printable versionJim Harbaugh, a former NFL quarterback, is named the new head football coach
BY MICHAEL PEÑA
Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby, left, introduced Jim Harbaugh, right, as the new head football coach for the Cardinal. Harbaugh previously was head football coach at the University of San Diego from 2004 to 2006.
At the afternoon press conference on Dec. 19 for the new head coach of the Cardinal football team, Jim Harbaugh recalled how he spent three summers working on the field of the old stadium while his father was coaching at Stanford—and how his football aspirations have now come full circle.
"I used to stare down at that field as I was stenciling those numbers," Harbaugh told reporters, athletes and others who crowded into the Arrillaga Family Sports Center's Kissick Auditorium. "I so very badly wanted to go to Stanford and play for the Cardinal. … This was my number-one choice all along."
Harbaugh has spent the last three seasons, from 2004 to 2006, as the head coach at the University of San Diego, leading the Toreros to Division I-AA Mid-Major national titles each of the past two campaigns.
He played collegiate football at the University of Michigan and led the Wolverines to three bowl games as a player before entering the National Football League as a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 1987. He played for five teams over 15 seasons—from 1987 to 2001—as a quarterback in the NFL. He also saw NFL action with the Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Carolina Panthers.
At the press conference, Harbaugh was introduced by Director of Athletics Bob Bowlsby, who expressed enthusiasm about the football program's future under the new coach. Bowlsby touted Harbaugh's understanding of the role of academics in a student athlete's life and the effect Harbaugh has on those he has coached.
"What I do know is that students enjoy playing for him. The more that I talked to people, the more that I heard that," Bowlsby said. "Jim Harbaugh makes the people around him better."
Also in the audience were famed NFL coach Bill Walsh, who has been a football coach at Stanford and served as the university's interim athletic director before Bowlsby, and senior Cardinal quarterback T. C. Ostrander. Bowlsby mentioned the important roles both played in helping select a new head coach.
The announcement of Harbaugh's hiring came two weeks after the Dec. 4 firing of Walt Harris as head football coach for the Cardinal.
Harbaugh has local ties to Stanford. His father spent two seasons, from 1980 to 1981, as the school's defensive coordinator, and Harbaugh played two years of prep football at Palo Alto High School. More information on Harbaugh's career is available at http://gostanford.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121806aaa.html.