Jim Harbaugh: The Ric Flair of College Football
By David Cuff
Jim Harbaugh has almost instantaneously become college football’s biggest celebrity since last season, and we think we’ve found a good comparison for him.
There are many words that can be used to describe Michigan Football head coach Jim Harbaugh: intelligent, competitive, innovative and crazy, to name a few.
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Many of those same words can be used to describe another man: the “Nature Boy,” Ric Flair. The 16-time world champion is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He also happens to be friends with Harbaugh, and it’s not hard to see why.
Both Harbaugh and Flair have a love for the University of Michigan. Harbaugh’s story is obviously well known.
The son of former Michigan defensive backs coach Jack Harbaugh, Jim attended the University of Michigan from 1983-86 under legendary head coach Bo Schembechler. The former Michigan quarterback’s homecoming to Ann Arbor is just beginning as he has already started to turn the program around.
Flair’s Michigan story is lesser known. Flair briefly lived in the city of Detroit as a child, but his real love for U of M came as a high school football recruit. At the Signing of the Stars event back in February, Flair appeared as a guest and discussed how he had signed a LOI in 1968 to play for then-head coach Bump Elliot at Michigan.
Flair also talked about visiting Ann Arbor and spending time with Dan Dierdorf and Jim Mandich.
“In this town, you can stay all night and you can stay a little longer,” said Flair. “So here I am, all these years later.”
Flair ended up attending Minnesota instead of becoming a Wolverine, but at age 67 his respect for Michigan is still there.
In this town, you can stay all night and you can stay a little longer, so here I am, all these years later.
Another similarity between Harbaugh and Flair is their unique sense of style. Flair was known for his extravagant robes, tailored suits, Rolexes, and shoes that cost more than your house. Harbaugh may choose a simpler approach, but it is no less unique. There really isn’t any other word to describe a wardrobe that consists mainly of $8 pairs of khakis from Walmart.
If you want to have great success in a highly competitive environment you also need to be a little crazy.
Harbaugh and Flair both have what I like to call a controlled crazy. Whether it’s a sideline outburst or running around shirtless at a satellite camp, Harbaugh isn’t concerned what others think of him. He just wants to win.
Flair’s craziness is a lot more fun to watch than talk about, so I’d suggest this:
Let’s just say any man who would strip down to his boxers in a wrestling ring on live television has to be a little crazy. Not to mention Flair’s poor suit jackets. They’ve taken more elbow drops than Randy Savage delivered in his entire career.
The wardrobes and the craziness are nice, but the biggest similarity between Flair and Harbaugh is the fact that they’re considered one of the best at their craft.
Flair wrestled in five different decades and was a world champion in three of them. He is one of the greatest ever to step foot in a wrestling ring and one of the best to ever pick up a microphone. His legacy may never be matched.
Harbaugh is still building his legacy, but there’s no doubt he is off to a great start. As a coach at the college level he has compiled a 68-30 overall record and gone 2-1 in bowl games. At the professional level in the NFL he went 44-19-1, including three trips to the NFC Championship and one trip to the Super Bowl.
As he continues to build a powerhouse at Michigan, those numbers will likely keep getting better and better.
Both Ric Flair and Jim Harbaugh transcend their professions. You don’t need to be a football fan to know who Harbaugh is and you don’t need to follow professional wrestling to know Flair. They are larger than life personalities who also happen to be great at what they do.
Harbaugh’s next step at Michigan will be to overcome the Wolverines’ biggest rivals who have had their number for the better part of the last decade. As Flair says, “To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man,” and I expect Harbaugh to be the man very soon.
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College football’s Ric Flair is always up for any challenge, and like Flair often did, Harbaugh will be taking it one 60-minute contest at a time.