bo was to hit the other metrics.

I'd like to know other poster's thoughts as well....

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Everyone Murders

February 4th, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^

Two thoughts in response to your last full paragraph.  First, teams play more games per year now than they did when Bo ruled the UofM roost, so Harbaugh has more "win" opportunities per year.  Second, I'm not so sure that "there is no way (Harbaugh) will be here anywhere close to how long Bo was" is correct.  While never a sure thing, Harbaugh's "fit' at Michigan has exceeded expectations, and he could build quite a legacy staying put which "Jack the Quarterback" grows up in one of the best family towns in America.

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bdneely4

February 4th, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^

with the B1G championships and especially National Championships pulling more weight.  Gene Chizik isn't considered a great head coach even though he won a national championship.  Gene didn;t win enough total games to be on a great coach platform and actually got fired because of it.  On the other hand, Bill Snyder is considered an above average coach because of the amount of wins he has produced, but not an elite coach because his lack of championships (conference or national) to his resume.  Saban/Meyer/Bryant/Hayes are considered elite coaches because they won/win a lot and have championships to back the winning up.  IMO, Jim Harbaugh does not need to win as many games as Bo, but he needs to consistently win 10-14 games per year and add some championships to his resume to join the elite status in CFB.  Again this is just my opinion and I have no doubt Harbaugh will achieve this.

Go Blue!

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Sauce Castillo

February 4th, 2016 at 9:34 AM ^

Agree that he definitely wants to make his mark on this program and won't leave until he does.  I feel like he will want a statue next to Bo.  What would that take?  My guess is 2 national championships.  That's hard to do at any school so my guess is he'll be here awhile until he ever feels like going to back to the pros is in the cards.  One big things is, once he leaves (if he leaves), he (probably) isn't ever coming back to be the head coach at UM.  I think that would weigh heavily in a decision to leave.

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bacon

February 4th, 2016 at 9:08 AM ^

I can't imagine he goes back to the NFL. His NFL experience was an D-bag owner and an asshole GM who treated him like shit and rich players who I think for the most part liked Harbaugh, but he couldn't really control. Harbaugh is a guy who wants to be the guy. You can't be the guy in the NFL because you always report to an owner or gm or team president or someone. Your players make millions, and they're entities outside the team that you can only control to a point. At Michigan, he's the guy. His idol Bo was the guy too. I think he is in a perfect situation and unless things go completely disasterous (which is not going to happen), he's not leaving. There's no reason for him to leave.

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LKLIII

February 4th, 2016 at 11:22 AM ^

I think this is the key right here.  He's got enough money.  It's about building a legacy & challenging himself.  The thing is, getting back to the NFL & winning a Superbowl isn't the ONLY way a guy in Harbaugh's position can challenge himself.  He can become a better family man by staying in Ann Arbor.  He can eclipse or match Bo in terms of his legacy in building up the Michigan football program.  He can always strive to improve in developing young men during their formative years in college.

At this point it's about fulfillment, not the cash or even necessarily the fame (although he can still get a boatload of both at Michigan).  The bottom line is, the NFL is not the only mountain a man can climb.  There are others out there.

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Artie

February 4th, 2016 at 9:09 AM ^

Not that I think he's going to leave, but does anybody expect him to say anything else? "Well, I expect to be at Michigan for the next 5 years then see what my options are."



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MChem83

February 4th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^

Of course he's going to respond that way, regardless of whether he still harbors plans of returning to the NFL. And quite frankly, nobody KNOWS how Harbaugh is going to feel about his situation here in 3-4 years, not even Harbaugh, but his pattern has been to never stay anywhere for long. If he is as successful here as people hope and think he will be, there is no question that offers from the NFL will be frequent and tempting, starting in probably two years. I think Harbaugh wants very badly to get a Super Bowl win on his resume, and will jump at the right opportunity to get one (and will not want to wait until he's 65 to take his shot at it). If we get 5 years out of Harbaugh, that'd be about all we can reasonably expect. Any more than that would be gravy, and a surprise. The chances of him shunning all NFL offers forever, and staying here 10-15 years or more is very small, imo.

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tjohn7

February 4th, 2016 at 9:14 AM ^

He's here for quite a while.  If he feels the itch and wants to go back to the NFL after multiple Big Ten Championships and a couple National Championships, more power to him.  He'll be in his late 50s, early 60s at that point.

EDIT: Harbaugh will 56 in 3 years when we have 3 BIG and 2 Nattys.  My bad.

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bacon

February 4th, 2016 at 9:36 AM ^

Nice thing about the setup in the Big Ten east is that they'll have a chance to settle this on the field. But we're going to be very good next year, especially since we return so many players and we added some guys who can help out immediately into the fold. Meanwhile, most of Osu left and MSU graduated their best qb in their history, along with some key linemen and skill players. Regardless, it will be settled on the field.

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YTBI

February 4th, 2016 at 9:50 AM ^

UM will have a good defense this season, that much is certain. QB is going to be a concern, obviously.  There's a lot of experience there but not as much big game experience as you'd like to see.  The B1G East should be a solid race this season.

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amaizenblue402

February 4th, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^

I can picture him winning multiple national championships and building Michigan into the dynasty that Nick Saban has built Alabama into. Nick has done everything he can at Alabama and he's still coaching there. I see Harbaugh to have a similar tenure at Michigan.



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Kwitch22

February 4th, 2016 at 9:20 AM ^

I expect him to stay until his kids get to college, and hopefully they Go Blue, and that will put him about 10 years down the road, and hopefully he stays longer. As crazy and different as he is, every time he does something that seems weird, like sleeping at recruits houses, I always say the same thing, "That's my coach." Then a big smile forms on my face. God do I love that man.

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ijohnb

February 4th, 2016 at 9:21 AM ^

follow up to the "no," suggests to me that he is not completely committed to the answer.  Per my occupation, I read between the lines quite often and must be able to spot intellectual discomfort with certain topics.  The dialague after the "no" is what is sometimes referred to as a false qualifier, it has little to do with the answer to the question and nicely turns the topic elsewhere without drawing attention to its purpose. 

I think we have Coach Harbaugh for the foreseeable future, but I also would not be shocked if he went back to the league after enjoying success here.

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