Harbaugh Doesn't Need Rocket Science To Win at Stanford, but His Players Might

LOS ANGELES -- The same guy who led Michigan to the No. 2 ranking in 1985 as a quarterback and nearly brought the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl a decade later has that same fervor in rebuilding the Stanford football program.

Jim Harbaugh realizes it is quite an undertaking to consistently compete in the Pac-10. Stanford is one of the elite private schools in the nation, and attracts and accepts different athletes than Arizona State or Washington State. Harbaugh, who led the Cardinal to a 5-7 record in his second season in 2008, is trying to bring Stanford its first bowl game in eight years, but replenishing the roster has been difficult.

In the process of turning over the roster, Harbaugh scored with his 2009 recruiting class, ranked third in the Pac-10 by Scout.com. The jewels of the class are wide receiver Jamal Patterson and quarterback Josh Nunes.

Harbaugh seeks to make more future recruiting splashes and has figured out the key to compiling talent under such difficult academic standards.

"For us to build our pool, we have to identify earlier the youngsters that can play BCS football," he said at Pac-10 media day. "It's not just a haphazard strategy. We have to identify who can get into Stanford and we have to do that earlier, because the earlier we can get to him, get that message to him that other schools might have told you the bar was here, but at Stanford the bar academically is up here. Go take an [advanced placement] course, go take an honors course, here's what you have to do for the SAT. Here's what your grade point has to be, here's your application, start writing your essay."

Harbaugh is a master motivator. He goes into homes, woos parents with the benefits of a Stanford education and then convinces athletes of the promising future of Stanford football. A Stanford degree is a great accomplishment, but it's even better with a bowl game. So Harbaugh has to persuade blue-chippers that Stanford football can, and will be, a factor. Of course, the Cardinal don't make as many television appearances as USC or even BYU for that matter, so Harbaugh has to sell to potential recruits that worthy football occurs in that sometimes half-filled stadium in Palo Alto, Calif.

Many Stanford recruits don't come from powerful high school programs but private schools with stringent academic standards. Harbaugh has to approach a different type of athlete, not the one who has adequate grades and barely a passing test score. Harbaugh realizes the admissions department will snuff out those athletes like Dwight Howard in the playoffs, so his strategy has to encompass those who have paid special attention to schoolwork, as much time as catching passes.

"It's a huge evaluation," he said. "We got every transcript of every kid that's in the realm of being a Division I player. We got a guy named Tommy Steiner who sits at his desk and he calls high schools all day long and requests transcripts. So we know where they are at. We request the tape and we watch it and we got to identify them early. And then it's a matter of getting to the kid, their parents, their counselors, their teachers. To find out who are you?



"Are you a guy who wants to accomplish as much as you can academically, then you are our guy. If they are that kind of guy truly, it's a no-brainer: they want to come to Stanford. If they don't know they are that kind of guy yet, we can encourage them, we can motivate them and their parents can hear the message and they get a message from the faculty and then they get the bug, they go "Man, I didn't know this existed. I didn't know I had this in me. I didn't know I had a license to be a great student as well as a great athlete.'"

Harbaugh estimates that there are a maximum of 400 players nationally who fit the Stanford model, and his recruiting team must investigate every crevice of the country for talent. Of course, the Stanford model is merely a toy version if the Cardinal does not produce victories. Stanford without victories is merely Duke on the West Coast. That isn't lost on Harbaugh.

"Every kid knows Stanford academically. They know it's a top school in the world," he said. "We want the BCS ass-kicker football player and the top student. The kid we really want, he wants to know what's under the hood of Stanford football. Again, they don't see us everyday. (Tailback) Toby Gerhart is not going 6-6 (record) type of guy. This is something brewing inside of the hood of Stanford football. This is going to be good. There is thunderstorm brewing that is Stanford football and they want to get in on it. And then they realize they can get the whole pie. Why do they have to settle for just a slice or half the pie somewhere else? Our kind of kid, academic, ass-kicking BCS type of football player, it's a no-brainer. "I am going to Stanford. I wholeheartedly believe in the Stanford model.'"