James Joseph Harbaugh ( HAR-baw; born December 23, 1963) is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2015 to 2023, the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, Stanford University from 2007 to 2010, and the University of San Diego from 2004 to 2006. Harbaugh played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986 and in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons from 1987 to 2000, with his longest tenure (1987–1993) as a player with the Chicago Bears.
Harbaugh was born in Toledo, Ohio. His father, Jack Harbaugh, was a football coach, and the family lived in Ohio, Kentucky, Iowa, Michigan, and California. He attended high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Palo Alto, California, when his father was an assistant coach at Michigan and Stanford, respectively. After graduation from high school in Palo Alto in 1982, Harbaugh returned to Ann Arbor and enrolled at the University of Michigan and played quarterback for the Wolverines, starting for three seasons. As a fifth-year senior in 1986, he led Michigan to the 1987 Rose Bowl and was a Heisman Trophy finalist, finishing third.
The Chicago Bears selected Harbaugh in the first round of the 1987 NFL draft. He played 14 years as a quarterback in the NFL, with Chicago from 1987 to 1993, the Indianapolis Colts from 1994 to 1997, the Baltimore Ravens in 1998, and the San Diego Chargers in 1999 to 2000. He first became a regular starting quarterback in 1990 with Chicago. In 1995 with Indianapolis, he led the Colts to the AFC Championship Game, was selected to the Pro Bowl and was honored as NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
From 1994 to 2001, while still playing in the NFL, Harbaugh was an unpaid assistant coach at Western Kentucky University, where his father Jack was head coach. In 2002, he returned to the NFL as the quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders. Harbaugh returned to the college ranks in 2004 as the head coach at the University of San Diego. After leading San Diego to consecutive Pioneer League championships in 2005 and 2006, he moved to Stanford in 2007, where he led the Cardinal to two bowl berths in four seasons, including a win in the 2011 Orange Bowl. Immediately afterward, Harbaugh signed a five-year deal as head coach of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, where he led the team to the NFC Championship game in each of his first three seasons after the franchise missed the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons beforehand. He and his older brother, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, became the first pair of brothers to serve as head coaches in NFL history. Their teams played in a Thanksgiving Classic game in 2011 and in Super Bowl XLVII at the end of the 2012 season.
Harbaugh accepted the job as head football coach for the University of Michigan Wolverines in 2015. Harbaugh led the team to three consecutive Big Ten Conference titles, including berths in the College Football Playoff in the 2021 and 2022 season, eventually winning a national championship in 2023: the school's first since 1997, and the first undisputed national championship since 1948.
On January 24, 2024, Harbaugh left Michigan to return to the NFL, signing a five-year contract to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
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