The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/447116
Former Coaches, Players Eager To See Harbaugh Work There aren't many ambivalent opinions about Jim Harbaugh in the sporting world. Those around him call him a winner, an ultra-competitive, driven force in going after victories. Those on the opposing sidelines can be put off by the same traits that rally the team around him. This much is certain: when Harbaugh is on your side, the bottom line gets better. That's precisely what Michigan interim athletic director Jim Hackett is counting on, and it's what those who know Harbaugh well are predicting. Lloyd Carr has known Harbaugh since the latter was slinging the football around Michigan Stadium from 1983-86. Carr has also witnessed Harbaugh's rise through the coaching ranks and insists the 51-year-old coach will make a major impact on the program they both love. "What I know I'm going to see in a Jim Harbaugh team is great competitive- ness," Carr said. "That's how you win. You may lack this, you may lack that. But Jim Harbaugh's teams, if you watched them at Stanford … that game at USC, they were 42-point underdogs, and found a way to win. "You don't do that unless you're competitive. Leadership is one of his many strengths." Carr referred to Stanford's 24-23 win over USC in 2007, statistically the great- est upset in the history of college football. Carr sat in a reserved place of honor at Harbaugh's introductory press confer- ence, right behind the large Harbaugh family contingent. He was but one of several U-M football luminaries on hand, with fellow former head coach Gary Former linebacker Jarrett Irons, who served on interim athletic director Jim Hackett's advisory committee to find a new coach, called Harbaugh a quarterback guru. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN