The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/447116
now that you have been lassoed, the celebration will begin. They got you. They got you! "Now they'll be bragging about your pedigree, your NFL experience, the way recruits will want to play for you because you went to a Super Bowl, the way other coaches will fear you because you can outwork and out-recruit them. "But only if you win. "That's all that matters now, here and everywhere." Nick Baumgardner, M-Live: "For some Michigan fans, watching Tuesday's event might've been an out-of-body experience. For NFL executives, it probably had to be seen to be believed. Jim Harbaugh, one of the most successful coaches in foot- ball — period — left buckets of NFL cash on the table to return to his alma mater. "Urban Meyer and Nick Saban, coaches preparing to play for a spot in the na- tional title game in just two days, both were asked to comment on Harbaugh's hire. NFL coaches prepping for playoff battles were asked to do the same. "The football world — not just the college version — watched Tuesday as Michi- gan altered the game's landscape. "But the man the fuss was all about, the man everyone's been talking about for the past two months, stood in front of the room — with an ear-to-ear grin stretched across his face — and looked to be at peace." Adam Rittenberg, ESPN: "Harbaugh will move Michigan forward, toward its first Big Ten championship since 2004 and possibly its first national champion- ship since 1997. "This is big, not just for Michigan but for the Big Ten. There are no easy fixes for what ails this conference, but the quickest path is for the great programs with great history and great resources to be great again. Fans of teams like Michigan State and Wisconsin hate that argument, but it's impossible to deny that the Big Ten's perception struggles have directly coincided with Michigan's downturn. Michigan has been one of the Big Ten's biggest problems, if not its biggest. "There's no reason the Big Ten can't have it all: Michigan surging and other pro- grams, like Michigan State and Wisconsin, performing at championship levels. Ultimately, the league needs more teams capable of competing for the national championship. "Harbaugh gives Michigan that capability again." Michael Weinreb, Grantland: "Here's what would excite the hell out of me if I were a Michigan fan: that Jim Harbaugh is legitimately certifiable. That he is such an abject workaholic that he even simplified his choice of pants so he could spend more time focusing on his job. That he built Stanford into a national power largely out of the thin air left behind by Walt Harris, and that in nearly every way, Stanford was a far more difficult reclamation job than Michigan is, even now.