Jack Harbaugh

Jack Avon Harbaugh^[1] (born June 28, 1939) is a former American football player and coach, and the father of the first pair of brothers to serve as NFL head coaches and the first pair of head coaching brothers to face off in a Super Bowl: John and Jim Harbaugh.

Early life and playing career

Harbaugh was born in Crestline, Crawford County, Ohio to Marie Evelyn (née Fisher) and William Avon Harbaugh. He is of German and Irish descent.^[1] He played college football for the Bowling Green State University Falcons from 1957 to 1960, where he was a three-time letterman. In his junior year, the Falcons finished the season 9–0 and were named the small college division national champions.^[2][3] Harbaugh played professionally for one season, 1961, in the American Football League for the Titans of New York.^[4]

Coaching career

Harbaugh began as an assistant coach to Jack Donaldson in Perrysburg, Ohio, southwest of Toledo. (Donaldson later went on to coach the University of Toledo and in the NFL.) Both sons were born while Harbaugh was in Perrysburg. In 1964, Harbaugh was the head coach of Eaton High School football team in Eaton, Ohio. His record was 5–4–1, their first winning season in many years. In 1965 the team went 6–4. In 1966, Harbaugh was the head coach of the Xenia High School football team in Xenia, Ohio.

His record for the one year that he coached was 8–1–1.^[5] From 1982 to 1986, he served as the head football coach at Western Michigan University and compiled a 26–26–3 record. From 1989 to 2002, he was the head football coach at Western Kentucky University and posted a 91–68 record, including three 10-win seasons during his tenure with the Hilltoppers. His 2002 squad won the NCAA Division I-AA national football championship.

After leaving Western Kentucky, Harbaugh served as an associate athletic director at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his son-in-law, Tom Crean, was the head coach of the men's basketball team.

Harbaugh has also served as an assistant coach at Morehead State University, Bowling Green State University, the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, Stanford University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of San Diego. Harbaugh retired in 2006, but served as Stanford's running backs coach in the 2009 Sun Bowl under his son, Jim. Jack filled in for Willie Taggart, who had recently been hired as the new head football coach at WKU.

Personal life

Harbaugh married his wife, Jacqueline M. "Jackie" Cipiti in 1961. Their two sons, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh are the first pair of brothers to serve as head coaches in the National Football League (NFL):^[6] The brothers coached their teams in a game unofficially nicknamed the 'Harbaugh Bowl' on Thanksgiving Day, 2011, one day before Jack and Jackie's 50th wedding anniversary. They faced each other again in a second 'Harbaugh Bowl' when Baltimore beat San Francisco February 3, 2013 at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans by a score of 34–31.^[7] Their son-in-law (daughter Joani's husband), Tom Crean, is head basketball coach for the Indiana University Hoosiers. Jack and Jackie Harbaugh settled in Mequon, Wisconsin when he took the position as Associate Athletic Director for Marquette University in Milwaukee.^[8] Harbaugh is a member of the Bowling Green State University chapter of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

Head coaching record

References

External links

• Jack Harbaugh at the College Football Data Warehouse
• San Diego profile