Jim Harbaugh is really, really working to become more blue-collar
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — What impresses Jim Harbaugh? Is it football acumen? Acts of physical prowess? An ability to diagnose plays quickly?
Probably. But you know what also impresses Jim Harbaugh nowadays? Someone who can operate heavy machinery.
The Michigan football head coach signed on for an name, image and likeness deal of his own with the Wolverine Boot Company this offseason, along with several players. And he’s often doled out blue-collar shirts to his players to emphasis a similar mentality. But it turns out, it’s not just for show — he’s really interested.
In discussing offensive tackle Karsen Barnhart on Monday, Harbaugh gushed about his parents, particularly the elder Barnhart. Because Karsen’s dad, Jeff Barnhart, apparently operates heavy machinery in Paw Paw, Michigan, and the Wolverine head coach may be a little envious.
“You know, Jenny and Jeff Barnhart. Nobody works like Jeff,” Harbaugh said. “Jeff Barnhart, it’s six, seven days a week operating the big machines. Man, that guy’s — he’s like a hero to me, man. I might have mentioned a few times, have gotten into some of the tools and kind of upped in my game when it comes to skid steers and tractors and chainsaws and that’s kind of who I idolize in that department is Jeff Barnhart.
“I got a chance to work with him a few times on a project and watch him move that dirt around with a skid steer. Teach me how to do it. That was cool, you know? Yeah, you’d go back to those to know what they poured into Karsen and then be — wouldn’t be a surprise at all. See, apple didn’t fall too far from the tree, at all. Yeah, he’s one of my favorite guys.”
Karsen Barnhart heard about the incident from Monday and was super excited to hear Harbaugh speak so kindly about his father. He shared more about what his dad does and about another time when Harbaugh stood, mouth agape, watching Jeff Barnhart work.
“It’s pretty cool to see Coach Harbaugh give a compliment, like that’s my dad and my dad is a crane operator,” Barnhart said. “He works in the Union for Local 324. And he also runs a bunch of heavy equipment. And it’s pretty cool to see that. And a couple summers ago, Coach Harbaugh bought a new cabin up north and my dad had an opportunity to work with him. And I went up there as well. And it’s pretty funny to see my dad run the skid steer and then Coach Harbaugh, like, mouth wide open like, ‘Wow! This is really impressive compared to the way he was running it,’ and it’s pretty funny.”
It turns out that it’s a pretty constant thing these days. Barnhart says that Harbaugh is always asking about his dad and hopes to become more proficient at using skid steers and other heavy machinery.
“He’ll ask me about my dad or like, about the job and what he’s working on right now,” Barnhart said. “Coach Harbaugh was like really interested in expanding his repertoire with heavy machinery and like, I guess a blue-collar job — in that nature.”
