Coaching is the Harbaugh family business. Now they're extending the coaching "family."
John Harbaugh, with the support of his father, Jack, brother, Jim, and brother-in-law Tom Crean, announced Tuesday the launch of the Harbaugh Coaching Academy.
The Harbaugh Coaching Academy (HCA) is a resource for coaches at all levels across all sports. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization, HCA offers numerous coaching tools for youth, high school, and college coaches, as well as teachers, instructors, and parents.
The content can be found at HarbaughCoachingAcademy.org all at no cost.
"The Harbaugh Coaching Academy has truly been in development since we were kids," John Harbaugh stated. "HCA was born of thousands of coaching lessons learned over the years. It's a culmination of decades of coaching experience, working with coaches and leaders committed to empowering other coaches who aim to have a greater impact on youth performance and well-being – regardless of the sport."
HarbaughCoachingAcademy.org offers advice, experiences, stories, motivation, methodology and techniques for coaches today.
The website has an extensive video library featuring interviews with some of the most accomplished names in sports, business, military, and media. Andy Reid, Sean McVay, Tony Dungy, Dick Vermeil, and Tee Martin are just a few who lend their philosophy, teachings, and insights to HCA.
It also includes videos from inside numerous Ravens team meetings, giving an unfiltered look at how Harbaugh has coached his team over the years.
The videos, articles, and interviews included on HarbaughCoachingAcademy.org cover such topics as inspirational messages, tactical instruction, leadership, and mental health. For example, there's "Non-Confrontational Confrontation," "Safety in Football," "How to Build Mental Toughness in Young Athletes," "Building a Staff" and much more.
Harbaugh unveiled the website in tandem with the start of the in-person coaching clinic he is hosting this week at the Under Armour Performance Center. Six-time Super Bowl winning head coach Bill Belichick will be one of the guest speakers, and content from that session and others will be added to HarbaughCoachingAcademy.org. The website will continue to grow and add more content and perspective from coaches around the country.
"There's nothing quite like HCA out there to support and inspire today's coaches to be their best," John Harbaugh said. "Our goal is to share the wisdom and experiences of exceptional coaches and leaders with those who want to learn from them. Collectively, we can reach and empower more people for good than we could on our own."
The Harbaugh coaching tree is unlike any other. Jack is a 41-year coaching veteran who won the 2002 I-AA National Championship as the head coach at Western Kentucky. He instilled countless lessons into his sons over the years.
John, who is entering his 17th season as the Ravens' head coach, won Super Bowl XLVII in a brotherly battle with Jim. John has led Baltimore to the playoffs 11 times and his 20 playoff game appearances are the second-most by any NFL head coach since he entered the league in 2008.
After a successful run as the San Francisco 49ers' head coach, Jim went back to his alma mater at Michigan and led them to last year's college football national championship, as well as three consecutive Big Ten championships. Now he's back in the NFL as the Los Angeles Chargers' head coach.
Crean was a head coach at Marquette, Indiana, and Georgia from 1999-2022 and led Marquette to the men's college basketball Final Four in 2003. He is currently a national college basketball analyst at ESPN.
"I'm proud to work alongside my family on the Harbaugh Coaching Academy," Jim Harbaugh stated. "I'm delighted we can share what we've learned with other coaches, of all levels, to help them develop and mentor young athletes."
