Jim Harbaugh on legacy of John Madden, special connection to Michigan team

Jim Harbaugh has been around the game of football for a long time, leading teams at both the professional and collegiate level.

While preparing for Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal matchup vs. Georgia, the Michigan head coach was asked about his relationship with John Madden, the legendary head coach and broadcaster who passed away suddenly earlier this week.

Harbaugh says his entire family had a special relationship with Madden that carried over to the Wolverines’ football program.

“Everybody knows John Madden,” Harbaugh said.

“Jack Harbaugh, 82, me, 58, at every — down to my son who’s nine years old, and the players and the Madden game, just so many ways he’s affected not just the game of football but in so many ways. A great man. Just a great man, a legend.”

Jim Harbaugh then made a point to mention Jesse Madden, John’s grandson, a backup quarterback on this year’s Michigan team.

“Jesse on our team, he’s adored,” the Michigan front man added.

“He’s contributing, been a big factor contributing to our success. The day John Madden passed away, I looked over there and saw Jesse Madden, there’s a Madden on the football field contributing to this team’s success, and his grandfather would be very proud.”

Jim Harbaugh reveals preseason motivation he gave to team

With his team getting ready to compete in the College Football Playoff, Harbaugh thinks back to the preseason. The Wolverines started the year at No. 16 in the AP poll, and certainly nobody expected them to be where they are.

Harbaugh said he tried to offer some motivating words to his team prior to the start of the year.

“I can take you back to our first team meeting in August,” Jim Harbaugh told ESPN. “One of the things I said to these guys was: ‘Hey, guys, let’s face it. The buzz has died down a little bit around here. So let’s make some new buzz.’ They could not have made more buzz around here for everybody.”

Michigan was coming off its worst season since 1962 after finishing 2-4. The Wolverines, like most teams, had their year cut short because of the pandemic. They did not play in their final two games, including agaisnt their biggest rival, Ohio State.

Even though Jim Harbaugh had not had a losing season in Ann Arbor before that, many latched onto last year for some reason. All seasn long the Wolverines were written off, even as they continued to win games.

A loss to Michigan State seemed to prove those fears correct. The Wolverines fell in the polls and many expected them to lose to Ohio State and end their Playoff hopes once and for all. But that’s not how the story would end.

Instead, Harbaugh would claim his first victory as a coach against the Buckeyes, and the school’s first since 2011. That propelled Michigan to No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings, where it would stay after a dominant 42-3 victory in the Big Ten Championship.

The Wolverines made the Playoff for the first time since its inception in 2014, making any doubts about Harbaugh’s job security now seem silly. They are set to face Georgia at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday with a trip to the title game on the line.

As he prepares to lead Michigan onto the biggest stage in all of college football, Jim Harbaugh remembers what he told his players in the preseason. As he does, he can’t help but feel pride knowing that they listened, and that the story isn’t finished just yet.