Jim Harbaugh shares roots with 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey despite never coaching RB

When Jim Harbaugh was hired at Michigan in 2014, he was tasked with rebuilding the Wolverines’ football program back to its winning ways. It was a similar task that he was faced with at his prior stops: the San Francisco 49ers and Stanford.

49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, the brother of former Wolverine quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, starred at Stanford where he set records and was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 2015. And so in the lead-up to the 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas, curiosity has risen if Jim Harbaugh coached Christian McCaffrey in Palo Alto with the Cardinal.

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Here’s some connections between the former Michigan football coach and the 49ers star running back:

Did Jim Harbaugh coach Christian McCaffrey at Stanford?

No. Jim Harbaugh was already gone for four years by the time Christian McCaffrey stepped onto the campus in Palo Alto in 2014, but both do share a tie to the Cardinal.

Jim Harbaugh has two separate ties to Stanford himself. The first involves his dad, Jack Harbaugh, who served as the Cardinal defensive coordinator 1980 to 1981. Then four decades after he left Palo Alto as a kid, Jim Harbaugh returned to Stanford but this time as the Cardinal coach in 2007.

During his four years at the helm at Stanford, Jim Harbaugh inherited a program that had a 1-11 record prior to his arrival and turned it into a 12-1 season finish, which ended with an Orange Bowl victory, by his final year in 2010. He coached a handful of players who went on to have NFL careers like Andrew Luck, Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin, Zach Ertz, David DeCastro and Trent Murphy amongst others. Jim Harbaugh finished with a 29-21 (21-14 Pac-12) record in four seasons at Stanford.

REQUIRED READING: Jim Harbaugh spent 9 years as…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jim-harbaugh-shares-roots-49ers-111026179.html

Author : Detroit Free Press

Publish date : 2024-02-11 11:10:26

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