[This blog comes from my feature this week in The Wall Street Journal, linked here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-michigan-landed-jim-harbaugh-1419958985?tesla=y&mg=reno64-wsj]
The private jet cut through the clouds and eased onto the airstrip at Detroit Metro Airport, just a few miles from where Charles Lindbergh once tested World War II bombers.
This plane’s mission wasn’t nearly so serious. But the joy it gave to the people below probably exceeded just about everything since VJ Day.
The jet’s cargo happened to be one James Joseph Harbaugh. He’s just a football coach, but that day he had done what so many experts said he would never do: leave the bright lights and big cities of the NFL for the cornfields and college towns of the Big Ten. This decision – mystifying to most NFL reporters — explains why the masses might be forgiven if they mistook Harbaugh for their savior.
But why did Harbaugh make it?
Folks around here have been searching for a savior ever since their leader, former coach Bo Schembechler, passed away on Friday, Nov. 17, 2006. When dawn broke that day, Michigan stood atop the college-football world. They could boast the nation’s highest winning percentage, the largest crowds, the longest bowl streak and, arguably, the most respect.
The 2006 Wolverines’ stood at 11-0, and were ranked second in the nation. A win over No. 1-ranked Ohio State the next day would give the Wolverines a shot at a 12th national title.
But after Schembechler died of heart failure that day, the news has been almost nothing but bad. On Saturday, Michigan lost a nail-biter, 42-39, to the rival Buckeyes — then dropped the next three straight, including the 2007 season opener to Appalachian State, still considered the greatest upset in the history of the game.
Coach Lloyd Carr retired after that season. Just three years later, new athletic director Dave Brandon fired Rich Rodriguez, and yet another athletic director, Jim Hackett, fired Brady Hoke after he finished the 2014 season at 5-7. Once the pride of a powerful conference, the Wolverines had become also-rans in an overlooked league.
What’s most striking is how many of Michigan’s problems were self-inflicted, most of them the products of internecine conflicts among camps that arose after Schembechler’s passing. The causes are murky, but the results haven’t been.
Worse, even the faithful were fading. Michigan’s vaunted streak of 100,000-plus crowds, going back to 1975, had to be propped up this fall with countless ticket promotions and giveaways. Students, alumni and even former players dropped their tickets, with thousands more to come in 2015 if no one could turn the ship around.
So when Michigan’s newly named interim athletic director, former Steelcase chief executive Jim Hackett, decided he would put off picking a permanent replacement and run the search for Michigan’s next coach himself – his first hire of any employee in the department — Michigan fans were feeling more angst than optimism.
From the start, Hackett determined to bypass the minnows to go after the great white that had eluded Brandon: Jim Harbaugh.
Why Hackett – and the entire Wolverine flock – pined for Harbaugh is simple: He had been Michigan’s All-American quarterback, with the gumption to guarantee victory before the 1986 Ohio State game – and deliver it – before embarking on a 14-year NFL career. After retiring in 2000, he turned around the University of San Diego, Stanford and the San Francisco 49ers – establishing himself as one of the few star players who might be better at coaching.
Why Harbaugh might want to return to his beleagured alma mater was harder to see – and not many saw it, initially. Most NFL reporters dismissed out of hand even the possibility that Harbaugh would consider leaving the highest league in the land to captain Michigan’s sinking ship. If he wouldn’t stay in San Francisco – which seemed increasingly likely, as their own miserable season dragged on – surely he would accept the riches of Oakland, Chicago or the other NFL teams suddenly looking for the hottest coach available.
This set off a surreal daily drama. While NFL reporters maintained there was virtually no chance of Harbaugh returning to Michigan, those closer to Michigan and Harbaugh himself insisted otherwise. In the middle were desperate Michigan fans, trying to discern why Harbaugh did not wear his college t-shirt at a practice when his players did, the meaning of Michigan ties being sent to California, and every tea leaf inbetween.
The cynical assumption was simple: Hackett must have offered Harbaugh a record contract. Harbaugh repeatedly told his friends, however, that “It’s not about the money.”
This week, we learned, he meant it: Hackett told me this morning that, in fact, Harbaugh’s Michigan contract is roughly the same as his deal with the 49ers – about $5 million a year, plus incentives. Further, Hackett said, “Jim insisted that he not be the highest paid coach in college football, or even the Big Ten. I think that tells you something about his values.”
This had to impress the university’s new president, Mark Schlissel, who said shortly after arriving in Ann Arbor, “What I want to be sure of is that athletics exist in an appropriate balance with everything else the university does.”
This news will no doubt leave the experts more confused than before. But if you knew Jim Harbaugh, and the hold Michigan has always had on him, the idea of turning down the big cities for Ann Arbor wasn’t so far fetched.
Harbaugh’s father Jack was one of Schembechler’s trusted assistants, which is how Jim became the team’s ballboy in junior high – ties that no NFL team could replicate.
But the best reason Harbaugh bypassed the NFL for Ann Arbor might be this: If he had gone to New York, Chicago or across the Bay to Oakland, he’d still be a great coach — and would likely get fired one day.
But if he returned to Michigan, he’d be greeted as a savior – and that is exactly what happened in Ann Arbor this week.
For all its commercial trappings – including NFL-style salaries – fans of college football believe their favorite sport is less a business than a religion. This is why Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State all draw almost twice as many fans as the NFL teams in their states.
That religious fervor is what draws college-football fans to the game, year after year. And that spirit – and little else — is ultimately what brought Michigan’s prodigal son back.
It is worth remembering that Harbaugh’s record in Ann Arbor currently stands at 0-0. He will have to toil many hours to get his first victory.
But for Michigan fans, their long nightmare is over. Their family is reunited, and their faith restored.
* * * * *
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.
Radio stuff: Here is my eight minute interview on NPR’s “Here & Now” show, discussing the football playoff and Jim Harbaugh, which ran Thursday. http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/01/01/college-football-playoffs
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’m handing over my “Off the Field” hour on WTKA to my good friend Jamie Morris, who is launching his new two-hour show, “A View From the Backfield.”
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 24,000 followers. THANK YOU!
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Michigan fans might realize it yet but Bo has returned !
Great article clearing up the confusion of the national writers. Bo represented a guy who turned down big money in Texas to stay at Michigan. He represented a passion for the game others nationally won’t see or understand like people in Michigan. My New Year was transformed by this hire and I am elated!!!
Great insight again John
Yep Harbaugh needs to improve players, develop their talents. Something Hoke seldom accomplished with Gardner and Funchess being prime examples.
Regarding NFL attendance; It is kinda hard to put 100,000 fans in to stadiums with 40% smaller capacities.
Also, there are questions whether the recent attendance counts at the Big House were real.
Hackett did a superb job in his search, both in the process and the hire. Ever since Bo was AD
we have had a succession of ADs that never seemed to fully grasp the job-except Brandon
who grasped it so hard he killed Michigan and himself.
Two reasons why Jim came back..
1)He loves Uof M
2)He is upset with the recent mismanagement of our once great program and made up his mind to fix it..
It’s that simple..
John,
I’d like to say Thank-You, for THIS: throughout the months of 2014’s U-M Football Drama & the Jim Harbaugh process, your reporting and analysis have led the way. Always credible and always firmly on the high road, every single one of your pieces & the interviews you gave were #1 in accuracy, professionalism, and insight. In short, your stuff was The Best of all. Thank you.
Go Blue!
S.A.
Only a UM alum and player, as well as those who love and understand tradition, understand why Harbaugh came back. Now give him time to clean out the stable, find fresh horses and restore the tradition that died when Bo did. When tradition is allowed to die, so does the patient.
bomberjohn5
I as all Michigan fans always had hope that this day would come even through the constant barrage of NFL insiders saying it would never happen. Each and every day I found myself searching the articles to see if there were any new information regarding a hire only to find speculation of all those in the NFL saying it would never happen in direct conflict with all those who said it could. Each day that no coach was named I continued to believe that the chances increased that Harbaugh would come back home. The outcry from all the former players and coaches saying that they were wanting him to return gave me hope and showed the love for the university that we as fans, former players and coaches have for our beloved team. The one thing that I figured that the NFL brass didn’t realize was the game of college football is the only game for many of us fans out there. The enthusiasm, the marching band playing, the big stadiums the team and always the team, not the individual players constantly toting their supremacy and value. It’s where non professional athletes take center stage at some of the largest stadium venues in this country to cheer on their local heroes. It’s young and old alike getting fired up to support their team with each and every one us loyal to the core, good, bad or indifferent we come because we love our team. You don’t have to venture into the big cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago or Dallas, you could be from small towns through out the country like Gainesville, Ann Arbor, Champagne, South Bend or Tuscaloosa and have one of the biggest and most beloved sporting events in the country that would rival the biggest professional cities anywhere. College football existed way before the pros and will certainly be here way after. The fans are loyal to the core and regardless what anyone might say probably more loyal than any pro football team active today. Michigan has fielded a football team for over 100 years and has some of the most storied history in all of it’s collegiate sporting events which would lead me to believe, why wouldn’t he come home. The fans will show their support as though you were royalty, you do not have to answer to any General Managers or Owners, you have the pleasure of giving these young athletes something that they have dreamed about their entire lives, watching them mature and grow. I made a comment on another article where the columnist Mitch Albom said that the game of college football has changed and that the UofM was not the same, I disagreed and wanted him to know how we truly feel about our Michigan football team with many agreeing with the comment.
Mitch, did that much change from 4 years ago when he was coaching Stanford, don’t think so, Michigan fans would love a national championship, sure, like every college fan, but I think they’re most concerned with a successful program, one to reckon with, proud and strong and able to compete on a daily basis. Bo wasn’t always winning 100% of his games, but he stood for greatness and always competed hard and could mold young men into greatness both on and off the field. He represented the university proudly as did all his players and that’s what we want, the ability to show that we are a force to be reckoned with and a chance at a big ten championship, national championships are a bi-product of success, to compete day in and day out more important. Many universities have lost their identities as schools of learning, Florida State isn’t recognized for their academic excellence, they’re recognized for their football program, we want both, a great team representing a great university and a few Big Ten championships along the way wouldn’t hurt.
We Love Michigan Football and look forward to the return of one of our own and we all hope you will be here a very long time. Thank You Jim Harbaugh, you made many of our year, GO Blue.
Make no mistake, Jim Harbaugh is the one man whose mind is still in “synchronicity” with the incomparable mind and spirit of Bo Schembechler. They are alike in the these ways:
1) God, Family, Friends & Integrity top of list
2) THE TEAM,THE TEAM,THE TEAM
3) Hate Losing more than concern themselves with winning (winning is life)
4) The world CAN exist WITHOUT a million shades of grey.
Keep in mind, Harbaugh like any coach needs the support of the alumni and staff. A prayer for the football team as they will now work harder than they ever have imagined. They will all have opportunities to be at the least students of the game of football.
It should become painfully obvious that Michigan teams will exercise their greatest muscles in sport-the mind! I expect to lose some players and recruits because they may not understand the concepts of selflessness and hard work, it is the price in the creation of a team. Everyone will be provided an opportunity to compete-Game On!
Our teams need to have talent, mental toughness and a willingness to serve their teammates and their University! Expect and Experience Greatness! That is what the “Leaders and Best” do!
Welcome home Jim – From one Alumnus to another -GO BLUE!
John – ’90
Hallelujah – our faith is restored!!