U-M's Jim Harbaugh, staffer aid I-94 crash victims

University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh has yet to step on the field and he's already been lauded as a hero. But the reason for this latest accolade has nothing to do with the game of football.

Harbaugh and two others came to the aid of two people hurt in a serious crash on I-94 Tuesday afternoon in Ann Arbor, according to university officials and an emergency spokeswoman.

Harbaugh was heading to the airport with Michigan football operations director Jim Minick, his boyhood friend in Ann Arbor who recently retired from the military, when they came upon the crash about 2:45 p.m.

They "got the people out of the car, did a little medical treatment, and gave them a coat," U-M associate athletic director Dave Ablauf said.

Ablauf said they were on the scene a half-hour and stayed after the police and emergency personnel arrived.

Harbaugh continued to the airport and was unaware of the attention given to his deed, Ablauf said. Harbaugh was unavailable for comment.

"He would do it any time for anyone," Ablauf said. "He thinks he's doing what anyone else would do."

Police from the scene were not available to confirm details of the crash. But Joyce Williams, public affairs manager for the Huron Valley Ambulance Service, confirmed Harbaugh was at the scene of the accident.

Williams said the crash happened on I-94 at State Street in Ann Arbor after a westbound car went over the median and onto the eastbound side, crashing into another vehicle.

Roads were extremely icy and dangerous Tuesday, after a mixture of freezing rain, snow and sleet fell across metro Detroit.

Williams said two people were taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in unstable condition. Ann Arbor firefighters also removed a dog from one of the cars and took it to an animal emergency clinic in the area. The accident shut down the eastbound side of the freeway for nearly two hours, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

On Twitter late Tuesday night, Harbaugh credited Minick for leading the rescue effort.

Michigan started spring practice last week, but the football team is off this week, because U-M is on spring break. Classes resume Monday, football practice Tuesday.

Since arriving in Ann Arbor on Dec. 29, Harbaugh has generated far more attention for his personality than his football results.

From the moment he started his Twitter feed, he began treating it like a road map to his non-football life, following the pope, dropping subliminal tweets when he visited recruits — he wasn't allowed to name them under NCAA rules — and even tweeted at fellow Michigan alum Madonna this week after she fell in a recent show.

Even Tuesday, after helping the motorist, he was tweeting his congratulations to TV judge Judy Sheindlin for her new contract as if nothing else significant was occurring in his life.

Harbaugh and his father, Jack, sat in on a taping of "Judge Judy" in 2013, and he has referenced the judge in relation to football in the past.

He has nearly 200,000 Twitter followers. The only college football coach with more followers is Ohio State's Urban Meyer, who's closing in on 250,000.

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.

Statement from university

Coach Harbaugh and Jim Minick witnessed an accident on I-94 this afternoon. They were first on the scene and provided what assistance they could until medical personnel arrived. Our thoughts are with the injured individuals and all of us hope they make full recoveries.