Ravens coach John Harbaugh was sitting around with his younger brother Jim about five years ago enumerating the many occasions their father, Jack, told the stories that shaped their coaching careers.
“These lessons that you learn, it can’t just be us,” John said. “We’re gonna forget these stories. We need people to hear these stories.
“We should do something. What could we do? There’s been a lot of ideas bounced around. We all kind of had them.”
Those ideas were the genesis for the Harbaugh Coaching Academy.
Tuesday in Owings Mills, John announced the launch of the project. Its mission is to support, inspire and develop the ability of coaches, teachers, instructors and parents to help develop young people.
It’s also a rich family affair, with John, a Super Bowl-winning coach entering his 17th year at the helm of the Ravens; his brother Jim, in his first year as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers after guiding Michigan to a national championship; and their father Jack, who coached for 41 years and led Western Kentucky to the Division I-AA national championship in 2002.
The academy also includes Harbaugh’s extended family. His brother-in-law Tom Crean was a college basketball coach at Marquette, Indiana and Georgia and coached, among others, Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade and current Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.
“We get a chance to share what we learned from our dad,” John said.
They also are tapping into their extensive network of contacts who have been mentors, friends and foes over the years. Contributing coaches include former Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell, Wake Forest football coach Dave Clawson and James Madison football coach Bob Chesney. The foundation’s website, meanwhile, offers interviews and stories from Super Bowl champion coaches such as Andy Reid, Bill Belichick and Sean McVay, among other resources.
“I’m delighted we can share what we’ve learned with other coaches, of all levels, to help them develop and mentor young athletes,” Jim said during a video call from California.
John didn’t miss the chance to needle his brother in the process, cracking that it would be great if he could leave the cell phone video running during the Chargers’ afternoon practice. (Last year, Michigan was embroiled in a sign stealing controversy and Jim was suspended for the final three games of the Wolverines’ regular season, though the NCAA reported they found no connection between Jim and the operation).
It was just one of several one-liners and stories shared throughout the hour-long discussion about coaching from inside a packed auditorium at the Ravens’ facility in Owings Mills, where dozens of college coaches intently took it all in.
Former New England Patriots and six-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick was also on the panel. Topics he addressed included special rules for star players and how to build leadership within a team.
Belichick mentioned one story from his time as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants and telling coach Bill Parcells that All-Pro linebacker Lawrence Taylor was 15 minutes late for that day’s meeting. Parcells quipped, “Well, why start the meeting before he got there?”
He also shared that during his time with the Patriots he spent each offseason identifying the leaders in each rookie class and allowing them to develop in that role to create a cascade of leadership from within.
Belichick paid homage to the coaches in the crowd and the important role they play as well.
“You develop players, you develop people and you develop the National Football League,” he told them. “It’s just a couple levels below, but that’s where it starts.
“Those guys appreciate it. I always tell them, ‘Go back and tell the people that helped you get where you were because you were no good when you started.’ And especially I tell the defensive players, ‘Go thank the coach who moved you to defense because if they left you on offense, you wouldn’t be in this league.’”
The room erupted in laughter.
After all, the sharing of stories and the relationships fostered are at the heart of what the Harbaughs hope to accomplish in passing decades of wisdom on to others. John will turn 62 in September, yet in some ways is just getting started.
“What is it to be a coach? We talked a bout this growing up a lot,” John said. “We were always taught a coach is first a teacher, then after that a mentor, an advisor, a trainer, a friend, a discipliner, a confidence builder, an uplifter and then the last one … a Dairy Queen trip provider.
“I don’t care how the game went, you get the kids to the Dairy Queen as quickly as possible, everything’s gonna be fine.”
