Faith, Family, Football Takeaways on Jim Harbaugh from All or Nothing

Jim Harbaugh spent eight long years in Ann Arbor as the Michigan Wolverines’ head coach before leaving to take up the mantle of leading our Chargers last month. We all saw his enthusiastic personality front and center when he was introduced to the world as the new head coach. I thought about what kind of article I wanted to write about a man that, for many, epitomizes what a head coach should be and I realized that we are lucky enough to have access to a resource that can provide a deeper look into the nature of our new leader.

In 2017, after back-to-back 10 win seasons, Amazon Prime’s camera crew started to follow Harbaugh, his staff and players around to film their documentary ‘All or Nothing: The Michigan Wolverines’. This kind of insight, 340 minutes worth, into Jim and the team he created in his image, is invaluable to those seeking to understand him. So I decided to rewatch the series to see if we can find out what kind of coach we have on our hands.

Characteristic Moments

I distinctly remember watching this series soon after its release with very little understanding of Jim beyond his sideline persona, and I thought to myself; this man is the very spirit of football in human form. From his borderline corny catch phrases to his terrifying war cries, the man oozes energy in all the ways you want your commanding officer to, but it is his love for his players and the team they represent that makes me believe in him.

There is a scene in the first episode where Harbaugh is going to meet the incoming freshman as they are moving into their dorms for the first time. He spends time talking with a fresh faced James Hudson III, the current starting right tackle for the Cleveland Browns, after he helped his mother carry his possessions from the lobby all the way to his room. I liked this moment because it seemed to me that he didn’t do this for the cameras where others would have done

. He was excited, he wanted to be there for himself as much as for them, to travel down memory lane and remind himself once again as to how it felt to be at the very beginning of a glorious journey.

There are many examples where Harbaugh rallies his troops through impassioned words but of all the times he spoke to the team there was one moment that stood out to me. He wrote a poem which he read out during a team meeting:

“I am obliged for the hard service that you have laid down for me, it is what I expected, it is ordained from on high from the football gods that you should put this suffering in my path. To be tested by you, is the making of my soul”.

Now this may be the most Catholic poem about football ever written but it peels back the curtain as to who Jim Harbaugh is. For him the ‘suffering’ is a necessary part of the journey to becoming a great football player so he is actually grateful for it

. He recited this piece of poetry just weeks after taking the entire team to meet the Pope in the Vatican City, for him football is faith and whilst his belief in a higher power may alienate some of his players, all of them will be able to understand the concept of suffering for a greater good