San Diego coach Jim Harbaugh is not about to guarantee victory again this Saturday when his Toreros play Penn.
Harbaugh was not always this modest, though. In 1986, as a senior quarterback at the University of Michigan, Harbaugh promised victory in Michigan's biggest game of the year.
Harbaugh's guarantee materialized. Michigan beat Ohio State, 26-24, and went on to the Rose Bowl.
Bo Schembechler, the legendary head coach of Michigan at the time, also had a gut feeling about Harbaugh's future. He, unlike Harbaugh, kept quiet.
"Jim's always wanted to coach," Schembechler explained in a press conference before last year's Ohio State-Michigan game. "And he would make an excellent, excellent football coach."
Schembechler's wishes came true, as this past winter, the University of San Diego hired Harbaugh as its head coach.
"I really had a gut feeling to be a head coach now," Harbaugh said. "I wanted to put forward everything I had learned playing the game all these years on the college level."
Last year, he worked as an assistant for the Oakland Raiders.
Harbaugh certainly never had a shortage of coaching role models to learn from. His father, Jack, coached football for 41 years -- 14 at Western Kentucky University. Jack came out of retirement this fall to assist his son's staff.
During his 15 years in the NFL, Harbaugh played under such prominent coaches as Mike Ditka, Ted Marchibroda and Mike Riley.
"I was very fortunate to have all those coaches and really watched them and studied them," Harbaugh said.
After becoming Michigan's all-time leader in average passing yards per game, Harbaugh was selected by the Chicago Bears with the 26th overall pick in the 1987 NFL Draft.
After becoming the Bears' full-time starter in 1990, Harbaugh enjoyed several successful seasons in Chicago. Harbaugh was incredibly durable, particularly for a quarterback. He only missed four games in his four years with the Bears.
Despite playing through pain, Harbaugh orchestrated several improbable comebacks. His late-game heroics eventually earned him the nickname, "Captain Comeback."
In 1994, after he and the Bears parted ways, Harbaugh signed as a free agent with the Indianapolis Colts.
He hit the pinnacle of his career in Indianapolis' RCA Dome. In 1995, Harbaugh led four fourth-quarter comebacks, including two with his team down more than 21 points. His 100.7 quarterback rating led the league and landed him a spot on the AFC Pro Bowl roster.
Later that season in the playoffs, Harbaugh, playing without injured star running back Marshall Faulk, played perhaps the best football of his career. In the Wild Card round, Harbaugh led the Colts to a 35-30 road victory against the San Diego Chargers, the defending AFC champions.
The following week, Harbaugh brought the Colts literally within inches of the Super Bowl. Playing in the Pittsburgh cold and as 11-point underdogs, Harbaugh and the Colts showed incredible resiliency.
Trailing 20-16 with five seconds left, Harbaugh lofted a 29-yard pass to wide receiver Aaron Bailey. But as the last seconds ticked away, the ball delicately slipped through Bailey's hands.
The image of Harbaugh walking off the field with his hands on his helmet and blood on his uniform remains his signature moment.
Considering the attention a 15-year veteran of the NFL brings to a small program like San Diego, Harbaugh believes his high-profile background is not a distraction to his players.
"Football is football, whether you're at the high school, college or pro level," he said.
