John Harbaugh Is on Mount Rushmore of Special Teams Coaches
Harbaugh having a “Hall of Fame case” was discussed in Late for Work earlier this month, but we won’t know for years whether the Ravens’ head coach will have his bust in Canton.
However, Harbaugh’s face is already on a hypothetical Mount Rushmore of special teams coaches.
Sports Illustrated’s Rick Gosselin took a deep dive into special teams coaches over the past 36 years, and he placed Harbaugh on his Mount Rushmore in terms of historical significance.
Before becoming the Ravens’ head coach in 2008, Harbaugh spent the bulk of his career coaching special teams, including nine seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Any special-teams coach who becomes an NFL head coach going forward has Harbaugh to thank,” Gosselin wrote. “His success opened the door for [Joe] Judge, who went directly from special-teams coach of the Patriots to head coach of the Giants in 2020.”
Using the 12-category formula devised by former NFL special teams coach Frank Gansz to measure special teams performance, Gosselin ranked the top 25 special teams coaches since 1985. Harbaugh placed 24th and is one of eight special teams coaches to be ranked No. 1 in multiple seasons.
Moreover, Harbaugh and Hall of Famer Bill Cowher are the only coaches to finish first in the special teams rankings and win a Super Bowl as a head coach. The former Steelers head coach was the Cleveland Browns’ special teams coach in 1985-1986.
Jerry Rosburg, the Ravens’ special teams coordinator from 2008-2018, was No. 5 in the rankings. Rosburg’s units in Baltimore finished in the top 10 in Gosselin’s rankings from 2012-2018, the second-longest stretch in the history of the rankings.
