Jim Harbaugh has been married to his wife, Sarah Harbaugh, since 2008, and she has moved around with the accomplished college coach as he went from priming Stanford to the University of Michigan.
The pair first met in 2006 in the parking lot of a PF Chang’s in Las Vegas — Jim was visiting for a convention. Sarah was not immediately sold on dating the then-Stanford coach. “When he first started talking to her, she wouldn’t talk to him. And he chased her and chased her,” her brother, Marty Feuerborn, recalled to KCTV Kansas City in 2013. “And to this day, Sarah says if he wouldn’t have done that this wouldn’t be here,” the brother added.
A couple yes ars after the interview with Sarah’s brother, Jim recalled to HBO’s “Real Sports” in 2015 about the first time he met his future wife. “She gave me her phone number. I didn’t believe her at first. I thought it was one of those fake numbers,” the former Michigan Wolverines coach said. Jim added that it took about nine attempts to call Sarah until he finally got through, and they made plans to meet up.
A couple of years later, the couple tied the knot and have been together ever since. That said, Jim and his wife have a somewhat uncomfortable age gap — Jim is 14 years older than his wife — but the two have made it work and have welcomed four children together. Their marriage has been a success, but Sarah has openly criticized one aspect of her husband. Throughout his coaching career, Jim Harbaugh has been known as a stellar on-field strategist, but his wardrobe strategizing, on the other hand, has been openly mocked.
Sarah Harbaugh called into the radio station 99.7 Now in January 2014, where she was asked about her husband’s dated clothing choices. “I will not take the blame for his outfits,” Sarah told the radio hosts. She specifically took issue with Jim’s pants. “I’ve asked him, ‘Please, pleats are gone,'” Sarah added. The wife of the then-NCAA coach thought he was doing himself a disservice.
“He’s got a flattering body,” Sarah told the radio station. She wanted to see him make a fashion overhaul, if not for himself, then for her. “I’ve told him so many times, ‘That outfit reflects on me.'” Sarah’s public dressing down of Jim went viral, and later in the year, the Harbaughs showed they had a sense of humor about their fashion disconnect.
Not long after her radio interview, Sarah and Jim starred in a Dockers commercial that was filmed in a PSA-style to “#StopDadPants.” “Dad pants can affect almost any man and the suffering it can bring upon a family and loved ones can be significant,” Sarah said at the opening of the commercial while wiping away fake tears.
The spot ended with Sarah approaching Jim, who looked unrecognizable to their daughter as he sported a new pair of Dockers. Discussing Jim’s style was not the only time the Harbaughs went viral.
After winning a national championship with the Michigan Wolverines in January 2024, Jim Harbaugh interviewed with the Los Angeles Chargers to start coaching in the NFL. A few weeks later, reports surfaced that he was heading back to Los Angeles for a second interview, and this time, he brought Sarah Harbaugh along.
Seeing that his wife was coming made it clear to fans that Jim would be the next Chargers coach. Hearing about the Harbaughs made one fan note on X, formerly Twitter, that the couple met at a PF Chang’s. That was significant because, in 2007, the Chargers wrote about the restaurant chain in a tweet that was clearly sent from the wrong account. “[S]oo hungry need to find my wife and head to pf changs,” the meme’d 2007 tweet read.
A day before Jim was officially hired by the team, the Chargers poked fun at the Harbaughs PF Chang’s connection on the team’s X account. “[PF] changs is so good,” they wrote while including a screenshot from an article that described where the couple met.
Naturally, not all the attention the Harbaughs have received online has been playful. Just as Jim was starting his tenure at the University of Michigan, Sarah spoke about how protective she felt about her husband being trolled. “I cannot go online. I just can’t because, if I see something negative [Jim] … I just want to punch that person,” Sarah told Ann Arbor Family in August 2015.
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