You’d be hard pressed to find many important figures who haven’t been at the focus of a Simpsons joke over the course of the show’s long run, and Jim Harbaugh has now joined that club.
Anyone who has followed Jim Harbaugh over the years knows he is a comedy goldmine; an absolute quote machine whose undying love for a sharp pair of khakis is just one of the many quirks that make him one of the most amusing figures in college football.
I’m not sure if it’s totally appropriate to term him “self-aware,” but he’s demonstrated a willingness to poke fun at himself, as evidenced by his wonderful cameo in Tim Robinson’s criminally underappreciated (and sadly short-lived) Tim Robinson comedy Detroiters.
In 2016, Harbaugh got to brag about getting name-dropped on The Simpsons for the first time (as far as I know) when he was the punchline of a joke about a “sports genius who everybody hates.” With a reference to the controversy that shocked the collegiate football world earlier this season, he may now add another mention to his résumé.
As you’re probably aware, Harbaugh and Michigan sparked outrage after former Wolverines staffer Connor Stallions was caught orchestrating the scheme, which involved traveling to other games to steal signs from upcoming opponents in an attempt to give the Wolverines an advantage (an operation that resulted in the head coach serving a three-game suspension, which is kind of crazy considering how much of a stir the story initially caused).
The Simpsons managed to incorporate the issue into an episode in which Bart was shown teaching a program called “Intro to Cheating 101” within a building labeled the “Jim Harbaugh Center for Competitive Imbalance.”
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