Welcome into the lounge presented by DraftKings. Today we are thrilled to talk with Jack Harball, the senior Harball, this Harball Brothers battle, the man with the longest history in this competition here. So Jack, thanks for joining us, and I'll start here. So earlier this year, after the big Sunday night football win over the Bills, you kicked off John's press conference with a who's got it better than us? In the media room, and I gotta say it was kind of a weak response.
Thank you, my goodness. I was stunned.
Paul.
We were up in the up with Ingrid in the box and John called up and he said, come down, we need you to come down. I'm thinking, oh, my goodness, what's going on? I had no idea. So we went down the stairs. Now you got to look at Jackie and I at eighty five years old, down those stairs, around and around and around. So we get to the bottom and John walk in and John, hey, come on, come on. I still have no idea what he's talking about. He leads me into the into the press room and I see all these scribes and pundits and waiting to hear from John and Lamar and the gang, and then John's dad, Dad, come on in here, and now it hits me. He said, you have something, and I know exactly what he wants now, so I give it my best woo, and I want to know the response I got back. We got an eight year old in California, we got grandkids everywhere, and I'm used to this, this lively respond and so I kind of challenged him. I thought, you know we can well, when we can do better than that, give you another crack at it and be dad gone. They come up a little stronger, but not quite what I was looking for. So I sold John, I've done the best I can do. I've got to find my way out of this room. So that's that's how that event went.
Well, Garret, I are in the room and we gave it to you. You know what wasn't at the top of my lungs. I'll be honest, it wasn't the top of my loans, but I gave it to you.
You were like the two guys in there that at least played ball exactly we played ball.
So just to let you know, Jack, we had your back.
Okay, Well, I appreciate that. I wish you to wish you to get up in the first row and I could look you in the eye, felt much much more confident.
Well, next time, next time. Well one other question, actually, if if the boys, John, Jim and even Jonie, if they had given you such a weak response, what would you have done with them like when they were kids.
Well, they wouldn't have had wouldn't been able to eat dinner.
Going hungry that night.
Let's go hungry the next time if you're if you're hungry and you want dinner, and we're going to get the response that we're looking for.
So Jack, you know what Chargers Ravens Monday night football, Just you know, what are your nerves like this week?
You know, I kind of still know thirteen in twenty thirteen, and it's about ten years ago, eleven years ago when he played in the Super Bowl. I mean, we had that experience. So so we're thinking, you know, here we go again. And it was good, and it was it wasn't so good, but we knew what it was about. And then we were in Baltimore last week and talking to John about it, and John came up with something I really hadn't thought about, but it put it all in perspective. He said, Dad, this is not for the super Bowl. The super Bowl was an ending. There was going to be a super Bowl championship. There would be someone that didn't win it. In this game, you know, it's it's a game, and both teams are still no challenging for playoff position, and so it doesn't quite have the magnitude that the super Bowl had. And you know what, I shook my head and once again I learned something from John that made me a little bit wiser and a little bit more comfortable.
So are the nerves different then? Do you have less nerves or did that just kind of okay?
Well, I'm sure, I'm sure it'll be about the way it was in the super Bowl too. You know, my nerves were good until kickoff. Yeah, exactly, all its kicked off, and then all at once your body goes into a different mode, you know, of one of absolutely nothing that you can do personally to affect the outcome, but you're emotionally charged to be a part of it and to see how it all comes together.
So take us inside what it's like this week between you and John and Jim. Are communications cut off? Are they trying to use yous to go between you know, John's calling you say, Hey, what are things looking like over there in LA this week? Like what are the conversations like between the three of you?
Totally silent?
Really, I.
I gotta uh, you know, I talked talked and texted back and forth with John and Jim after their last game and kind of talked about the game and the two games, and and then uh, uh Monday morning, it was it was shut down. We haven't communicated on the phone, we haven't communicated in any text back and forth and and and that's good because and I haven't looked at any tape. I haven't looked at any game cape from last week. I didn't look at any I haven't looked at any kind of practice tate. I mean, I'm I'm I'm a fan. I'm a total fan and going to watch and uh and enjoy a great competition.
So in terms of watching the game, what is your plan are you? Are you going to the game or you watch it from home? How do you plan to take it all in on Monday night?
Uh, we're not going to game. We're not going to Los Angeles and uh we are going to Florida. Daughter Joni and Tom Crean and her husband and two of our grandchildren, Megan and Angeley, are going to be Angeley's at Auburn and Megan's in New York working, and so they'll be there and we'll watch the game with them and then celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday with them and then come back over the next weekend.
And did you just not want to be in the building in l A Or what was that decision about?
Well, kind of several several different One thing. First thing is Joni, you know, we've been out to California for a couple of games and enjoy the grandkids when they were starting school, out there for this the first time. And then we've been in Baltimore a couple of times. We were there for the Buffalo game and then we were there for the Bengals game. So we've been to Baltimore and we've kind of neglected Joanie and her family, and we're choosing to go down there and celebrate thanksgif Giving with them and be able to watch a game with them, and we'll have a lot of a lot of fun and enjoyment doing that.
Now, did John and Jim join for Thanksgiving or after they battle on Monday night? It's like, all right, we need a little time. We need a little time apart from each other, depending on what happens here.
We had an interesting one. It was kind of interesting. The first time they played it was that at at BALTIMOREANS forty nine, or it was over Thanksgiving. I think it was a Thanksgiving day. They played that night and the next day I believe it was the twenty fifth, but it was right around our wedding anniversary again, and so we decided, and John and Jim agreed, John, uh, you know, we'll play. We're playing here in Baltimore and in the family. Some of the family will be here, and at our house. We're going to have a a party for mom and dad, a wedding anniversary party here at my house. And the game was over, and Jim got on an airplane and went.
Back said, nah, it was canceled.
Well, Jack, this is your sixty eighth wedding anniversary, if I'm not mistaken, is that correct?
Sixty sixty third, sixty third?
Okay, So Jack, this is your sixty third wedding anniversary on the day of the game. That's pretty cool, right, it really is.
And that all came about was football two Back in nineteen sixty one when we were married, I was a junior high school coach in Canton, Ohio, and our season went right until the middle of November. High school season went to November, can McKinley was playing Masslin High School and the varsity coach of McKinley invited the junior high school coach to come and work with the team that week in preparation for the game. So the next week we had to schedule our wedding for the next week, which was again November twenty fifth, but we waited for the season to be ended. So the way it works out now, every anniversary is around the end of a football season.
Gotcha?
Got you? So? Uh? Jack?
You know, when you just step back and look at it, how cool is it to have both John and Jim back in the NFL again?
Well, it's uh, it's interesting. I wouldn't I wouldn't say I have really any kind of deep emotion about it. I've always found coaching is coaching. I mean, I was a high school coach for six years and every one of those games was a super Bowl. When you win, you coach, and and then I went into college. I never had the pro experience. But wherever you are and wherever you're coaching, you know, you take it so serious and you're so proud of your team and accomplishments, and and even the things were disappointments, you know, you learn to live with them. So as long as they're in football and they're enjoying it and they're having a great experience and affecting lives, Uh, you know, I think it's I think it's a blessing. So in the NFL, though it's the highest possible level of football and there's only thirty two teams, there's only thirty two coaches, and to have John and Jim coaching at that level just brings joy and happiness to Jackie and myself.
That's great. When Jim was hired again by the Chargers this year, I'm sure there was you know, there's excitement and he's a new opportunity for him and he's excited about that. But then you also know there's a date on the calendar. You know right away that there's going to be this game where you're going to have all these the swirling of emotions. And I'll bring back thoughts to the Super Bowl. What was your thought when when Jim, you know, agreed to coach the Chargers, and you knew that there was going to be this date between these two teams and they'd face off with each other once again.
Well, it's kind of a process really. I mean, first of all, he's gone to the Chargers, and we know there won't be a Super Bowl, so that was somewhat of a relief.
You don't have to worry that anymore.
No, you didn't have to worry about that one. The other one was when the schedules came out, you realize a way to schedule worked out that the Chargers were going to, you know, play the Ravens, so they were going to play, and uh, when then it was determined where it was going to be, it was going to be in Los Angeles. And then the last thing that comes up is when it would be played. And I think everybody in the family just kind of realized that the NFL would try to find a way to take advantage of that day and make it a Thanksgiving uh evening game or uh a Sunday night or you know, Monday night. And sure enough it turned out that they they chose a Monday night. But I don't think they realized that that, uh, that that was going to turn out to be our wedding anniversary as well. So from the from the family, you go to the you go and you hit that lever on that on that machine, and we hit the jackpot.
That's cool, that's funny. I thought it was going to be the Christmas game. I thought I thought it was definitely going to be Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Right, just family, just just the whole angle, the family angle piece of it.
Yeah, for sure, Well you didn't.
That's because you didn't know Jack and Jackie's wedding anniversary.
Well had you know? I knew that.
I'm sure I circle on your carond.
Of course I celebrated every year. Jack, congratulations. But if I get three, man, I'll tell you what I'll I'll uh, I'll be I'll be a happy guy.
Let me let me give you some good news and bad news. It comes fast. I mean, it seems like we were just we were just walking down the aisle and uh, and then children were being born, and then we were moving. We moved eighteen times I think in our coaching career, and then all at once you look up sixty three years per crying out.
Love that makes us old, still a young man, still a very young man.
But it happened still fast. I mean, it's just it's just years and days. John has it right. Though days are long, years are short. Yeah, Sometimes you think a day will never end, and then all of lunch where the ball is dropping in New York City and we're celebrating another year.
That's funny. So, Jack, you know you you've helped both John and Jim. You know you've you've come and you've watched the tape, and and you've come and you've seen them up close personal coaching. You've given speeches to their teams and all those things like if you're kind of comparing contrasting how they are not just as people, but as football coaches, how would you do that?
First of all, the way I can describe it best is, and I've said this to both of them. I sat in the meetings with coaches. I sat in the meetings with players. I see them deal with the press, I see them deal with fan base. I watch them and I just say to myself. I sit back and I say to myself, Jack, how lucky you would have been if you would have been a young coach watching them. I would have been a better coach. I swear to that I would have been a better coach. And I experienced John and Jim and how they deal with all the nuances and all the different things that come up, and I'm just amazed. And I walk out of here and I'll be shaking my head and I'll say to myself, Wow, thank God for Mom. Mom has put them in this position. Mm.
Well, you know you obviously both of them credit you a lot with their interest in coaching, and I've heard both of them say that you're there. You are the best coach that they know, and you still certainly have a role with them in terms of kind of helping them as coaches.
Right.
I mean you mentioned earlier you're not watching the film this week, you're not watching the practice tape. But they've said many times over the years that they lean on you for some of the actual x's and o's football stuff. Are you still watching the film, the game tape, the practice tape and actually talking football with them.
It's kind of interesting. Uh. Well, I don't go back to another point that you talk about them both being in coaching. We were when we were at Perrysburg High School and Jim and John were both born at Perrysburg High School where they were. We were there for two years, so they were just babies. And uh. Jackie would bring them out to practice, and she would bring their strollers out, the old strollers they used to have. And these kids were out there all dressed up in their in their cold sometimes the cold weather and the different kinds of things. And and then they learned to walk. I can remember. Uh. And we were at one of the practices, the balls flying around and uh, and she always wanted And then we moved on the different bowling green and they hung out there Iowa, they hung out there, Michigan. They hung out here a lot. And she would always bring him to practice and and uh when we were going to the Super Bowl. Uh, someone brought up a question like like the question you brought up, and Jackie mentioned that she always wanted to She wanted the two boys and Joni when she was old enough to know what dad does when he leaves in the morning at seven o'clock, you know, and and and you don't see him until in the old days we could come home for dinner and we could have dinner with the family and throw the ball around a little bit and then back to the or did he go he goes back to the office. We don't see him to the next but what does he do? So she made up her mind she was going to expose them to what what what we do? And then they would come in the winter time, they would come into the building when we were doing films and recruit and they would be, you know, running around with the other coach's kids. JOONI was the best splicer the old film you know that we're on the reels. She was the best splicer that I ever had that was hot spice, and she could she could hot spice and better than anyone, and that she was trained in that way. So, but I mentioned Jackie being involved in this thing. She was so involved. And then for a dad, the greatest compliment I think a dad could get, at least I feel, is to see their family go into something that they experienced. You know, there were games you would lose and you came home and you well, all you wanted was a dark room. You didn't want to talk to anybody, You didn't want to talk to your kids, you didn't want to just wanted to get by yourself and just feel sorry for yourself basically, and they saw that, they saw all the good and the bad, and they chose to do what you have done all those different years. And it just brings so much, so much pride to me and now that what they've done John and Jim and Tom Creed when he was coaching basketball at Indiana and Georgia, he used to do the same thing. He used to invite me to practice, and you know, I watched some tape with him and all those different So all three of them, after I retired, they allowed me to I retired at a fairly young age. I retired at sixty three, so they allowed me to be around the game. Jim called me out a couple of times to be an assistant when you lost some coaches. And then they say, you know, we want you to look at the tape and if you see something, give us a call. And I don't really, you know, call them a lot. And really, I saw this, and I saw that I watched and it gets my blood running and I get that that that fix, you know, that that coaching fix. And I'm ready if they ever call I got something. I mean, I'm not going to tell them I hadn't. I hadn't. I'm not prepared. So so it brings life to me. And I, you know, eighty five years old now and I think there's four or five years been talked tacked onto that just because their kindness and they're allowing me to be around play the players. I mean, I'm around the players and the players are so good in Baltimore. You come to practice and great stories. Josh Johnson, he was with Jim out at San Diego as freshman in sophomore and junior year. And I knew Josh when he was a freshman. He was about sixty two and he weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds. The tall, lanky guy and just a great guy and a story. When he first came. He came from Oakland and he has hat on sideways. You know, he had the build of his hat over the side of his hat. Jim Harball's dad here, and the first thing I think I need to do is show you how to wear a hat. So I took his hat and I straightened it on his head right and had it balanced. You know, it wasn't killed or anything. The bill was straight. Hat was on there, and I said, this is your wear a hat. Course he was a young guy. Yes, coach ess coaching and so fast forward now. So when he came there, I know he's been there a couple of times. I think it was maybe the first or second time he came. I knew he was there, but I hadn't seen him and talked to him yet. After practices are over, I'm talking with some people on the sideline, and all of once, I feel somebody come up behind me and turn my hat. Turn my hat sideway, So the bill was over over my ear, and I go Josh, and I look around and and to have the players and then uh and and when you walk they give you a smile and and they make you feel at home and make you feel comfortable. And those are the things that as I get older and be around football, the players and the coaches and John and Jim and allowing us to be around the game that we love so much.
Yeah, Jack, I'm curious, you know, how have you seen We'll start with John. How have you seen John evolve as a coach, even from let's say that Super Bowl year till now.
The one thing John is is he is deeply involved in the game. Uh, you know, say a head coach. You know, you're you're responsible for the press, and you you deal with all the things that the head coach deals with. And you know sometimes that you move away from the game a little bit. You know, you don't stay involved as much with the offense, you don't stay as much for the defense, you don't stay as much with the special teams. But I would see what John does at this level is he is immersed in the game. You know, he takes care of all the other things he needs to take care of, but you know, he never he is always around. He watches all the practice film, both offense, defense and special teams. Of course, his background with having coach special teams and he was a secondary coach with the the Eagles, and all coaches are you know, oriented to the offense because you know that's such a part of the game. But he looks at every single UH film and and when we're there, you know, after practice is over, he'll come on, we're going in here and and we and we together, and then I get a kick out of that. We back and forth. It's like I remember when I was coaching here at Michigan and here's here's John and Jim about twelve and thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years old, and I'm looking at some practice film there at home, and they're there watching, and it's just reverse. Now they've got their running the projector they took the projector out of my hands. But we're watching and I think to myself, God, who he has luck? Who is who has it possibly better than me? Give me a discovery response on that?
Nooy, gotcha.
That's they're getting better at.
We're working on it.
We're working on it. You know, when you talk about legacy, Jackie, you talk about, uh, just your experiences as a coach and as a dad and with John and Jim and watching them grow up and just kind of the legacy of coaching. One thing that John has certainly become invested in is the Hartball Coaching Academy. And this is for any listeners out there. This is a resource for coaches or really anybody parents you know, from athletes, athletes, parents, coaches, and you can go to Hartball Coaching Academy dot com and there's all sorts of lessons and interviews and perspective and you're involved in that, certainly, Jack And this is really a legacy for for not just John but your whole family. It's the Harball family. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of this platform and the Harball Coaching Academy overall.
We're deeply, deeply invested with it or invested with it. It's a I think it's a fantastic thing. And I've given a lot of thought as we've gotten into this, and I brought it's brought back some things to me about the people in my life. You know, the people in my life that have put us in put Jack and myself in this position. And it starts with your family. And the things I would like with this with the the Academy is for people to be aware of your parents, to be aware of the influence they have on their young people. You know, my mom and dad, uh went to high school. Uh my mom married and she had four kids within five years of time. She got married and her whole life was about her kids. And uh we challenged her, now, I mean my brother, myself, my sister, and we challenged her, but she rose to the occasion on and everything. And the thing that she brought to me was patience. I mean she was patient with us. I mean challenging and demanding, but showed showed great great of patience and uh and uh and I appreciate that so much. And my dad was a railroad for thirty five years. He didn't work like eight five jobs. It was you'd run a train from Crestline, Ohio to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stayed in our day, and then he had come back home and spend a couple of days and back and forth and back and forth. So he wasn't what you'd say the prototype dad with being able to think do the things Dad did. But the one thing he did for me, he was one tough some of the gun. When I say that, I mean he was a boxer at one time. And and uh and now I'd go to Dad and I'd say, Dad, I'm in the fifth grade here and this kid's bullying me, this kid's this kid's doing this and kids. Then he would say this, well, what are you going to do about it? And I look at him, I saw a dad, what are you going to do about it? He said, no, no, what you're going to do about it? And then you would go. You would go back the next day and you'd be around. He'd go, well, what do you do about it? I'd say well, I didn't do anything. He said, well, don't bring it up to me again until you do something about it. And then you realize what he was saying is he's not going to do for you what you should be doing for yourself. You better, you better line up and step up and take take charge of it. So it was never him fighting any of our battles with the coach. If the coach we didn't coach, I think the coach was playing us enough. But what are you going to do about it? You better get you better get moving, you better, you better get on the ball. And so I remember so many opportunities like that, and I think, you know, if you know, you know, parents, patience and allow your children to do for themselves what they can and not rely on some of the other people. And then I went to Bowling Green State University on a full scholarship, and I ran into a guy by named Dutt Perry. He's a Hall of Fame coach. He was the first coach that Woody Hayes hired at Ohio State as his running backs coach. Det was running backs coach he coached hop along Cassidy. In nineteen fifty four, they won a national championship and hop Along Cassidy was the Heisman Trophy winner. And he came to Bowling Green then a school that he went to nineteen fifty seven as the football coach. And he one thing he did he first day of class. Let me just clear my throat here. First day of class, he said, take out your pencil and paper and write this down because this is going to be the opening the question of the final examination. He was teaching a football class, a three hour class. We met on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. First day. Take out your pencil and paper. This is what you're going to have to do to be a successful coach. He started with number three, You've got to have a love and passion for the game. You can't just like it. You've got to love it. You've got to love football. Number two, You've got the outwork all those that you're going to come in contact with. None of you in here are going to outsmart anyone. I've recruited you all. None of you can out smart anyone. You've got to outwork them. Outwork number two. And then it was a drum roll like number one, Mary why and that was the first question. And I will say I got the first question right there, you go. I'll tell you about two, three, four and five, But I know I got the first one right.
We got to see three years, six, two years proofs in the pudding right there, that's right.
And so the next the next class I had was a biology class, and in that class was a young lady by the name of Jackie Sapiti. And we were freshmen together, and she was in the front row and I was in the back row, and I'm looking. I'm thinking, that is the most beautiful young lady I have ever seen in my entire life. Took me about four weeks to say a low to her, because I thought she was so far out of my class that it was no possible way. We were friends for three years. She went overseas for one year and studied in a field up program that they had you could go overseas, and came back as a senior. We started to date, and then in November twenty fifth and nineteen sixty one we were married. And and that changed my life. Uh. She was she was so focused on the good things, doing be doing right, and grammar I was. I was strung with grammar. I couldn't put a sentence together without.
Kid me out. I'm a writer here. I think Jackie could help me out. So on that way exactly, I.
Would say something like grammatically wrong, and she would go so, and then she would say it right, and that she wouldn't correct me. She wouldn't say you're doing it wrong. And then finally I caught on to her. I know what she's doing, and I got to figure it out. And my grammar is better. I won't say it's perfect. I always say it's good. But and then, uh, you know, we were married in seventy in the sixty one, and the kids and and she is the heart and soul of this family. And here's a quick story. I hope I'm not talking to am. I talking to you.
You're good, you're ye love the stories. We love the stories.
So the other the other story that came up is is uh uh bo sham Becker came up with a line one that the team, the team, the team. I was here for seven years and very few days went by that he didn't use the team, the team, the team in some form of context, something about something you'd always no one's more important than the team, not the coach, no players more important the team. It's about on on on. So we John and Jim were young, they were like five and six years old, were a little older than that. We were here in ann Arbory. I came home one night about ten thirty. I had a bad day at the office. I mean bad day. Things didn't go well, the practice didn't go well. I'm not feeling real good. Come home about ten thirty and I walk in the house and she's sitting on the couch, sibon and obviously she didn't have a very good day either, and so I what's wrong? She said, well, this happened, and that happened. John did this, and Jim did this, and Joni did this. I mean, she's going on and on. And when my frustration, I said, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? You want me to go up there, grab him out of bed, shake them up? Is that what you want? And I lost it right, and she was crying and she goes, no, no, I'm not asking you to do that. I'm just asking you to listen to me. Just to listen to me. Let me tell you to tell the story. So that same night, we sat and we talked in a team the team, the team, the team, the team. And we came up with this. I said, Jackie, you know we you and I are responsible for two teams. The first team is right here in this house. We have three young youngsters and and they're they're doing well in school there this is this is when it all comes to the end. You know, this is going to be the number one team that we're responsible for. The other team is when I go off to work every day. It's important that that we have success and we do well, and and and I treat them as I would treat my own kids. Really, it's it's an extension of our family. Here is the youngsters that we coach. So here's what we're going to do. Jackie. You are the head football coach, or that you are the head coach of the Harbaugh family. You are the head coach. I will be a coordinator offensively defensively however, I'll coach positions. I'll help in any way I possibly can. But when you make a decision, just like we do with Bou shamp Bo, sham Becker comes in and says, guys, this is where we're going to do it. He's the head coach. That's the way we're going to do it. You're going to be the be that head coach the team, the team, the team, and uh and I was off. And then Jackie, as I say, got the kids involved with with the team as well, and that just mad. This man had a life changing uh experience for us as is taking something that Bo Shamblecker talked about. In fact, it's the legendary here. I mean you can go into on the YouTube or all those and look up the team, the team, the team, and you hear Bo Shambcker tell the story the wait for seven years. I heard it with numbing repetition and how it related to our our family building. And this one last I know I'm talking about that, just one last thing about this family thing. The uh duyt Perry back to him again. He used to talk about coaching and teaching being synonymous. He was talking about the team team in the building. Coaching and teaching were synonymous. To be a good coach, you better be a good teacher. If you can't teach, you can know all the football in the world. You can know schemes. I mean, you could know all the things that you need to know about football. But if you can't teach it and can't relate it, relate it to someone else in a fashion that they can learn it. You're not going to be a good you're not going to be a good teacher. And if you're a coach and can't teach, or if you're a teacher and can't coach it, I mean, it's got to go hand in hand. And then in the process, I can't tell you exactly what it happened. I kind of added onto that parenting. I think parenting is the same thing. All the things you have to do to be a good coach on the field, you need to do within within your own family. And you've got to be tough, love the discipline of patience that my mom gave me, the discipline of doing them doing others doing for themselves what they need to do without depending always on someone else. You know, that's the kind of parenting that that you need to relate to both coaching football and and and the raising your family and and uh and I what I'm trying to say, I guess here is those lessons that we've learned along the way as it relates to coaching football and raising a family, and and teamwork and and coaching together and and putting this thing together are the things that I think John and and Jim are are trying to facilitate in this uh in this academy, this uh this academy, and and and I think hopefully the people that that listen to, people that that uh uh use some of these different lessons that's helpful in their life.
Yeah, jack I have one last question for me is uh, you know, I mean John and the Ravens have really been kind of the gold standard of consistent excellence in the NFL since he arrived, which is a hard thing to do in a league that is so driven towards parody. Right, it is really hard to stay on top and consistently be contending for championships. Jim gets to LA and immediately you snap your fingers and hey, they're right back in the playoff hunt. They're in the thick of things, right, turns them around super fast. Obviously, you being college football National championship coach. What is it about the Harballs? Why are the Hardball's good coaches?
Thank God for moms. Go right back to Jackie, I mean the head coach. She was the head coach of them, and it's still she is still is. I mean, if you watch your here watching a football game, I mean that would be that would be a best seller in any any venue you'd want to watch it. Officials can't officiate, all can't take a good bounce. What's he thinking with you? I mean she is on on top of it. But no, I'm seriously as is. They've had me around and but she's been around them fourteen fifteen, sixteen hours a day when they were growing up. She goes with the grandkids now and to watch her with the grandkids, I mean, I'm looking. I said, I've seen this movie. I know all this is going to work out because she's she is. She is so strong and loves them so much and gives them so much, so much attention. And as I say, back in nineteen fifty seven, in that biology class room, I look down into row number one and in that that class and and h four years later we were married. That was the decision that changed my life. And I would say that Jackie being with our three kids, Julie and Jolie's well can igine. She married a basketball and she would call Jackie. You know, Tom was actual to be coaching teams and it still does, and she wants to talk to Jackie and how do you handle this or how do you work with this? And and that's why I go back again. We're just so blessed to the Jackie's with us, and and uh and she's still she's still the head coach of the Harbaugh family.
That's all. I see why you've been married sixty three years giving your wife all this credit jacket? Smart man, smart man?
Who I want you to know if you would have seen me before I'm married, And you say, who in the hell is this guy that looking at today? A lot of good things that happened to me that day in that biology class.
That's great. So it sounds like Jackie is going to be maybe the one pacing around the house the most on Monday night, more than you is she When she's watching the game, she's the most animated out of the bunch.
We can't we cannot watch the game together.
You're upstairs.
We got luckily, we got we got two televisions, two different rooms. One I's in the basement and one I's up on the on the first floor. Jackie gets the first floor because you know, she's the head coach and I'm in the basement. But the problem is the problem is they delay. There's about a it seemed like a second, so it can't be much. But she's up here. She gets it before I do, right, and I hear no, And I'm thinking, as the quarterback gets the ball, this isn't going to be good.
Soda.
But I don't know. We'll probably we'll probably all watch it down there together. I don't know, don't we don't get. We don't get put in separate rooms. But the other is that when she goes nothing, Oh, I'm gonna like this play. And here's how we got to that point when when we're watching together, we're in this room together, right, and a play is going off. It could be going well, and it could not be going well. Jackie cannot sit and watch me. I'm quiet. I I'm sitting there and my arms across and I'm engaged in the game. I don't talk. But she jumps up and gets into a football position right in front of the screen, and I'm trying to look around her to see the play. And then I'll say, Jackie, she goes, she gets I'm sorry. I'm sorry, No, don't be sorry. Just kind of move over to the lefton and we're going to be all right. So it's an adventure when you when you watch the game with the head coach of the Harball family.
That's awesome.
I'm sure that you're for the game on Monday night. Are the Harballs rooting for a tie? Are jack and Jackie here rooting for a tie?
A great story on that, if I got time. When we went to the Super Bowl, we were in the commissioner's box. They have Jackie and I sitting in the box and uh, Jackie meets the commissioner for the first time and they're shaking hands in her and the first thing Jackie says, is there any way this could end in the tie, to which the commissioner gives her No, there's no eil very very no. There's no way it will end in the tie. There will be a winner in the game. And Jackie said, well, thank you for and then that was pretty much the end of the end of the conversation. But now in this game there is a possibility that there is a possibility.
There you go, So that's what that's what you're crossing her fingers for.
Well, Jackie and myself, you know I did this, you know DIDs a well played game, and and I know both teams are going to compete and and then coach be well coached and it'll be uh be a tremendous experience for us, I'm sure awesome.
Well, thank you so much, Jackie. Really loved having you on with us. Love the stories and enjoy Monday night.
And thank you. Yeah, thank you so much. I hope I didn't talk. I bet I talked too much.
That's now the story, that's what the podcast for Jack.
Yeah, well, I know I said to myself, Jack, you need to be quiet, but then I was right in the middle of a story and I wanted to finish it. So I just.
Tell you to story. We loved it, We love it. Thank you so much, Jack.
Thank you, Talk to you later.
Go with you.
You're listening to the Lounge podcast and we are coming to you from the Sea Geek Studio. We also want to mention our partners at Draft Kings Sportsbook. They are an official sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown is yours. Also, do you know a kid who would love to get game tickets and a chance to take the field with the Ravens then enter them for a chance to be recognized as a wall walk kickoff Kid at a remaining home game. Every home game, one luck eat winner gets a chance for a once in a lifetime opportunity to run out to the field after kickoff to retrieve the kickers tea and get a custom jersey and wah wat swag bag. You can get more information on that at Baltimore Ravens dot com slash Kickoff Kid. So it's always good to talk to Jack. I mean, there's no better storyteller out there than Jack Harbaugh. Most great coach, better storyteller.
Oh for sure, absolutely, And hey, I know that why he's been married for sixty three years, you know. I mean, it's just cool to hear him talk about Jackie and uh and yeah, and their emotions going into this one. It feels like not quite as high emotions as the Super Bowl, which is understandable, understandable, But like he said, I bet when that ball is kicked off Monday night, it's gonna feel very reminiscent. I bet it's a big game. It's not that big, but it's a big game.
Yeah.
It's interesting, you know, hearing him talk about him and John talking about it a week ago and they just saying, you know, look that it's still a regular season. You know, it's a little bit different, and and it is.
It's look now, if they face each other in the AFC Championship, Yeah, it's like he was like, oh, well, you know, at least when Jim went to the Chargers, he knew there was not gonna be another super Bowl against each other. Tell you what the ANFC Championship would feel pretty big?
Do we feel pretty similar? Feel pretty similar? I mean I think it's cool. Obviously, John's been here a long time, super successful, has has been a great coach, and you mentioned it to Jack. Jim gets back to the NFL in his first year with the Chargers, has them right back in the thick of things. He's a great coach, He's he's won at every level. So you have two of the premier coaches in this sport who are brothers, great family, and now they match up on Monday Night football on their parents' anniversary, like they just it truly is like a Hollywood story.
Yeah, it really is. I mean, you thought he couldn't get any better than the Super Bowl story, and here they are, you know, Jim goes and wins the National Championship in Michigan, and now he's back and facing each other again. And hey, John's two and oh right, so that's that's the thing with John, right, he won the Super Bowl, So you're never gonna be able top that as long as Jim never goes to the NFC.
Yeah.
And then also, he's got it. He's two and o right now. So even if the Charger where to win, let's not even go down there. That's not gonna happen. But then Jim, then John stillhead.
I can guarantee that he's not thinking about that.
No, No, he wants to be three and oh yes, yes for sure. I mean, hey, I've got an older brother. Uh, and you've got a brother as well. Yeah, two brothers. I'm sorry and sorry, let me say it again. You've got two brothers as well, and so we know what it feels like to compete against your brothers. Yeah, and uh, that never ever goes away.
Yeah, totally. And I'm sure that John and will be feeling this week. And again, it was just fun to talk to Jack and get some of his stories, and like I said, he's the best storyteller in the.
Biz yep, absolutely so thank you for listening. As always, you can reach us at the Lounge at Ravens dot NFL dot net and we'll be back later this week to give you our preview of this Ravens Chargers battle as well as talk about some of the biggest points of the week. So thanks for listening.