Jim Harbaugh clearly has a few screws loose.
The San Francisco 49ers head coach, who currently is being courted by the University of Michigan, has long been known for his passionate — sometimes eccentric — behavior. No incident highlights Harbaugh’s uniqueness quite like the time he apparently rubbed a player’s blood all over his own face like war paint.
Harbaugh served as the head coach at Stanford from 2007 through 2010 before making the jump to the NFL prior to the 2011 season. In his first season leading the Cardinal, a fired-up Harbaugh told his players during a pregame speech that he wanted to play in the game alongside them so badly that he wanted their blood on him if they bled that week, according to The Michigan Daily.
As fate would have it, right tackle Chris Marinelli exited the field with a bloody arm following a touchdown drive. Sure enough, Harbaugh, true to his word, reportedly took his hand, wiped it on Marinelli’s arm and proceeded to smear the blood all over his own face.
“(Harbaugh is) standing on the sideline with the offensive line, really jacked up, screaming, yelling, jumping around with blood smeared on his face,” Chase Beeler, one of the team’s offensive linemen, told The Michigan Daily.
While football involves blood, sweat and tears, Harbaugh clearly is willing to take things to another level for motivation’s sake. It’s no wonder Michigan wants to hire the guy to turn around its football program.
Thumbnail photo via Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports Images
