Jack Harbaugh | Mentors, Failures, and Championships

Most people know Jack Harbaugh as the father of John, the Super Bowl champion coach of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, and Jim, who has led the Michigan Wolverines to two straight Big Ten titles. But Jack took the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers from the verge of extinction to a national title himself, one of the great coaching feats of his era. In this episode Jack tells us what he learned -from paying his dues while climbing up the ranks of high school coaching – including one of his schools that had exactly two practice footballs; -from Hall of Fame coaches Doyt Perry at Bowling Green, and Bo Schembechler at Michigan; -from being fired from his first head coaching job at Western Michigan; -from his tenure taking over a near-defunct program at Western Kentucky, getting them into the playoffs as a 16th seed, then leading the Hilltoppers to a very unlikely national title. Along the way, Jack Harbaugh tells insightful and hilarious stories, many at his own expense, that you won’t forget.

Episode 13 of the Let Them Lead podcast, hosted by John U Bacon, Jack Harbough, titled "Jack Harbaugh | Mentors, Failures, and Championships" was published on May 18, 2023 and runs 71 minutes.

May 18, 2023 ·71m · Let Them Lead

Summary

Most people know Jack Harbaugh as the father of John, the Super Bowl champion coach of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, and Jim, who has led the Michigan Wolverines to two straight Big Ten titles. But Jack took the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers from the verge of extinction to a national title himself, one of the great coaching feats of his era. In this episode Jack tells us what he learned -from paying his dues while climbing up the ranks of high school coaching – including one of his schools that had exactly two practice footballs; -from Hall of Fame coaches Doyt Perry at Bowling Green, and Bo Schembechler at Michigan; -from being fired from his first head coaching job at Western Michigan; -from his tenure taking over a near-defunct program at Western Kentucky, getting them into the playoffs as a 16th seed, then leading the Hilltoppers to a very unlikely national title. Along the way, Jack Harbaugh tells insightful and hilarious stories, many at his own expense, that you won’t forget.

Episode Description