Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh Opens Up About Why He Returned Home

In a warm and touching story in The Players Tribune Jim Harbaugh waxes lovingly about growing up in Ann Arbor as the son of a low paid assistant coach, highlighting his love of the town and the college that made him feel part of a family.

In a piece entitled 'Who's Got It Better Than Us?', Harbaugh opens up for the first time about his return home to his alma mater and his years spent their as the son of an assistnat coach at the school.

The article also highlights how big college football has gotten, as Harbaugh relates how his dad would drive all over the country in search of football talent to come to Michigan.

But the big take away from the story is Harbaugh's love of a family and a community that nutured him. Riffing on his family's mantra, 'Who's Got It Better Than Us? Nooooo-body!', Harbaugh at first questions whether they actually did ever have it better than everyone, but then coming to this conclusion:

Later on we realized, Okay, maybe some people did have it better … But my parents were right about just about everything. It’s staggering how right they were. Maybe having an exciting childhood in a loving home is as good as it gets. And we had that. So how could anybody have it better?

About the city of Ann Arbor and his decison to return, Harbaugh speaks lovingly of his boyhood home.

I find it to be the same place today. It’s changed over time, but at its core, it’s the same. It’s still vibrant and alive, full of good, genuine, down-to-earth people who laugh easy and make you laugh. I still feel that love here — how people care about and want the best for their kids, the way my parents did. I go all over this country recruiting people, and it’s enjoyable. When I’m inside these homes, it doesn’t even feel like work. I meet so many good families everywhere I go. And they all want the best for their sons and daughters. That’s the common thread.

 

Having moved as often as I did when I was young, to be able to come back here and actually see my kids going to the same schools I went to, and experiencing things for the first time that I remember experiencing myself,  feels good. Seeing them experience The Big House. Going to dad’s office. Going to the same Dairy Queen I went to.

It's about as mushy a love letter you'll see written about the University of Michigan you will ever see. It reminds of those times my Dad would take me to Michigan games and buy a program. During dull parts of the game, I would read a feature they had evey year called 'This I Remember', where former athletes would gush about their time on campus. It made me want to go there. Unfortunately, I wasn't that smart.