Harbaugh Wants To Establish His Own Brand With The Seahawks
The NFL, an unidentified third member of the Harbaugh family, is now present. Jim’s son Jay (nephew of John) recently started working as a special teams coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, where he reports to head coach Mike Macdonald, with whom he was an assistant coach at Michigan.
Jay Harbaugh is taking a significant risk by accepting the Seahawks position. Having worked as a full-time coach with the Ravens from 2012 to 2014 and the Wolverines since 2015, he has had coaching positions under both his father and uncle. Between 2008 and 2011, he worked as a student assistant at Oregon State, which was his sole position that wasn’t coaching under a relative.
Jay had the opportunity to return to Michigan to work with new coach Sherrone Moore, but he made the decision that it was time to go out and walk on his own.
“It was an opportunity that not everyone gets to do what they love with a mom or a dad or an uncle or whatever it might be,” Jay told The Seattle Times, “and working with my dad at Michigan was probably the best nine years of my life.” I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to experience something so unique.
As far as this franchise is concerned, I know that Mike will take it in the right direction, and the wonderful people in the front office are all so accomplished at what they do that it was kind of the thing where I would never have wanted to go my own way unless it really made sense. That made sense in a vague way.
Jay was pushed into coaching rather than being compelled to play, even though his family had a coaching tradition. Being able to select his own route has only heightened his passion for the game. That independence has done wonders for him.
“I thought, ‘Hey, I really want that,’ when I saw how rich my dad and my grandpa’s lives were, just in terms of relationships.” I was fortunate to have a fantastic start with coach [Mike] Riley at Oregon State [from 2008–11] and then Baltimore after that. That seems like a fun way to live. It has been wonderful. Nonetheless, I’m grateful for the room to be able to make my own decisions.