Football
- Title:
- Safeties/Special Teams Coordinator
- Phone:
- 763-4422
The program’s longest-tenured assistant coach, Jay Harbaugh is in his ninth season with the Michigan Football staff in 2023. He is in his fourth season as the team’s Special Teams Coordinator and is in his second season working with the safeties.
Harbaugh was an assistant special teams coach for four seasons (2015-19) before being named Special Teams Coordinator prior to the 2020 season. Harbaugh has had two stints coaching the tight ends (2015-16, 2021) sandwiched by a period of leading the running back group for four seasons (2017-20). Leading the safeties room, he is working on the defensive side of the ball for the first time in his career. Harbaugh was named the Special Teams Coordinator of the Year by FootballScoop.com in 2021.
Harbaugh has coached four running backs and tight ends to five All-Big Ten honors, including three first-team accolades. He mentored Michigan's most accomplished tight end, Jake Butt, during the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Butt became Michigan's all-time leader in tight end receptions (138) and yards (1,646), scoring seven of his 11 career touchdowns under Harbaugh's guidance. Butt won two Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year Awards as the Big Ten's best tight end, was a consensus first-team All-American both years, and won the 2016 John Mackey Award winner as the nation's top tight end.
During the 2022 season, Harbaugh helped U-M's pass defense finish No. 5 in pass efficiency defense and No. 20 in pass defense. U-M held teams to 16.1 points per game (No. 7 NCAA) and safeties Rod Moore and Makari Paige were All-Big Ten honorable mention honorees.
In the area of special teams, Harbaugh has coached a top-20 NCAA-ranked kickoff coverage unit in five of eight seasons including the top-ranked unit in 2017 and the No. 5 unit in 2023. U-M has had a top-25 kick return unit four times (third, 2015; 11th, 2019; 24th, 2020; ninth, 2023). He has helped another nine Wolverine specialists attain 21 more All-Big Ten honors with one consensus All-American in kicker Jake Moody. In 2021, the Wolverines set school records for net punting and kickoff coverage. Harbaugh coordinated the nation's No. 1-ranked special teams unit in 2021 according to Football Outsiders, and the No. 2 unit in 2019.
Under Harbaugh, Jake Moody became the program's first-ever winner and two-time finalist of the Lou Groza Award, and the Big Ten's Bakken-Andersen Big Ten Kicker of the Year, an award he won twice (2021, '22). Moody owns program records for career points, field goals, and 40-plus field goals, among others, in addition to a number of single-season records set in 2022. Kicker Quinn Nordin set several distance records at Michigan including most career field goals over 40 yards before being passed by Moody. Nordin also ranks sixth in all-time field goals made (42).
Two U-M punters have been semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award: Brad Robbins (2021, '22) and Will Hart (2018), who was named a second-team All-American and won the Big Ten's Eddleman-Fields Punter of the Year Award. Hart and Robbins rank one-two in U-M history in single-season and career net punt average. Hart was named a second-team All-American by Sports Illustrated in 2018, ranked as a Ray Guy Award semifinalist and also won the Big Ten's Eddleman-Fields Punter of the Year Award.
In the return game, Donovan Peoples-Jones was a freshman All-American punt returner in 2017, and Jabrill Peppers was the No. 5-ranked individual return man in the nation in 2016. Giles Jackson matched the program record for kickoff return touchdowns with two through his sophomore season (2020), and Khaleke Hudson blocked five punts during his career - a Michigan record. A.J. Henning was twice named an All-Big Ten return man (second team, third team).
In 2021, Harbaugh's tight end group totaled 57 receptions, led by Erick All, whose 38 catches were the second-most on the roster. He also tied for the team lead with three touchdowns while Luke Schoonmaker scored two of his own. The tight end group under Harbaugh was multiple and versatile, a key piece to the Big Ten's best-rushing offense (214.4 yards per game) in 2021. All was honorable mention All-Big Ten.
Taking over the running backs room in 2017, Harbaugh helped lead a Michigan ground attack that included three running backs who averaged 5.0 yards per carry or better and each ran for over 500 yards for the first time since 1991. Karan Higdon was a Maxwell Award and Doak Walker Award semifinalist in 2018, as well as a first-team All-Big Ten selection. He became U-M's first 1,000-yard back since 2011 and finished his career ranked among Michigan's top 15 all-time in rushing yards and touchdowns. According to Pro Football Focus College, Higdon and Chris Evans Evans combined to force 70 missed tackles throughout the season, leading to over 1,000 yards after contact.
In 2019, Harbaugh saw running backs Zach Charbonnet and Hassan Haskins combine for more than 1,300 yards and 15 touchdowns, including a freshman-record 11 scores from Charbonnet. Haskins earned All-Big Ten honorable mention honors and Charbonnet's 726 yards on the ground were the third-most by any freshman in Michigan history, and his four multi-touchdown games were a freshman record as well. Haskins followed up with a 2020 season that saw him rank 24th nationally at 6.15 yards per carry with two 100-yard games and six rushing touchdowns. Prior to arriving in Ann Arbor, Harbaugh spent three seasons working for the Baltimore Ravens, including the 2014 season as an offensive quality control coach, where his work focused on statistical analysis, self-scouting reports and breakdowns of opposing defenses. In 2014, the Ravens posted a record of 11-7, including a wild card playoff game win on the road at Pittsburgh. The offense averaged 25.6 points per game (eighth in the NFL) and 364.9 yards per game (12th in the NFL). His previous work included working with the video staff and the weight room staff. He was part of the coaching staff that won Super Bowl XLVII under his uncle John Harbaugh.
Harbaugh spent four seasons as an undergraduate assistant at Oregon State under head coach Mike Riley. He performed a number of duties for the Beavers during his time in Corvallis and worked with the special teams units for all four seasons. The Beavers played in two bowls during Harbaugh's tenure (2008-2011), including a win in the 2008 Sun Bowl. He also interned for the San Francisco 49ers in the scouting department during the summer of 2011.
A native of San Diego, California, Harbaugh earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Oregon State University. Jay Harbaugh is the son of U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh.
He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Brhitney, as well as their son, Jacob, and daughter, Norma.
COACHING EXPERIENCE
| Year | Team | Position |
| 2008-11 | Oregon State | Undergraduate Assistant |
| 2012-14 | Baltimore Ravens | Offensive Quality Control Coach |
| 2015-2016 | University of Michigan | Tight Ends/Assistant Special Teams Coach |
| 2017-2018 | University of Michigan | Running Backs/Assistant Special Teams Coach |
| 2019-2020 | University of Michigan | Running Backs/Special Teams Coordinator |
| 2021 | University of Michigan | Tight Ends/Special Teams Coordinator |
| 2022- | University of Michigan | Safeties/Special Teams Coordinator |
THE HARBAUGH FILE
Full Name: Jay Patrick Harbaugh
Birthdate: June 14, 1989
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
High School: St. Augustine High School
College: Oregon State, 2012 (B.A. Sociology)
