Vikings

Meet Jim Harbaugh, the Most Bizarre Coaching Candidate You Can Imagine

Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas (USA TODAY Sports)

Rumors are heating up that Jim Harbaugh may become the next head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Primarily, his connection to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah spurred these rumors. They two worked together in San Francisco from 2013-14. But they’ve become much more than conjecture.

As with any college coach, we must first reconcile with the possibility that he is using the Vikings. Harbaugh and the University of Michigan have been in a staring contest since early this month in contract negotiations. Harbaugh has repeatedly expressed interest in re-joining the NFL. The threat of doing so could jack up the price of an extension after he coached the Wolverines to their first sole Big Ten title since 1997.

But let’s just live in the moment, shall we? Let’s dream about a future with Jim Harbaugh in purple, leading the Vikings to the same sustained success the San Francisco 49ers enjoyed from 2011 through 2014. Let’s throw caution to the wind and spend some of our precious free time learning about Jim Harbaugh.

He’s A Winner

After a decade as a volunteer assistant at his dad’s Western Kentucky program and a couple of years as Peyton Manning’s quarterbacks coach, Harbaugh took a head coaching job at Stanford with the intention to turn them around. He recruited Andrew Luck and brought them back to relevance for the first time in three head coaching cycles. Luck blossomed into one of the most exciting quarterback prospects of all time. After four years, Harbaugh took a coaching job in the NFL.

You probably know how that went. Three NFC Championship appearances and one Super Bowl later, Harbaugh seemed to have the 49ers on the precipice of a dynasty. He inherited a team with a long-tenured but ultimately underwhelming quarterback in Alex Smith. Harbaugh went to an NFC Championship with Smith, then boldly benched him in favor of Colin Kaepernick and went to the Super Bowl. They went to another NFC Championship in 2013 but missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record in 2014.

Those teams famously dusted Aaron Rodgers at the height of his powers — twice. They were a juggernaut in the NFC, perhaps only overshadowed by Harbaugh’s nemesis, Pete Carroll (seriously, it goes way back) and his Seattle Seahawks. He never won the big one, and he absolutely aches to. But even with a disappointing 8-8 campaign and an unceremonious exit (more on that later), Harbaugh presided over an incredibly dominant stretch of 49ers football.

After San Francisco, Harbaugh took up the job at the University of Michigan, his alma mater, and wrestled them back into relevance as well. Though the Wolverines toiled in some mediocrity, he finally took them past Ohio State and Michigan State and into the rafters of the Big Ten. He also did something at Michigan he had not done before as a head coach: stay for a fifth year. If he stays for 2022, it would be his sixth.

Harbaugh wins games everywhere he goes. He won at Stanford with a pro-style West Coast offense. He seamlessly transitioned to running zone option with Kaepernick well before it was cool. Now in Michigan, he’s embracing their old traditions by running a throwback offense. Defensively, he presided over some dominant Vic Fangio units, and more than a few Michigan Wolverines have earned their place in the NFL draft under his watch.

On top of that, the staff Harbaugh would fill out is impressive. Rumor has it that he would bring Fangio as defensive coordinator and even possibly Pep Hamilton as offensive coordinator. Harbaugh isn’t really an offensive or defensive guy. He was a quarterback in his playing days (“Captain Comeback,” as he came to be known). He was a quarterbacks coach for two years, and then took the head coaching job at Stanford. He’s a head coach, through and through.

In terms of pedigree and résumé, Jim Harbaugh rises miles above anyone else the Vikings have even sniffed. He’s a proven winner at multiple levels. He’s 156-65 (.700) as a head coach. So what’s the catch? Well, as it turns out, he’s a deeply insane person.

He’s A Deeply Insane Person

Jim Harbaugh is not normal. He’s not your everyday head coach 16-cups-of-espresso brand of abnormal either. There are multiple listicles about the top-five bonkers things he has done. Among them is an anecdote about spreading his player’s blood on his face like war paint. He frequently slept over at four-star recruits’ houses. He believes in a diet of whole milk and steak because they are “natural steroids.” Jim Harbaugh is an endless fountain of unhinged anecdotes like this.

That sort of quirky personality might even sound fun to you. At least it would be a breath of fresh air from the stern-mugged Mike Zimmer. If he wins, what do we care what he eats? However, we might care if that brash, unwavering personality tears the Vikings’ organization apart. His constant clash with 49ers GM Trent Baalke bears investigation, as does the change in dynamic between pro and college teams.

The Vikings have been very clear: They want a good collaborator. Mark Wilf said as much at the outset of the GM and head coach search. He echoed the idea at Adofo-Mensah’s introductory press conference. Harbaugh is famously the opposite. He has thrived in the world of college football, where head coaches are more like God-Emperors. In the pros, Harbaugh had to collaborate. He won games on the field with that, but what happened off the field slammed that window shut.

Baalke and Harbaugh started off as close friends. Over the first couple of years in San Francisco, things seemed to work out well. But there were several wrinkles, all centering around power. Harbaugh demanded that the 49ers draft one of his old Stanford players. That player did end up in San Francisco eventually, but Harbaugh cut him. They clashed over how to handle Aldon Smith‘s off-field issues. He repeatedly undermined Baalke’s decision-making authority in press conferences by demanding extensions for veteran players.

Eventually, a deluge of these conflicts fractured the relationship between Harbaugh and Baalke. Those two hyper-competitive personalities could not resolve their disagreements. It took a few years — longer than Adofo-Mensah has known Harbaugh — but both parties remain sour about the affair. The 49ers fired Harbaugh, and Harbaugh happily went to coach at his alma mater. Perhaps Baalke was the ultimate loser. His Niners won only seven games over the next two years before firing him.

Baalke isn’t in Minnesota, you might think. Why should we care about a guy in Jacksonville that Jim Harbaugh hates? It sets a precedent. It’s worth asking if Harbaugh will come to clash with the similarly pragmatic Adofo-Mensah, especially if he does not have full roster control. Adofo-Mensah was cagey about questions of roster control, so a Harbaugh hire might give Harbaugh that power. But would that be a good idea? Either way, there are reasons to be concerned about this sort of feud repeating itself.

Jim Harbaugh is the ultimate competitor. That bizarre story about the blood was a tactic to motivate his players to play tough. His recruiting slumber parties showed that he goes the extra mile. He’ll do anything to win, and the Super Bowl is his white whale. Baalke was similarly competitive but more methodical and analytical. Harbaugh’s whimsical ups and downs earned a lot of pushback from Baalke. Harbaugh doesn’t want to be careful or pragmatic. There is no indication that he is suddenly a master communicator.

That hasn’t been much of a problem at Michigan, where nobody in the building questions Harbaugh’s wishes. It didn’t seem to be a problem at Stanford either, where Harbaugh only left because of the opportunity to coach in the NFL. That’s great for those programs, but it doesn’t help us understand if Harbaugh has matured beyond the brash my-way-or-the-highway style that blew him out of San Francisco. Can he coach anywhere without making enemies? Can he function if he is not God-Emperor?

There’s also the problem of how he reportedly treats his players. Here is just one report of him pressuring a player to retire to free up a scholarship at Michigan. Former players complain that he pushed players too far. He entirely lost the support of the locker room at the end of his tenure in San Francisco. However, some of his players at Michigan swear by his energy and inspiration. The Vikings’ locker room is full of veterans who want to be able to trust their coach. Bringing in Harbaugh, unless he has changed in a way nobody has documented, would betray that.

The kicker in all of this is that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was there. He worked in San Francisco during 2013 and 2014 when things with Harbaugh were deteriorating, and he saw how bad the 49ers were afterward. He’ll have much more perspective than we can ever have as outsiders. He worked with Harbaugh for two years. That’s shorter than Harbaugh’s usual clock. Will Adofo-Mensah see that coming?


Jim Harbaugh doesn’t match any of the cultural points that the Wilfs and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah set out to cover. He is famously the opposite of a collaborator or even a good listener. Harbaugh wants things Harbaugh’s way. The thing is, Harbaugh’s way seems like a pretty good idea. He’s a .700 coach. That’s unheard of. All of the interpersonal struggles in the world won’t matter if the Vikings win a ring. The question isn’t about whether he can win, or if he is frustrating to work with. Those things are both unquestionable. It’s a question of if he will last long enough to sustain a true contender.

By Harbaugh’s own admission, everyone gets sick of him after three or four years. There’s not much reason to believe that wouldn’t be the case in Minnesota. But despite all the fighting, toxicity, and power struggles, Harbaugh’s teams win. So we have to ask ourselves two very important questions. One, do we care if the team’s coach is an ass if he wins? And two, can Harbaugh take this roster to a Lombardi trophy in four years? Your answers to those two questions will decide if you think Jim Harbaugh is a good idea. If nothing else, it would make a hell of a spectacle.

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