The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? eye was, indeed, embellished on the scorecard. "I wasn't really 6-4," Novak admit- ted. "I'm maybe 6-2½." Which only adds to his legacy as one of the toughest players pound- for-pound that Michigan has ever seen, and certainly one of U-M's best captains. For four years, Novak added the elements of toughness and leadership that had been missing for so long, prolonging a near three-de- cade absence of Big Ten titles and an 11-year run with no NCAA Tourna- ment bids. To say he arrived with little fan- fare after head coach John Beilein signed him in April 2008 would be an understatement. Unlike many of his Indiana AAU teammates who earned scholarships to IU, North Carolina and the like, Novak was the "tweener" most weren't convinced could play at a high-major level. Even local Valparaiso, his only schol- arship offer at one point, pulled the tender late in the process. One Big Ten assistant had seen him play in an AAU Tournament game and encouraged him to join the school's baseball program and walk on to the basketball team — Indiana's Jeff Meyer. Coincidentally, Meyer would be Novak's assistant coach at Michigan two years later when Beilein added him to his staff. "Jeff Meyer was the one that wanted me to walk on and play base- ball at Indiana, ironically enough," Novak recalled. "I wouldn't have walked on at that point. I think they had scholarships, and I don't know if I'd have gotten an offer or not. But I think I would have had a de- cent shot because I was probably the best senior in Indiana at the time not committed. "I would have definitely tried." Because having been born and bred a Hoosier, that's where his heart was. "They were recruiting every kid on my AAU team … except me," Novak recalled with a laugh. "I was playing out in California and Coach Meyer was there. I came down, twisted the hell out of my knee, a terrible sprain. "He remembered how I didn't let somebody help me walk off … told them to get off me. He supposedly said, 'I want that guy — I've got to get that guy at IU.'" Meyer wouldn't remain at Indiana — instead the Hoosiers hired Tom Crean. "If Coach Beilein hadn't recruited me, I think I would have ended up at Indiana," Novak continued. "Coach Crean used to say that to me after every game, 'If I'd had the job two weeks earlier, you'd be here,' which was flattering. At the time I grew up, that's where I wanted to play. I was stupid enough to wait as long as I did my senior year, so I would have waited a little longer to see what they did. "Looking back, I couldn't have ended up in better position. It was perfect, and it was pretty lucky." And very lucky for Beilein and Michigan. The Wolverines made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998 in Novak's first year, with him starting 21 games. He admit-