The Big Ten held its media days last week. Fourteen coaches told a few hundred reporters that their team chemistry has never been better, their senior leadership is outstanding, they had a great off-season in the weight room, and they can’t wait to get back on the field – but one man stole the show.
Michigan’s new head coach Jim Harbaugh charmed the reporters with stories about everything from his daily commute to the office to his lifelong respect for Woody Hayes – yes, Ohio State’s Woody Hayes, Michigan’s sworn enemy.
Yes, Harbaugh has a remarkable resume, rising from ballboy for Bo Schembechler’s teams to become his starting quarterback, then the league MVP, a 14-year NFL veteran, and a great success coaching at the University of San Diego, Stanford and the San Francisco 49ers. Only a fool would bet against Harbaugh now, after returning to his alma mater with even more energy than normal – and Harbaugh’s normal level of energy isn’t normal to begin with.
But Harbaugh-mania, it seems to me, has more to do with the fact that this man has more natural charisma than anyone who’s graced Michigan’s campus since Bo Schembechler walked the grounds. Whatever Harbaugh’s doing, people just can’t stop watching.
When Harbaugh left the Big Ten Media Days podium for the next coach, some guy named Kyle Flood of Rutgers – whom you’ve never heard of, and probably never will again — half the assembled media got up and left the room to follow Harbaugh into the hallway, to ask him still more questions. Harbaugh happily obliged.
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio had to field plenty of questions, too – but his were about Michigan, and Harbaugh himself. He’s still getting them this week.
It should be noted that Dantonio is the coach whose teams have won eleven games in four of the last five seasons, three division titles, one Big Ten title, and the Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl. Only one team in college football has been ranked in the top five the last two years. You could win a lot of bar bets if you knew the answer wasn’t Alabama, Florida State or Ohio State, but Michigan State.
Yet Rolling Stone just came out with a story stating that Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh are the top two coaches in the Big Ten – and one of them, you might have heard, has yet to coach a Big Ten game. On ESPN, one of the interviewers kept calling Mark Dantonio, “Mike Dantonio.”
What’s a fella have to do to get out of the shadow of a man who just arrived?
I learned by coaching high school hockey that nothing motivates like disrespect, real or perceived. If that’s true, no one should be more motivated this year than Mark Dantonio and his Spartans.
Harbaugh is getting more attention than even Urban Meyer, who won two national titles at Florida, before taking over Ohio State in 2012. His first year, he took a 6-7 team that was on probation and ran the table with a perfect 12-0 record. The next year, the Buckeyes were also 12-0 until Michigan State upset them in the Big Ten title game.
Last year, after losing starting quarterback Braxton Miller to an injury in the off-season, the Buckeyes stumbled in their second game to Virginia Tech, then rattled off ten straight victories to claim another division title.
But that eleventh victory cost the Buckeyes another quarterback, J.T. Barrett. So what’d they do? Urban Meyer rode his third string quarterback, Cardale Jones, to a stunning 59-0 whitewash of Wisconsin to sneak into the sport’s first four-team playoff. Then the underdog Buckeyes pulled off victories over Alabama and Oregon, in one of the greatest coaching jobs I have ever seen.
What is Urban Meyer’s reward for all this? Answering more questions… about Jim Harbaugh – who, as I might have mentioned, has yet to win a Big Ten game.
When Dantonio and Meyer get asked questions about the new guy, you can almost hear them grinding their teeth. It might drive them crazy, but they’re smart enough to use it for fuel. They also know Harbaugh’s return brings more positive attention to the Big Ten, and that’s ultimately good for everyone.
For the first time in more than a decade, the Big Ten is the conference everyone is talking about.
And who knows? Viewers might even stick around long enough to see who wins the actual football games.
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Please join the conversation, but remember: I run only those letters from those who are not profane or insane, and who include their FULL name.
My next book, “ENDZONE: The Rise, Fall and Return of Michigan Football,” comes out Tuesday, Sept 1. That same day, Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor is renting out Michigan’s Rackham Auditorium to host the book launch. I’ll be introduced by WTKA’s Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub, then give a 30 minute talk, take some Q&A, then sign books until they’re all signed. Literati will be selling hundreds of books there that night, many of them pre-signed before the event if you don’t want to wait to have it personally signed.
You can find all my book tour events this fall at https://johnubacon.com/upcoming-events/ We are adding new events every day, and will make 40-plus stops coast to coast this fall. If you’d like your city to be one of them, the best bet is to talk with your local UM Alumni Club.
Radio stuff: On Friday mornings, these commentaries run at 8:50 on Michigan Radio (91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit and Flint, and 104.1 Grand Rapids), and a few minutes later, I join Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub LIVE from 9:05 to 9:25 on WTKA.com, 1050 AM.
After 12 years, I’ve handed over my “Off the Field” slot on WTKA to my good friend Jamie Morris, who launched his new two-hour show, “A View From the Backfield,” last year. He’s returning this fall, and I’ll be joining him Sunday, August 30, to talk about my next book, “ENDZONE.”
This gives me the time I need to join Michigan Radio’s great Cynthia Canty on her afternoon Stateside show every Thursday for a few minutes. Check it out!
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnubacon. Just cracked 29,000 followers. THANK YOU!
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Just read your book Bo’s Lasting Lessons and was thrown back by the similarities between Bo and Harbaugh it’s like his clone is back and for Michigan that’s good if not great.
Your insight into what has made Michigan so dear to me was spot on, cause Michigan to me is more about plying the game the right way while teaching life’s lessons that resonate beyond the game itself.
While reading it I also was pleasantly happy to read about the men who through all their trials and tribulations used their knowledge from their Michigan experience along with help from Bo to overcome their perceived demons.
It is also a very basic breakdown of why Michigan is so loved and hated, cause to be for Michigan is to be for something bigger than football that even a person like myself who didn’t attend Michigan can aspire to the,values stated by Bo that was always on display by “The Team, The Team”.
I’m so happy to be a Michigander who loves Michigan and in my heart hope and pray that Harbaugh can restore Michigan to that place atop of college football, while displaying all that Bo preached and practiced. Go Blue!
Great thanks, Earnest, top to bottom. Much appreciated.
-John
Of course they are jealous, neither one of them has played and coached in both NCAA AND NFL.
The bigger question is the following:
WIll JB regain access to Schembechler hall or not?
Dont’ forget the three of us all started at UM in the fall of 82 with Harbaugh in SQ (2 floors below me) so you should get some cred.
John,
What a joy to have you back!!!
From Woody to Bo to Jim to a national championship. It will happen down the road. The guys who left, who didn’t want to do the work, will have an opportunity to watch “those who stayed” become champions.
bomberjohn5
Great thanks, Bomber John! Great to BE back! Missed the fun of writing these every week, and interacting with readers like you.
Plenty more coming this fall!
-John
John! Thank goodness your book is au fait complit! So glad to have you back…your Blog, particularly, and your radio shows as well.
We are looking forward to the start of this Harbaugh era and no matter what transpires, we have your (and his) back, all the way.
Happy Meechegan New Year to you, and to Coach Harbough and to the team. Go Blue!
Ed and Andrea K.
Great thanks, Dr. Ed and Andrea! Too kind, as always.
Look forward to seeing you again this fall, but alas, I’m taking the semester off teaching for the book tour. Nonetheless, beers are overdue!
Best to all Ks!
-John
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO RECEIVING, AND READING YOUR NEW BOOK. I ORDERED COPIES FOR MYSELF, AND 5 OF OUR CHILDREN,
AND I LOOK FORWARD TO HOSTING LUNCH FOR YOU AND YOUR WIFE AS
YOU SIGN OUR COPIES AT TPCC. WE WILL CONTACT YOU TO SET UP A DATE. DORISA AND JACKIE WILL PROBLEM JOIN US, AND PERHAPS GREG AS WELL.
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW BOOK, AND I’M SURE IT WILL BE WELL
RECEIVED BY MICHIGAN FANS. I WISH HARBAUGH ALL LUCK THIS SEASON. I HOPE HE WINS 11 OF HIS 12 GAMES, INCLUDING THE
BUCKEYES. I’M SURE YOU KNOW WHICH GAME I HOPE HE LOSES.
WE ALSO HOPE YOU WILL FIND TIME IN YOUR VERY BUSY SCHEDULE TO SPEAK TO OUR SARS CHAPTER SOMETIME THIS FALL.
YOUR FAVORITE SPARTAN-GO GREEN !!!!
JACK
Hello, Mr. Hamm! (Yes, we were next door neighbors.)
Great to hear from you as always, and look forward to seeing you and the gang this fall.
Think the Big Ten East Division might be headed for a golden era, with two teams already at the top, and two more — UM and PSU — poised to join.
Talk soon!
-John
I might have been among the first 100 to order the book when it was announced oh so long ago. The above piece makes a great point that, despite the unprecedented pub heaped on Harbaugh, the Big Ten buzz it creates does indeed lift all conference boats. Nice piece, JUB.
Just finished reading your book, “Three and out” detailing the Rich Rodriquez era at Michigan. As an Ohio State fan and avid college football fan, I had heard about some of the stuff mentioned in the book in message boards about the problems Rich Rod faced from day one and him not being the “right fit” at Michigan. But it was really fascinating to read such a close, behind the scenes look at the lives of the coach, his staff and the players at a big time football program, their success and failures and their trials and tribulations during those three seasons. It was amazing.
Thank you.
Cant wait for the 2015 season to start and looking forward to the Urban Meyer- Jim Harbaugh rivalry games.
cheers!