John Harbaugh attempts to explain brother Jim's 'biblical' reference for Michigan QB competition
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh started an interesting discussion last week with his “biblical” plan at quarterback this year. During Saturday’s game between the Wolverines and Colorado State, his brother, John Harbaugh, weighed in.
ESPN’s Robert Griffin III said he got a text from John explaining where his brother was coming from with his explanation. When discussing his decision to start Cade McNamara in Week 1 and JJ McCarthy in Week 2, Jim cited Solomon as part of his reasoning.
In his text to Griffin, John shared what Jim was getting at with that reference, which was apparently to Ecclesiastes 11:6 — written by Solomon.
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“I actually just got a text message from John Harbaugh, Jim’s brother,” Griffin said on the ABC broadcast. “And he just explained to me how Solomon wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes and the reference that coach Jim Harbaugh was making was to the fact that you plant two seeds, you water them both equally and you see which one grows and develops. That’s how Jim is looking at this quarterback competition between JJ McCarthy and Cade McNamara.”
Jim Harbaugh made his comments earlier this week after announcing the decision to start McNamara in Week 1 and McCarthy in Week 2 before making a decision. That’s when he said the inspiration was biblical and not based on any potential NFL model.
“It’s a process,” Jim Harbaugh said. “For me to stand up here, no person — that’s biblical — knows what the future holds. It’s a process based on performance. But we’re not going to withhold any good thing. Both have been tremendous quarterbacks. We think that both are capable of leading our team to a championship.
“That’s good. We’re going to keep cultivating that. People have asked, ‘how have you come to that decision? Was it based on some kind of NFL model?’ No. It’s really biblical. Solomon, who was known to be a pretty wise person.”
Paul Finebaum calls Jim Harbaugh ‘crazy’ for his ‘biblical’ quarterback decision
The decision made waves across college football, with opinions coming in from all over. One came from SEC Network host Paul Finebaum, who said he liked the Bible reference.
However, he had a vastly different opinion for the plan itself.
“I think we’re making a mistake allowing Harbaugh to live on this Earth,” Finebaum said. “We’re about to send up a mission to the moon and he should be on it. He’s crazy. You have to admire his comparisons to the Bible. I like that.
“But the good news for him — and everyone’s overreacting — he’s got some easy games to start the season. It really doesn’t matter what you do in game one. He’s having some fun. I don’t know why he’s doing it. I don’t know why Jim Harbaugh does anything, guys. But he went to the playoffs last year, he bought himself a life insurance policy in Ann Arbor. Good for him.”