Jim Harbough started his football career back in high school where he played both in junior high, and later in high school, where he graduated in 1982. He chose to attend the University of Michigan where he played under coach Bo Schembechler. During his three years as a starter he was in the top five for passing attempts, completions, completion percentage, passing yards, and touchdown passes in the history of the school. For 12 years he also held the NCAA Division I FBS passing efficiency rating record.
He ended his college career after four years, and in the 1987 draft he went first round, 27th pick by the Chicago Bears. He would remain with the Bears for seven seasons, and in 1991 he passed for a career high of 3,121 yards. In 1994 he went to the Indianapolis Colts where he achieved career highs in completion percentage and touchdown passes. In 1995 he was voted to the Pro Bowl, named Comeback Player of the Year, AFC Player of the Year, and runner-up for NFL MVP. He would later leave the Colts but only to make room for the rookie Peyton Manning.
In 1997 he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens but only played for a year, without anything major happening, and with splitting his time played with another QB. He then moved onto the San Diego Chargers and played for two more years. His first year would end with an 8-8 record, and the second ended with a 1-15 record. In 2001 he went to the Detroit Lions but was cut, and finished his career with the Carolina Panthers, where he only dressed for six games.
During the years of 1994 to 2001 Harbaugh was an NCAA-certified unpaid assistant coach at Western Kentucky University where his father was the head coach. He was an offensive consultant where he would scout and recruit high school athletes. From here he went onto the Oakland Raiders where he served as the offensive assistant coach, and in 2003 he served as the quarterbacks coach.
In 2004 Harbaugh became the head coach at the University of San Diego, and in the first few years he was able to improve their record to 11-1, and they won two Pioneer Football League Championships. In 2006 he went to Stanford University as the head coach, and had a stellar career all the way to 2010 when the team went 11-1 in regular season, winning the orange Bowl, and a BCS ranking of #4. He was also named the Woody Hayes Coach of the Year Award recipient.
Jim Harbaugh was named head coach of the San Francisco 49ers on January 7th, 2011 making him the teams 18th head coach. The news would come just four days after his Orange Bowl victory, and deeply disappoint the other teams that were seeking him to become their head coach. He has high hopes for the 49ers, and wants to bring back the “West Coast Offense.” He believes that he will help guide and mold QB Alex Smith in the perfect offensive weapon. Will he be successful? Only time will tell. Although, 49ers fans seem to trust their head coach as they buy up all the 49er tickets.
