CHICAGO — Toward the end of his hour-long availability at Big Ten Football Media Days on Monday, Jim Harbaugh was asked if he had any lessons for Scott Frost. Seated a stone’s throw away, the new Nebraska coach commanded the kind of crowd Harbaugh garnered three years ago, in his own Big Ten debut, and the parallels come easy: Each a successful coach, drawn back to lead his alma mater. Both schools traditional powers, fallen slightly from grace.
Three years in, Harbaugh is still working on the playbook.
“I think every new job, even if it’s at your alma mater or a different university, you’ve got to kind of watch and see how things run for at least six months or a year—find out where all the potholes are, so to speak,” he said by way of advice.