National Football League

Michigan adds Jim Harbaugh's son Jay to staff as assistant coach

Published Jan. 20, 2015 8:22 p.m. ET

foxsports

Jay Harbaugh is sticking with the family business — heck, sticking with the family. He'll just be sitting in a different chair at the Thanksgiving table.

The University of Michigan announced Tuesday that Harbaugh has joined his dad Jim in Ann Arbor to serves as the Wolverines' tight ends and assistant special teams coach.

"Jay gathered a wealth of experience the last three seasons coaching in the NFL and I am excited to have him join our coaching staff," Jim Harbaugh said in a prepared statement. "His passion for teaching the game is at the highest level and he will be an asset to our team."

And where did Jay Harbaugh spend those last three seasons in the NFL? Working as offensive quality control coach in Baltimore — under his uncle John Harbaugh.

"It is an amazing opportunity and privilege to coach football at one of the premier universities in the world," Jay Harbaugh said in a prepared statement. "I'm ecstatic about being in Ann Arbor, and to be a part of building something special with the great people in our program."

The Wolverines hired Jim Harbaugh as their new head coach late last month after four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, where he led the club to three straight NFC Championship Games and lost to his brother's Ravens 34-31 in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans in February 2013.

According to mlive.com, shortly after the announcement, Harbaugh completed his coaching staff by hiring former Penn State All-American safety Mike Zordich to be the Wolverines' secondary coach. A week earlier, former 49ers defensive backs coach Greg Jackson left San Francisco to follow Harbaugh to Michigan.

The mlive.com report said that specific roles of the two coaches are not yet known.

The hires wrap up a wild week of hiring in Ann Arbor, a week which saw former Wolverines running Tyrone Wheatley hired to coach the running backs and Jedd Fisch and John Baxter brought in to handle the passing game and special teams, respectively.

Fisch spent the previous two seasons as the Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive coordinator. Baxter most recently coached the USC special teams from 2010 to 2013.