New Baltimore Ravens head coach Jesse Minter has a career distinction: He was an assistant coach under both Jim Harbaugh and John Harbaugh.
What did Minter learn from the Harbaugh brothers?
“I think Jim empowers the players really well to create an identity of team football,” Minter told Colin Cowherd on Thursday’s edition of “The Herd.” “He kind of allows the players to be themselves, but there’s this understanding that we’re all after the same thing.
“We all have the same goals, and so we’re willing to kind of put some things aside sometimes and play as a team. I think that’s definitely the one identity that I’ll certainly try to take from Jim.”
Minter worked for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan in 2022 as the team’s defensive coordinator, a role he held for two seasons (2022-23) and a stint highlighted by the Wolverines winning the 2023 national championship. During that title-winning season, Michigan’s defense led the Big Ten in opponent total yards (247.0 per game) and opponent points (10.4 per game).
Minter then followed Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers, serving as their defensive coordinator for two years before becoming the Ravens’ head coach earlier this month. This season, Los Angeles was fifth in the NFL in opponent total yards (285.2 per game) and ninth in opponent points (20.0 per game). Last season, the Chargers were first in opponent points (17.7 per game) and 11th in opponent total yards (324.4 per game).
Jesse Minter on being the Ravens head coach, maximizing QB Lamar Jackson
What about the elder Harbaugh brother?
“John really empowered a lot of the coaching staff and even younger guys on the staff like I was when I first got here [in Baltimore as an assistant coach],” Minter said. “There was just an ability to grow, an ability to be forward-thinking, an ability to be creative amongst the staff. I really look forward to kind of being that type of head coach where you’re always trying to find better ways to do things. You’re always looking for the new great thing and research and studying and doing things like that.
“[I] learned a lot from John about just empowering the staff to always really be trying to find that next great idea.”
Minter spent four seasons on Harbaugh’s coaching staff with the Ravens, serving as a defensive assistant from 2017-18, assistant defensive backs coach in 2019 and defensive backs coach in 2020. He had a one-year stint as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach for the Vanderbilt Commodores in 2021 before joining Michigan’s staff in 2022.
John Harbaugh, who spent 18 seasons as the head coach of the Ravens (2008-25) — a tenure highlighted by Baltimore winning Super Bowl XLVII — became the head coach of the New York Giants after being fired by Baltimore earlier this month.
The 42-year-old Minter, who’s a first-time head coach, inherits a Baltimore team that went 8-9 and missed the playoffs last season. As for its offseason prospects, offensive linemen Tyler Linderbaum and Daniel Faalele, linebacker Kyle Van Noy and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins are among the Ravens’ impending free agents. Baltimore projects to have $13.8 million in cap space this offseason, per Over the Cap.
