Jack Harbaugh, the patriarch of the NFL's reigning first family, was in coaching trouble back in the mid-1990s; his Western Kentucky program was skidding through repeated losing seasons, and Jack's future was tenuous.





That's when his sons, John, then an assistant at the University of Cincinnati, and Jim, then a high-profile starting NFL quarterback, made it their unprecedented mission to moonlight and save him.

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On Feb. 3 the brothers meet with a Super Bowl on the line – John's Baltimore Ravens against Jim's San Francisco 49ers. Not two decades ago they teamed up to help their dad and in the process built the foundation for a championship program – in this case at a lower-division college that neither even officially worked for at the time.

In 1994, WKU suffered its fourth losing season in five years under Jack Harbaugh. No one ever doubted Jack's ability to coach. He clearly needed better players, though.

Enter the Harbaugh brothers, both big-dreaming workaholics looking for a side project.

The plan was simple: Jim owned a home in Orlando, the heart of one of the most talent-rich recruiting areas in the country. So he became an NCAA-certified volunteer assistant coach for WKU, which allowed him to recruit. John, meanwhile, leaned on the scouting services, deep contacts and endless high school game footage they had at Cincinnati, which as a Division I-A school had a far larger budget than Division I-AA Western Kentucky.

[Related: HBO Sports reveals Jack and Jim Harbaugh's QB draft secret]

After NFL seasons, John would supply a list of potential hidden gems along the Interstate-4 corridor in Central Florida that, while not right for Cincinnati, could be great for WKU. Jim would pay them a visit and use his stature as an active NFL star to talk up a little known school in Bowling Green, Ky.

That's how Willie Taggart came home one day from track practice at Bradenton (Fla.) Manatee High School and got a message from his sister.

"She told me a guy by the name of Jim Harbaugh called," Taggart said. "I was like, 'What?' "

Manatee High was a football powerhouse at the time. It was the school that had recently sent Tommie Frazier to Nebraska and at that time featured the state's Mr. Football, Shevin Wiggins, who would also sign with the Cornhuskers.

Taggart was the starting quarterback, leading the team to a state title as a junior. Yet few coaches envisioned him playing QB at the collegiate level. Nebraska and Tennessee, among others, were recruiting him primarily as a defensive back. What Taggart couldn't really understand was why an NFL starting QB was calling him. So he called him back.

"I called and asked to speak with Jim Harbaugh," Taggart recalled to Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday. "He said, 'This is me speaking. Willie, do you know who I am?'

"I said, 'the only Jim Harbaugh I know plays for the Chicago Bears. [Harbaugh may have been an Indianapolis Colt by that point.] He said, 'Yeah, that's me.' I was like, 'yeah, right.' "

[Related: Wes Welker's wife apologizes for comments about Ray Lewis]

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