Michigan Wolverines

Harbaugh return to Michigan ignites memories for other coaches

Published Sep. 2, 2015 9:00 a.m. ET

Aaron Torres

In December of 2004, Dave Wannstedt received a call that was likely similar to one Jim Harbaugh received last winter.

Wannstedt's alma mater, Pitt, was looking to hire a head coach, and like Harbaugh at Michigan, the administration believed he was the person to return the program to its glory years.

Like Harbaugh, Wannstedt had been out of the college game for a while; first as the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys' Super Bowl championship-winning teams, and later as the head coach of both the Bears and Dolphins. If he did decide to take the job, the transition to college wouldn't be easy. There would be new rules to learn, and teenagers to recruit. There would be limits on how long he could keep players around for practice and team meetings.

More than anything, Wannstedt was concerned about something only a coach returning to his alma mater could fear: Would he get the support needed to build a power at Pitt?

Sure, that exact issue pops up for every coach thinking about accepting any job, but when you're returning to your alma mater, it's different. When you're at your alma mater, you're coaching for more than just you. You're coaching for your friends and former teammates, not to mention a community that you love.

At another school, if a coach doesn't get the support he needs, he would simply leave for the next job. At your alma mater, it's different. You can't just walk away from the place that helped you grow you from a boy to a man.

That's why Wannstedt hesitated before taking the Pitt job. He loved the school, and swore when he graduated that he would be the head coach. He also wanted to make sure everyone would be on the same page.

He needed answers. And thankfully he got them from then-Pitt AD Jeff Long.

"Jeff Long was probably the determining factor," said Wannstedt, now an analyst for FOX Sports. "He flew down and we talked about his goals, and I talked about what I thought I needed to be successful. Him and I just clicked, we just got on the same page. He was probably the determining factor in taking the job."

Dave Wannstedt always wanted to coach at Pitt.

So as Harbaugh gets set to make his debut at Michigan this Thursday night against Utah (live, 7 p.m. ET pregame/8:30 p.m. kickoff, FOX Sports 1), FOX Sports tracked down several former coaches who returned to their alma maters, and asked: What is it like returning to the school you love?

And what did Jim Harbaugh get himself into?

*****

Chris Ault isn't a name that you would immediately associate with Harbaugh, but the two are tied historically for a few reasons.

First, there is the player that is most closely associated with both over the last half decade: Colin Kaepernick.

Ault helped develop Kaepernick into an NFL quarterback, before passing him off to Harbaugh in San Francisco. There, Harbaugh and Kaepernick combined to take the 49ers to the playoffs three times in four years, and nearly took home a Super Bowl XLVII title.

Beyond that, once Michigan hits the field against Utah on Thursday night, the two will share another common bond: Both were head football coach at their alma mater.

Ault's circumstances were much different than Harbaugh's; when he returned to his alma mater, Nevada was a Division II laughingstock with zero football tradition. He was a 29-year-old, first-time head coach, the youngest in the sport. He wasn't taking over a program the magnitude of Michigan.

Ault's first priority after taking the job was the same as Harbaugh's: He needed to rally a divided fan base.

And as an alumnus of the school, he had a unique ability to do that in a way no outsider could.

"When I took over I wanted to create this winning football tradition," Ault said. "The great thing I think about coming back to your alma mater, not many coaches can say this, but you're part of that winning tradition. And as a coach coaching at his alma mater, you can connect the past with the present. And I always used that during my coaching career. I always thought that was a big deal."

Before Harbaugh officially arrived in Ann Arbor, his name alone connected Michigan football's past to its present like no other candidate could have.

Former Heisman Trophy winners Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard spoke out on his behalf. So too did former coach Lloyd Carr, the last man to lead the Wolverines to a national championship.

And to his credit, Harbaugh took things a step further once he arrived by filling out his staff with former alums, or at least those who were around the program during its glory years. New strength and conditioning coach Kevin Tolbert worked in Ann Arbor when Carr was head coach. Former Michigan legend Tyrone Wheatley returned as running backs coach, after previously working in the NFL.

And Wheatley's arrival should carry extra cache, along with Harbaugh's, on the recruiting trail. While every coach in America tries to sell a player and his parents on the value of attending their school, the words of an alumnus carry extra weight.

Who better to sell Michigan, than someone who actually went to the school, and who is living, breathing proof of what the university can do for someone?

"Recruiting, it's sales," Wannstedt said. "And to be a great salesman, you have to have a good product No. 1, and you have to believe in that product.

"At Pitt, I felt like we had a great football tradition, and no one knows more about Pitt's football tradition than myself, being part of it. I felt like I could sell it because I really did believe it. And I'm sure Jim has the same approach."

Of course those are great, big-picture, program-building concepts, but in the small picture, the reality is that Harbaugh has a lot of work to do. For all the hype surrounding his arrival, Vegas still sees the Wolverines as a healthy underdog entering Thursday's matchup with Utah.

If Harbaugh were to lose that opener, that's where coaching at your alma mater becomes more complicated.

"The toughest thing about it was when you felt like you didn't accomplish what you wanted to accomplish," Ault said. "When we lost or things didn't go right, you didn't just feel bad for you or the team, but you felt bad for the whole university. You felt like you were letting them down."

It goes deeper. When you're at your alma mater, it's not only the coach who feels the heat, but everyone around him.

"I had my family living in Pittsburgh, and someone writes a negative article in the paper, 'Why did he do this? Why didn't he do that?'" Wannstedt remembered. "Now you've got friends from high school, and you've got college buddies, and now you've got families reading it, hearing it on TV, hearing it on the radio. That's all extra pressure, and I wouldn't wish that on anybody."

The lows might be extremely low; the highs are as high.

Ault can say that he built the Nevada program, taking it from Division II to I-AA, before turning it into a perennial bowl contender at the FBS level. Wannstedt meanwhile, led the Panthers to their first 10-win season since the Dan Marino era in 2009, and before that was on the sidelines for some of the most memorable wins in the history of the program. That included a 2007 "Backyard Brawl" upset of West Virginia (which kept the Mountaineers out of the BCS Championship game) and a four-overtime thriller against Notre Dame the following season.

Wannstedt won a lot of games throughout his time as an NFL head coach (including a few playoff wins). None of them felt quite as good as leading his alma mater to some of its biggest victories.

"It doesn't get any better," he said. "The highs and lows are probably stronger from an emotional standpoint when you're coaching at your alma mater, as opposed to someplace where it's just a job. Because here it's not just a job, you're carrying all the emotions of your friends, and your teammates, and your family."

*****

Of every person who has coached at their alma mater, former Tennessee head man Phillip Fulmer can say something that virtually no one else can: He helped his school win a national championship.

Chris Ault enjoyed great success in three stints as Nevada head coach.

Fulmer's biggest piece of advice for Harbaugh is to enjoy the process along the way.

"If I had it to do over again, I would try and smell the roses a little more and try to let my staff do it as well," Fulmer said.

Fulmer thinks to those hours after winning that national championship in 1998. He enjoyed the moment but not as much as he should have.

"We won the national championship and we flew back to Knoxville from Tempe," Fulmer remembered. "We had a big celebration at the airport because hundreds, if not thousands of fans were there and I got off the charter flight and changed bags that I'd thrown in the car, and got on a private plane to go recruit. And I expected the other coaches to do the same thing."

Fulmer's piece of advice was one of many that the three coaches interviewed for this article shared, as Harbaugh gets set for his first game at Michigan.

"To this day it's still a thrill to have the guys come back, to meet their kids, and have them talk about their time at the university," Ault said. "Of all the things (it's probably the biggest compliment) to hear, 'Boy, coach, I never forgot all the things I learned here.'"

There's no telling whether Harbaugh will remain at Michigan the rest of his career. While he's there, the impact he makes will last forever.

Ask Dave Wannstedt.

Of all the joys Wannstedt had in his football career -- winning the Super Bowl as an assistant, playoff games as a head coach, and leading Pitt to 42 victories -- there is one that stands out above them all.

"I get 10 texts from players every Father's Day," Wannstedt said. "It's the neatest thing. I'll have those relationships forever."

Aaron Torres is a contributor for FOXSports.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Aaron_Torres or Facebook. E-mail him at ATorres00@gmail.com.