Hello, Loyal Readers,

Today’s Bacon Blog is an excerpt from the Endzone paperback’s 57-page Afterword, which updates the story over the past 12 months, through 2-hour interviews each with Jim and Sarah Harbaugh, his parents, and a few key players.

* * * * *

Two years ago, the Michigan Wolverines had just lost to Rutgers to post an anemic 2-4 record. Fans were miserable, especially the students, and they showed it by staying home instead of going to the stadium.

Last week, Michigan beat Rutgers 78-0. They’re undefeated, and ranked fourth in the nation. What a difference a couple years make – or one coach, take your pick. That coach, of course, is Jim Harbaugh, and he’s probably the hottest coach in America.

But Michigan fans always need something to worry about, and right now they’re worried that maybe Harbaugh is too hot. How long will he stay in Ann Arbor? The question arises from both fear and hope: fear that he’ll return to the NFL, and the hope that he’ll finish his career at Michigan.

The fear is real enough. Harbaugh gave his previous three teams a solid four years each before moving on to a better job. And the better the Wolverines play, the more likely NFL owners will try to steal him for their teams.

But Michigan seems like more than just another job to Harbaugh. When then-interim athletic director Jim Hackett finally asked Harbaugh if he wanted to be Michigan’s next football coach, on Saturday night, December 27, Harbaugh decided to take his father’s advice: “Follow your heart.”

More than a year later, I wanted to find out if he felt he’d made the right decision. When I asked Harbaugh in the spring of 2016 what struck him about returning to his hometown, he’d clearly given it some thought, and had a few answers ready, from a few angles.

“What surprised me at first was how healthy people were, and young looking,” he said. “Guys I went to grade school with and played with, they looked good. And the people in general seem more grounded, more rational, more centered. They’re not in a hurry to be somewhere else. They like it where they are. It’s a healthy, productive, happy place, more so than other places we lived.”

Harbaugh’s assessment was certainly flattering for Ann Arborites. While Ann Arbor consistently appears on the top ten places to live for everyone from students to small business owners to senior citizens, it’s a safe bet many of them would swap all those rankings for Harbaugh’s praise, and for a simple reason: his appraisal indicates he has not just returned to his home town, but found his home – perhaps his final one.

“What I’ve noticed is that people in Ann Arbor are very community oriented,” Sarah added. “People here care about the town. They’re connected to it. It’s a very good place to raise a family,” which is a very good thing for Michigan fans to hear from a woman who happens to be raising a family.

This jogged Jim’s thinking. “I’ve noticed that it’s less negative,” he added. “People are less negative about where they live, and the people they meet. There’s not as much gossip, not as much talking about people behind their backs. The people just feel like they’re more trustworthy here.”

Unlike Carr, Rodriguez and Hoke, who all moved to Saline, a former farmtown which has become something of an Ann Arbor suburb, the Harbaugh’s moved into one of Ann Arbor’s oldest neighborhoods, a few doors up from Bo Schembechler’s home – where Jim used to babysit Bo’s son Schemy – and the same neighborhood where Fielding Yost, Fritz Crisler and Don Canham lived.

The Harbaughs’ kids go to Jim’s former elementary school. His parents recently moved to the same street, when they could just as easily have relocated near their older son John in Baltimore, or their daughter Joanie in Bloomington, Indiana, or stayed in Wisconsin. These decisions are not accidents.

Shifting to football, Sarah said, “Stanford has good fans, the 49ers have great fans, but Michigan football is a way of life here. They’ve been doing it for years, and they get it from their grandfathers, and their great-grandfathers. They have these memories that stretch back generations. It’s great, but to be honest, it makes me sad that I don’t have that past with it.”

“Our kids will,” Jim said.

Sarah turned serious for a moment, relating how some friends of hers actually hated playing college basketball, because it was such a grind. She then asked her husband, “Did you actually enjoy playing football here?”

“I didn’t like playing football here,” he said.

“Okay,” Sarah replied, sympathetically.

“I loved playing football here!”

Just as the players Harbaugh recruits have their choice of teams, Harbaugh could coach damn near anywhere he wants. He chose to return to Michigan, though the process wasn’t easy or obvious, for the most compelling reason of all: it makes him happy.

The morning before my interview with Jim and Sarah, they discovered a baby deer in the woods just off their driveway. They called Animal Control, who told them if the baby deer wasn’t gone by the time they got home, to call them back, and they’d come over to help. But if she was gone, that would mean their mom had come back for her. In the meantime, the Harbaugh’s children were captivated by the adorable animal.

“They had never seen a deer before,” Sarah said, “let alone a baby deer. They were mesmerized.”

When they returned that afternoon, the baby deer was gone, indicating its mother had come back to bring her home. The children missed their new friend, but were relieved that all was well.

Taking it all into account, from his new boss to his old pals to his children making friends with woodland creatures, did Harbaugh feel he had made the right decision in bypassing the bright lights and bigger bucks of the NFL for his old hometown?

“When people ask, ‘How am I doing?’” he replied, “I tell them, ‘Never better. Never better.’”

“When we saw that deer,” Sarah added, “that’s what we said: ‘Who’s got it better than us?’”

“I know the answer to that one!” Jim chimed in, beaming his famously broad smile. “Noooooo-body!”

That does not sound like a man about to leave, does it?

* * * * *

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 latest book, “ENDZONE: The Rise, Fall and Return of Michigan Football,” debuted at #6 on the New York Times’ Bestseller List, and is still going very strong.

THE PAPERBACK VERSION, WITH 57 PAGES OF NEW INTERVIEWS WITH HARBAUGH AND OTHERS, IS NOW OUT. LITERATI HAS SIGNED COPIES. THANK YOU!

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.

I also join Michigan Radio’s great Cynthia Canty on her afternoon Stateside show every Monday for a few minutes, and occasionally on NPR’s Morning Edition, and the afternoon Here & Now show. Check ’em out!

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnubacon.  Just cracked 37,000 followers.   THANK YOU!

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