John Harbaugh disputes family's role in brother's Michigan courtship
While Ohio State prepares for a playoff game with Alabama, the Buckeyes' biggest rival is still without a head coach. Depending on who you believe, that could change after Jim Harbaugh and his 49ers finish the regular season this weekend, but his brother insisted Wednesday no family influence will play a part in a potential move back to Ann Arbor.
FOX Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer has reported the pending breakup between Harbaugh and the team will happen quickly after the season finale, and reports have sprung up that the Ohio native and former Michigan quarterback could be warming to the idea of taking over at his alma mater after many reporters scoffed at the idea initially.
The courtship has gotten more and more public over the past few days, including a wish from the Michigan football Twitter account of a happy birthday to Harbaugh, who turned 51 on Tuesday.
Harbaugh's brother, John, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, was on conference call Wednesday with reporters who cover the Browns when he joked about Jim dominating Google search results these days.
"He's been a giant through all of this uncalled-for type of media onslaught sometimes that takes place," John Harbaugh said (via a transcript from the Browns). "(It's) not anybody's fault, just the nature of the business. I think he's handled it just perfectly."
The elder Harbaugh, who was a college defensive back for the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, also took issue with an ESPN report that Jim was being pushed into taking the Michigan job by his family, which also includes father Jack Harbaugh, a longtime football coach who spent seven years on Bo Schembechler's staff at Michigan in the 1970s when his boys were young.
"The report that said that his family is encouraging him to go to Michigan by (ESPN reporter) Adam Schefter is absolutely incorrect," John Harbaugh said. "There has been no family that I know of that has given him any advice at all because that's a personal decision. It's his to make, and that's just absolutely false. I don't know where that came from, but it didn't come from the Harbaughs. My dad and I both said, 'Hey, don't tell us.' If something gets out, we don't want the finger pointed at us. Just leave us out of it, and don't tell us what you're going to do. I think he's just trying to figure out what the next thing is for him, and more than anything, trying to have a great game on Sunday."
Just another turn in a saga that doesn't quite seem close to over.
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