COLUMBUS, OH - NOVEMBER 26: (R-L) Head coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio State Buckeyes and Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines talk on the field prior to their game at Ohio Stadium on November 26, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)Urban Meyer continues to find ways to troll Jim Harbaugh even though the two don’t coach against each other anymore.
Meyer is the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he finally has a GM to work with. Jacksonville is expected to hire Trent Baalke as its new GM, per a report by NFL insider Ian Rapoport.
Baalke now has a connection to both Meyer and Harbaugh. It just so happens Baalke was Harbaugh’s GM when Harbaugh was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers (we all know how that came to an end). Baalke essentially pushed Harbaugh out the door after the Niners’ 8-8 season in 2014. The two had a complicated and tense relationship.
It’s only fitting Meyer’s new GM is the same guy that clashed with Harbaugh back in the day. The Ohio State-Michigan rivalry truly never dies.
Urban Meyer hiring the guy who ran Jim Harbaugh out of San Francisco is delicious. https://t.co/DmZcUYQWjC
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) January 20, 2021
Of course, Trent Baalke’s decision to get rid of Jim Harbaugh in 2014 turned for the worst thereafter. Baalke lost his GM role with the Niners just two years later after unsuccessful seasons with Jim Tomsula (2015) and Chip Kelly at the helm (2016) in the Bay Area.
The decision to part ways with Harbaugh opened the door for him to become the head coach at Michigan, where he’s been ever since. It’s also the same place he became acquainted with Urban Meyer, thanks to Michigan’s annual rivalry game with the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Years after Baalke worked with Harbaugh, he’s now set to become GM of the Jacksonville Jaguars to work alongside Meyer. Life really does come full circle.
