Imagine how effective they could be if they worked together.

At their joint news conference Friday, someone asked the brothers if they would consider teaming up should either be forced out of his current post.

“No question about it,” John said. “We’ve had that conversation in the past. It just never really worked out timing-wise. I’d love to work for Jim. It would be the greatest thing in the world.”

Jim, coach of the San Francisco 49ers, said, “Definitely, I would work for him.”

Super Bowl tradition dictates that the coaches meet with the media separately two days before the Super Bowl. That custom was altered Friday because, after all, two brothers have never before coached against each other in the Super Bowl.

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt, striped tie and lace-up dress shoes, John settled into a director’s chair behind a Ravens helmet. Jim, wearing a 49ers hat, a sweatshirt, khaki pants and running shoes, sat in an identical chair behind a San Francisco helmet.

Calling it “an exciting moment,” John ticked off the names of family members in attendance, including his parents. They posed for pictures with grandfather Joe Sepidi on the stage afterward, too.

Jack Harbaugh, their father, was a successful college coach. His sons followed in his footsteps, but on different paths. There was one time, however, when the routes nearly merged.

“We almost made it happen at Stanford at one time,” John said. “It would be an honor to have him on the staff. He’s a great coach. You always try to get great coaches, and there are none better than Jim Harbaugh, and I mean that seriously. There’s no better coach in the National Football League than this guy right here.”

To which Jim added, “Well, Jack Harbaugh.”

The family coaching tree could run even deeper one day. Jim’s son, Jay, works for John as a coaching intern with the Ravens.

“He’s far better than we’ve anticipated, and I knew he would be great at what he does,” John said.

The brothers obviously had a lot of fun with the situation, joking with each other and sometimes acting like a comedy team.

Someone asked them to list their commonalities and philosophical differences.

“I would be hard-pressed to spell philosophical right now,” Jim said.

“I know he can’t spell commonalities,” John said, not missing a beat.

Although Jack Harbaugh has received much of the credit for molding the boys into coaches, the brothers revealed that their mother, Jackie, had a great deal of influence on their growth into men.

“There is no one in the family who has more competitive fire than my mother,” Jim said. “She competes like a maniac. She has just always believed in us, and I think that is the most important thing to me. She believed in me, John, and Joanie, and took us to games and played catch with us, shot baskets with us, and just believed in us.”

Said John: “No one would fight harder for us than our mom, no matter what the situation was, or teach us how to have each other’s back and be there for one another. We may have been talking football with Dad in the basement, but Mom was talking about other things. There were a lot of things going on in our world during the ’70s, and Mom was always tuned in on those kinds of things.”

Someone asked the brothers whether they considered how they will handle the postgame handshake. Jim Harbaugh enraged Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz for giving him a quick handshake and a hard backslap after a 2011 game.

“I’ve given absolutely no consideration to the postgame handshake or bear hug or anything else,” John said. “I haven’t thought about that for one second. Have you, Jim?”

“I have not,” Jim confirmed.

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BC fans had to wait a little longer than expected, but the Eagles hockey team came through on Saturday, tagging a 5-2 loss on Alabama-Huntsville in Minneapolis.

In a 41-year career spanning three schools — Clarkson, Bowling Green and Boston College — the 67-year-old York needed an extra five seasons to eclipse Ron Mason, who won 924 in 36 seasons at Lake Superior State, Bowling Green and Michigan State, for a .696 winning percentage. But most hockey observers acknowledge the parity in today’s game makes York’s record equally remarkable.

“He deserves all the accolades,” said Boston University coach Jack Parker in early December. “He’s a very good coach who’s run great programs at three different places, and has done an unbelievable job making this program the best it’s ever been.

“This is a place where they’ve had two other coaches who’ve won 500 games,” said Parker, referring to BC legends John “Snooks” Kelley and Len Ceglarski. “It’s had a lot of good hockey for a long, long time. And he’s the best they’ve ever had.”

The Eagles got York a share of the record on Dec. 1 at home with a 5-2 win over archrival Boston University, but they couldn’t deliver the record a week later, settling for a last-second tie against Hockey East rival Providence, 3-3.

On Saturday, No. 1 BC (12-2-1) left little doubt. The Eagles showcased their depth, getting scoring from five different players — Cam Spiro, Bill Arnold, Danny Linell, Brendan Silk, and Steven Whitney — to dispatch Alabama-Huntsville (3-15-0) in the opening leg of the Mariucci Classic in Minneapolis. Senior goaltender Parker Milner had 26 saves to preserve the win.

The Eagles will shoot for win No. 13 on the season, and 926 for York, on Sunday against No. 4 Minnesota.

York won 125 games in seven years at Clarkson (1972-79), earned 342 victories in 15 years at Bowling Green (1979-94), and has won 458 games in 19 seasons behind the bench at his alma mater.

He is 32-9 in NCAA tournament games as the head coach at Boston College, and his 37 wins in the NCAA tournament are the highest in Division I history. He has led five teams to 30 or more wins, including the 2000-01 and 2011-12 Eagles squads, which each collected a school-record 33 wins. He is also only one of three coaches in NCAA history to lead two different schools — Bowling Green (1984) and Boston College (2001, 2008, 2010 and 2012) — to NCAA titles.

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