Ravens' John Harbaugh Congratulates Bill Belichick

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is excited to see what his longtime rival can do at the collegiate level.

Nov 3, 2019; Baltimore, MD, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (left) and Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh (right) shake hands after the game at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-Imagn Images / Douglas DeFelice-Imagn Images

To say that legendary New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's move to the collegiate ranks has the sports world talking would be an understatement.

Rather than return to the NFL after a year away from coaching, Belichick, 72, decided to coach at the collegiate level for the first time ever as he hired by the North Carolina Tar Heels earlier this week. It's an entirely new frontier for the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, though his peers believe he'll find success.

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, one of Belichick's longtime rivals, certainly believes so at least. When asked about his old adversary's new gig, Harbaugh had nothing but nice things to say.

"I'm really happy for coach," Harbaugh said Friday. "It's a really cool thing. I read ... I texted him, [but] I haven't heard back yet. I gave him a 'Congrats,' so he's been a little bit busy. I know Bubba Cunningham, the AD there, from way back. He's a great, great athletic director [and] great, great person.

"I saw something where he said he's always dreamed of [doing this], which is really something. To read that, it's like, he's won how many Super Bowls? He has all these rings [and is] arguably the greatest NFL coach in the history of the game – certainly the most successful – and to say, 'I've always dreamed of this,' that speaks to him, [and] that says something. That's something he's always thought about wanting to do, and now he gets a chance to do it. He'll be amazing, [and] he'll do a great job."

Despite their numerous head-to-head battles over the years, Harbaugh and Belichick are good friends. The former even had the latter as a special guest at his coaching summit earlier this year.

Harbaugh knows the college game well, as not only did he coach at that level early in his career, but his younger brother Jim spent nine years as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines before returning to the NFL this season. There may be a lot of differences between it and the NFL on the surface, but deep down, much of the same principles apply.

"I don't think it's too big a difference. Coaches coach. You coach at any level; you coach in high school. There are great coaches at every level. There are coaches in high school football that can coach in the NFL like that. There are coaches in the NFL that can coach in high school. Coaching is coaching, pretty much. It's different challenges for sure, and there are different schemes and everything [that] are different, but the ability to kind of connect with guys, to put the players first, [with] their best interests at heart, put together a team [and] build a team, all those things are the same."

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