Former Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh is known for his distinct sartorial choices throughout the football world, both in college and in the NFL: namely, his preference for khaki pants.
It has become synonymous with the former Wolverines quarterback and national championship-winning coach, and has become a big part of his mystique. And, as Michigan cornerback Josh Wallace revealed at the NFL combine, it’s not part of a carefully curated public image, either.
Wallace relayed a humorous story when asked by assembled media to talk about his first impressions of Harbaugh. He mentioned how, early in his career in Ann Arbor, he saw Harbaugh taking a fully clothed ice bath: khakis, polos and all.
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“I got a little story for you,” Wallace said, laughing. “My first couple weeks up at Michigan, we had summer workouts. You know Coach Harbaugh, he works out in the morning. I walked past our cold tub room — we call it the car wash — and he’s in the full uniform. He had his khakis, polo in the ice tub.”
That image certainly left an impression on Wallace, who said he chose not to acknowledge his coach.
“It was crazy,” Wallace said. “I just walked past like everybody else. That was kind of different to me.”
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Harbaugh, of course, is one of myriad former Michigan representatives at the 2024 NFL Combine in Indianapolis. He has since left his alma mater, fresh off winning the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship, to return to the NFL as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. He will now aim to add one more elusive milestone to his laundry list of coaching accomplishments: winning the Super Bowl.
It remains to be seen whether he will continue his fully clothed ice baths in L.A.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football’s Jim Harbaugh wore khakis, polo in ice bath | Josh Wallace
