NFL
Bill Belichick and Andy Reid offer NFL experience: what is the Harbaugh Coaching Academy?
A number of iconic Super Bowl-winning coaches are part of a new initiative designed to help guide the next generation of young players.
A new initiative aims to bring together the experience of some of the NFL’s most successful coaches, offering their expertise to the next generation of players.
John and Jim Harbaugh first came up with the idea for the Harbaugh Coaching Academy in 2019. The Harbaugh’s have incredible NFL coaching pedigree, famously facing off at Super Bowl XLVII in 2013. John is currently head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, while Jim recently took over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Harbaugh Coaching Academy offers coaching advice, leadership tools and mental health guidance for coaches and leaders who wish to improve their skills.
“I’m proud to work alongside my family on the Harbaugh Coaching Academy,” Jim Harbaugh said, announcing the new initiative. “I’m delighted we can share what we’ve learned with other coaches, of all levels, to help them develop and mentor young athletes.”
Which coaches are involved in the Harbaugh Coaching Academy?
Aside from the Harbaughs, who each have very impressive coaching resumés, there are a number of well-known NFL coaches involved in the project.
Super Bowl winners like Andy Reid, Bill Belichick and Sean McVay have all got involved with the initiative, offering their advice in the form of interviews and first-person stories from their illustrious careers.
“You develop players, you develop people and you develop the National Football League,” Bill Belichick told coaches at a recent Academy event. “It’s just a couple levels below, but that’s where it starts. And those guys appreciate it.”
“I always tell them, ‘Go back and tell the people that helped you get where you were because you were no good when you started.’ And especially I tell the defensive players, ‘Go thank a coach who moved you to defense because if they left you on offense, you wouldn’t be in this position.’”
The project will be organised as an online resource of coaching tools, with more than 400 videos already uploaded. John Harbaugh has already said that he hopes to expand into coaching clinics in future, helping to make the most of the wealth of experience shared by those involved.