Jim, John Harbaugh share the sideline in Michigan win over Maryland
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Unlike his brother Jim, John Harbaugh doesn’t wear khakis on the Michigan sideline. He wears blue jeans.
After the Wolverines trounced Maryland 28-0 on Saturday, Jim revealed that he had a little help from his older brother who stood on the soggy turf several feet away from him for game’s entirety. He didn’t put on a headset or anything, but the Baltimore Ravens coach didn’t keep quiet either.
“It’s an honor to be on the sideline with him,” Jim said. “He gave good input during the game. It’s cool for our players. He talked to them after. It’s good to have him get to know our team.”
“One Harbaugh is great, but two Harbaughs is even better,” quarterback Jake Rudock said, briefly forgetting Jim’s son Jay is also a Michigan coach. “We got the whole package."
After the game, Jim’s first Big Ten victory and a back-to-back shutout, the Harbaughs laughed and chatted for a few minutes in the light drizzle outside the Michigan locker room. Seeing the brothers Harbaugh together — in similar outfits no less — is so rare, and John gushed about his brother to a handful of reporters.
Did he actually call plays?
“That would probably be way overstated,” he said, smiling. “I think I screwed him up on one play there. He blamed me, I distracted him.”
This isn’t the first time the Harbaughs have joined each other on the sideline. Back in January soon after he was hired at Michigan, Jim was spotted in a Ravens hat on the sideline during a Baltimore game.
“You catch each other’s eye,” John said. “Same thing when he was at our game in Pittsburgh. I walked over and just asked him, ‘Hey what are you seeing, what do you think?’ And you’re always seeing something that you can share. You just hope like crazy that if you suggest something it actually works. You don’t want to suggest the thing that doesn’t work and cost them the game or something like that. Thank God that didn’t happen today.”
Jim joked that John called the sweep in the third quarter when receiver Jehu Chesson ran around the end and exploded for a 66-yard touchdown to put Michigan up 21-0. John was quick to play that down.
“I didn’t actually call the play,” John said. “I took credit for calling the play, but Jim called the play. I’m happy to take credit if you want to give it to me.”
The Ravens played Thursday night, beating the Steelers on a 52-yard field goal in overtime, so John had this weekend free to make the 45-minute drive from Baltimore to support Jim. He wore a Michigan baseball hat and rain jacket, and spoke to the team in the locker room after the game.
"He just wanted to congratulate us and said it seems like we’re playing Michigan football again," Rudock said.
Asked if he sees a rejuvenated younger brother, John said he believes the man coaching Michigan hasn’t changed, which is a good thing.
“The same guy that coached San Francisco, the same guy that coached in San Diego, the same guy that was a quality control coach in Oakland. He’s the same guy from growing up and who he’s always been,” John said. “The thing about Jim is, and I love this about him, he is who he is. He loves football; he loves the guys; he was coaching them on how to sing the fight song in the locker room after the game. And it was a heck of a fight song, let me tell you.”
John, who attended Miami of Ohio, joined of course, “loud and proud,” he said.