Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has had success with the Ravens ever since he walked through the door of the Ravens training facility in the offseason of 2008. Harbaugh didn't have an easy task in front of him taking over a 5-11 football team in 2007 and working with a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco at the time. Combine that with the fact that Harbaugh was entering a locker room with well established veterans such as:
- Ray Lewis
- Ed Reed
- Terrell Suggs
- Bart Scott
- Haloti Ngata
- Todd Heap
- Chris McCalister
- Samari Rolle
- Kelly Gregg
- Derrick Mason
- Jarrett Johnson
- Willis McGahee
Combine that with the fact that Harbaugh had a head coach in waiting in defensive coordinator Rex Ryan at the time and it could have gotten real ugly. But Harbaugh from that standpoint all the way through now entering the 2015 season has proved a lot of things including winning as the Ravens have made the playoffs six times in seven years with 10 playoff wins, three AFC Championship appearances, two AFC North division titles and a Super Bowl trophy.
But out of all of those accomplishments, Harbaugh has also proved that he can manage big personalities. Every one of the players listed above was and is a leader in their own right but the Ravens were going through a difficult time at the start of Harbaugh's head coaching career with the Ravens as the team fired their Super Bowl XXXV head coach Brian Billick in the previous season.
So for Harbaugh, going into a locker room and trying to command the respect of well established veterans as a first time NFL head coach was a tall order. But he did it. And now Harbaugh is continuing to quietly leave a legacy as the Ravens have never had a losing season in the Harbaugh era. That's seven years in a row. With no signs of slowing down.