It won’t be long until we hear head coach John Harbaugh yelling on the practice field as the Ravens 2015 training camp gets underway this week.
Harbaugh, who is entering into his eighth season with the Ravens, has turned his first heading coaching gig into one for the ages. His success year in and year out places him among some of the leagues elite.
Harbs boasts the fourth-best winning percentage (.6457) among active NFL head coaches, compiling an 82-45 overall record (including playoffs). For head coaches who have coached a minimum of 60 games, Harbaugh is third only to Bill Belichick (.6638 career winning percentage) and Mike McCarthy (.6465).
Quite impressive for the former Miami University of Ohio defensive back turned coach.
“The interesting thing about John is that he may be a little bit more sure of himself, but he hasn’t replaced anything that has to do with him seeking counsel,” remarked team owner Steve Bisciotti. “It’s one thing to be more comfortable, to be sure, be more determined and be clearer. But he doesn’t not talk to Ozzie [Newsome] and me and ask us for advice. That, to me, is the mark of a great leader.”
Great leaders find ways to win not just in the regular season but the postseason as well. Harbaugh’s postseason record speaks volumes. He is the only head coach in NFL history to win a playoff game in six of the first seven seasons of a coaching career. Neither Paul Brown, John Madden, nor George Seifert have done what Harbaugh has done in his first seven years.
“You can become more confident and more accomplished and more sure of yourself, but you’re still just as interested in your partners’ decisions,” said Bisciotti. “To me, that’s what says to Baltimore that John is a great leader. He never replaced that inquisitiveness with assuredness.”
As impressive as the Ravens have been under coach Harbaugh, it hasn’t been easy. In recent years, between the off-the-field issues involving personnel, losing key players to retirement or free agency and a roster riddled with injury, Harbaugh remained stout.
“It starts with John [Harbaugh] and his attitude that he brings into the team meeting room after a loss or that he brings every day in there,” quarterback Joe Flacco said of his Super Bowl winning coach. “It definitely starts with him and filters throughout the rest of us. So, we are able to keep that levelheadedness and keep the same mentality no matter what’s happened the previous week.”
2015 will be welcomed with open arms for Harbaugh despite having a new offensive coordinator, quarterback coach and several coaching promotions from within the organization. After all it’s the start of a new season and the chance to see all of his players in pads after a long offseason.
While the more fiery side of Harbaugh will no doubt rear its head throughout the summer when faced with the same questions day in and day out by reporters, Harbs remains a class act. The fact that he never throws his players under the bus publicly or comments on injuries makes some reporters pull their hair out, but it makes others respect him even more.
We all have questioned decisions made Harbaugh at certain times during his tenure. He isn’t perfect. No head coach in the NFL is. There are always plays or decisions that they would like to have back much like ones we have made.
Except ours are under a lot less public scrutiny.
It has been a pretty epic journey from the small town of Toledo, Ohio to the NFL for John Harbaugh. The Ravens are damn lucky to have him, and so are we as fans.
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