Jay Harbaugh has caught hell on this site and from the fanbase at large for being nothing more than the product of nepotism, and his work as the longest tenured assistant coach on Michigan’s staff has been wrongfully derided and dismissed to the point of being criminal. After reading what Mayo said about working with Bill’s oldest son when he was coaching LBs back in the day, praising his knowledge and how much he helped Mayo maximize his talent, I immediately thought of Jay and how he has been ignorantly vilified just because he was Jim’s son. This year Jay coached Special Teams and Safeties, and except for a few young players muffing a couple of punts against Bama, both Special Teams and Safety play was excellent..exemplary in the case of the play of the Safeties..all year. In fact, Jay has excelled everywhere he has been in his football coaching career..so let’s examine his record before I finish my point about Jay…
Oregon State: 2008 - 2011
Harbaugh spent four seasons as an undergraduate assistant at Oregon State under head coach Mike Riley, and when I looked back on what Riley said about Jay, he said he’d be a coach some day because he was a naturally cerebral savant when it came to the minutia of the game (sound familiar? The same thing has been said about his Dad), a great communicator, and the sky is the limit to his potential to ultimately become the next Harbaugh in line to be a HC.
Baltimore Ravens 2012 - 2014
Harbaugh spent three seasons working in Baltimore for the Ravens under his uncle John. In 2014, his work focused on statistical analysis, self-scouting reports and breakdowns of opposing defenses. This was invaluable experience most young coaches rarely have the chance to obtain, and I think the time he spent in the pro game greatly accelerated his development.
University of Michigan 2015 - Present
2015 - 2016 Tight Ends Coach and Assistant Special Teams Coach
2017 - 2020 Running Backs Coach and Special Teams Coach
2021 - Moved back to Tight Ends Coach and Special Teams Coach
2022 - Present Safeties Coach and Special Teams Coach
In 2021, Jay was named Special Teams Coordinator of the Year by FootballScoop.com
2023 - During his Dad’s 3 game suspension at the start of the season, Jay was the HC for half of the UNLV game with Mike Hart as HC for the other half..a 35-7 domination of UNLV that might as well have been 82-7. In starting as the HC for the 1st half, Jay officially earned his 1st win as a college head coach..and I’m certain it won’t be his last.
Additionally, Jay has developed into an excellent recruiter with his Dad’s ability to find the hidden and criminally overlooked players that have gone on to have great careers at Michigan. Perhaps Colston Loveland is his best example…a guy that Jay had to stand on a table and likely yelled at his Pops to offer a scholarship to this unknown monstrously talented TE that he was reluctant to do. 2 seasons in, Loveland is well on his way to becoming one of Michigan’s all-time great TEs. He’s Jake Butt, but with far more athletic ability, nearly WR speed, a natural pass catcher with great hands, and is evolving into a very good blocker as well. Loveland is on his way to being a mid to late 1st round NFL pick and will solidly be in the Top 50 players in the draft when he leaves.
Now, who can deny Jay had been good to great at every position he coached in his 9 years at Michigan? Who can deny he has become a sly effective recruiter, born with his Dad’s ability to spot a Football Player regardless of where he played and ignoring his rating assigned to him as a totally subjective and often wildly inaccurate Star Rating for players that should not be taken nearly as seriously as they are by fans, the media talking heads, and dumb coaches like Jimbo Fisher who base their player evaluations off the top 250 list..how did that record breaking recruiting class with what..9 5 star players?..work out for Ol’ Jimbo? These star evaluations are largely made by media members who suddenly became expert talent evaluators despite the fact that 90% of them never played a down of high level football (High School Varsity to College Football) in all the Tiers..
(I played in the old Div II and Div III tiers, and if any of you think that was like glorified high school ball, I suggest if you’re a young man and college eligible, try walking on to a lower Tier team and find out how friggin’ hard it is. Moving up from High School to Div. II was like a rookie finding out that everyone is a great player in the NFL.)
I’m sorry, but I’m a believer that Football is one of the few sports that is so complex that, unless you played a long time, it’s impossible for a layman, no matter how much they’ve read about the sport and all the years watching the game, it’s impossible for them to evaluate players when they don’t really understand what they are seeing..like the criticism of Donovan Edwards “Field Vision”…what a joke. Edwards was going through some real life personal struggles that had nothing to do with his Football skills, other than they were such a distraction they affected his mental state of preparedness to play this season. But when it was money time in the CFP, Edwards was totally locked in, and we saw the Donovan we were used to seeing. He didn’t just lose the ability to see the field…god how laughable that ridiculous belief is. I still have one last friend close to the program because he is rich AF to the point he has to look for things to either donate mucho dinero to their cause, or spend it on something worthwhile. It’s ironic because he is still soooo cheap from growing up poor, that I have to talk him into spending money…like I did when I talked him into buying a Cadillac “Blackwing”, a 120,000 dollar luxury car with over 700 factory horsepower that can be raised up to 1000 hp with a day’s work under the hood and on a laptop. It killed me to do it because I’m a GM hater..
(Except for Buicks..always liked them because they made their own engines that were torque monsters back in the day, and I fell in love with the Buick Grand National when it came out in the 80s because it was the fastest production car in the world when it was introduced with a 4.5 second 0-6O time..faster than any Ferrari or Porsche. One of my dream cars is the 1987 Buick GNX Grand National with that massive turbocharger upgrade. Someday I’ll own one I will find in some junkyard or auction after an insurance company totalled it. You know..”Roadkill” style.)
..but I hate American’s buying imports more, and will try to talk my friends out of buying them when the big 3 now make cars and SUVs that are just as good as any overpriced and expensive to service German import. He listened and absolutely loves it. But what he has no trouble throwing wads of his cash at is his Alma Mater, The University of Michigan, for the scholarship program for underprivileged students, and of course Michigan Athletics. Occasionally he will hear a nugget of info or, in the case of Donovan, he asked about him specifically because he’s a Doctor and noticed he just wasn’t himself this year. He was told it was non-football related and he was going through some shit. However, the Washington game signaled his rebirth. You watch, next year being HB1, I expect he’ll put up 1200-1400 rushing yards along with 400 receiving, finding the endzone with regularity. I promise, to quote Blake Corum, “The Don is back!”
Yeah, some 5 star guys are legit, but there are just as many guys who were labeled “5 star sure bets to play on Sundays“ that never achieved anything close to what was predicted from them, or were outright busts altogether. It’s like drafting in the 1st round in the NFL..the probability they’ll be a player is roughly a coin flip. And those are guys are the NFL professionals who have spent years honing their craft and they still get it wrong.
Taking that into consideration, I just don’t get how seriously people take the star evaluation system, when the guys doing the evaluations are largely journalists with little to no background in Football. Just because you travel all over the country to watch players doesn’t mean you understand what you’re seeing.
That’s why I hope Jay is smart and stays at Michigan if and when his Dad leaves for the pros. He’s a valuable part of the coaching and recruiting at Michigan, and it’s time for him to strike out on his own and finally put that “He’s only on the staff because of his Dad” false narrative to rest. Who knows? He may end up being the HC at Michigan in the future.
I‘m solidly on the “Hope Jay Stays” team… - Argus
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