Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is a man of many weird words. But there’s at least a kernel of truth to most of his statements.
5 assistants on Jim Harbaugh’s 1st Stanford staff have since become head coaches
He had a funny quote about coaching staffs around the time, too.
Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images
When he was coach at the University of San Diego, he said this to his staff at the time.
But Jim also told us, ‘Stick with me and you’ll be farting through silk,’ which I guess meant that we’d all be so successful we could afford silk undergarments.
Fast forward to today, and you see what happens if you can get the job done with Harbaugh.
Shafer, formerly at Syracuse, is the only one of those five who is not currently a head coach.
Taggart’s talked about when he met Harbaugh, when the NFL QB was helping father Jack Harbaugh recruit to Western Kentucky:
“I didn’t even believe it when he called. I said, ‘This isn’t the Jim Harbaugh who plays quarterback for the Chicago Bears,’ and basically hung up on him. Then my coach looked it up and found out his dad was the coach at Western. I’d never been to Kentucky. I’d never left the state of Florida.
“He was helping his dad out at the time, as a limited-earner status assistant. I think he was paid a $1 salary, and he would work in the offseason as a recruiter.
“We’re sitting at lunch on a Tuesday, and he walks right into the lunchroom to see me. And this is really cool for me, because that season we had Florida Mr. Football on our team, Shevin Wiggins [of the famous “Flea Kicker” play involving UCF head coach Scott Frost]. Shevin was the man, but that day I was it,” Taggart says, laughing.
“No matter how crazy you think he looks in public,” Taggart points at Harbaugh footage on ESPN on Thanksgiving morning, “no matter how crazy it looks, there’s a purpose. I promise you.”
From Stanford’s 2007 media guide, which didn’t list QB coach Sanford at the time.
Clayton White is the only coach on this list that hasn’t either had a head job of his own or remained within the Harbaugh coaching tree. He is the safeties coach at his alma mater, NC State, though.
Lance Anderson and Shannon Turley are still at Stanford under Shaw. Andy Buh has followed D.J. Durkin to Maryland, and Tim Drevno is with Harbaugh at Michigan. Matt Weiss may be out of Jim’s tree, but he currently works under Harbaugh brother John at the Baltimore Ravens.
Maybe some day, this staff will be thought of similarly to 1983 Iowa’s.
Silk!
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