The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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26 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW April: Meets with a number of U.S. Su- preme Court justices in their Washington chambers and tried to convert Nebraska fan Clarence Thomas, according to the Wall Street Journal. May 1: Attends First Lady Michelle Obama's speech in Detroit. The event at Wayne State University — staged to promote higher education to 2,000 high school students — featured Obama, singer Ciara and Harbaugh. May 14: Passes Ohio State coach Urban Meyer in twitter followers — 268,834 as of that day when Meyer was at 262,785. He now has more than 461,000 (as of June 6, 2016). May 15: Takes his yearly mission trip to a Piura, Peru, Catholic parish 600 miles from Lima, helping with supplies and playing a physical, rugby-style game with a football. June 4: Begins "Summer Swarm" satellite camp tour of 10 camps in nine days at India- napolis Bishop Chatard High School. June 5: Makes a trip to Prattville, Ala., and takes his shirt off to play "Peru ball" with the campers. The photos and reaction go viral. June 10: Heads to Coronado Island, an hour and a half to the south, to give the Coronado High School commencement speech, follow- ing his son James, the class president. June 30: Sports a Mark "The Bird" Fidrych jersey over one with his name and number (4), warms up in the dugout and throws the cer- emonial first pitch at the Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park. July 6: Is largely responsible for U-M's $169 million Nike deal for Michigan, that larg- est collegiate apparel deal in history at the time. U-M interim athletic director Jim Hackett says Harbaugh asked about Nike on his second day on campus. Later, Michael Jordan announces that U-M will be the first Jumpman Jordan Brand foot- ball team in a video, closing with "Go Blue." Harbaugh tweets a thank-you to Jordan, who had called Harbaugh to ensure/approve the deal with Nike before it was completed. **** "This is a world finding its path to Jim from all different facets whether it's the Supreme Court, the White House, athletes, entertain- ment. It's the craziest stuff I've ever seen," An- son said. "He has America's all-access pass." But not during the football season, which started with August practice. They were headed to the submarine, into the bunker Har- baugh said of players and coaches alike, and he meant it — he wouldn't resurface to meet with reporters for literally weeks. When he did, it was all football, all the time, with one exception — an Oct. 19 trip to Wash- ington D.C. Harbaugh and his wife flew to the Capitol to promote a public-awareness cam- paign called "Better Make Room," intended to support Michelle Obama's Reach Higher Initiative, an effort launched last year to help get students the understanding and resources they need to extend their educations toward better career opportunities. There, Harbaugh met with both the First Lady and the President, receiving consoling words from Barack Obama on the Wolverines' fluke, last-second loss to Michigan State. From there, Harbaugh and his staff would also hit the road to secure what would become Rivals.com's No. 4 recruiting class nation- ally. U-M then finished the season at 10-3 and proved it was on its way back with a 41-7 Citrus Bowl blowout of Florida. Anyone who wasn't on board before that was after the Gator slaughter, senior defensive back Channing Stribling said. "We thought, 'Okay, we're in Florida … we get to go to the beach,'" Stribling recalled. "[Harbaugh] said, 'No, we're going to stay as a unit … we're going to do everything together and after that, we're going to stay in our rooms and chill.' I'm like, 'Man, come on now. We're in Florida.' I'm a southern guy [from Mat- thews, N.C.], so I'm thinking I'm warm, I can go to the beach. He said, 'No, we're going to prepare for this, and after that we'll see.' "I know looking at [Florida's] team, they got to do whatever and a couple guys unfortunately got in trouble. I said on a radio interview after that, 'Whatever he does, I'll never question him again.' "Anything he wants us to do, we'll do it. It doesn't matter what it is. If he wants us to stay up all night, we'll stay up all night. If he wants us to run all day, we'll run all day. I know at the end of the day it will be all good for us." **** Twelve days after the Citrus Bowl win, Har- baugh was on a plane back to D.C. with his wife to attend the Jan. 13 State of the Union address as a guest of Rep. Justin Amash (R- Mich.). By then, the Wolverines were already on their way to a top-five recruiting class, but Harbaugh wasn't ready to rest until he finished strong with a few more coveted prospects. One of them, Rockford, Mich., kicker Quinn Nordin (and not just any kicker, but the No. 1 ranked kicker in the nation), had recently de- committed from Penn State, and Baylor had already secured a Thursday, Jan. 14 in-home visit. What Harbaugh planned next made national news again. He vowed to show up at Nordin's house at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 15, if the family would have him and ride to Ann Arbor with Nordin for his official visit to Michigan. "It's Coach Harbaugh. I didn't really know what to expect because he's a very up-front, honest and serious guy," Nordin recalled in June, just weeks before he'd leave for Ann Arbor. "When he said that at the time, I started laughing. The next thing you know the day comes, it's 12:01 and he's pulling up to the house, just like the rule book said he could." Fans had lined the street waiting for his ar- rival, and Nordin answered the door in his pajamas. "We talked a little bit, probably for about two hours on what their plan was for me," Nordin recalled. "[Special teams] Coach [John] Baxter had been recruiting me all along but had gone to USC, so I was kind of deciding if I wanted to go to USC for Coach Baxter or stay home and play for Coach Harbaugh. That morning we ate breakfast, but my mom had to drive me to school before we left [for Ann Ar- bor] because of an NCAA rule. From my high school we drove to Ann Arbor, talked recruiting and all kinds of stuff. It was awesome. "Some good things were said and also some stuff I needed to hear. That's when I realized what all the hype [around Harbaugh] was about. He is one of the greatest men I've met in my life. When I got to meet him, drive up to Ann Arbor with him, I knew there was no doubt this was the guy I wanted to play for." Harbaugh made national headlines by sleep- ing over at prep kicker Quinn Nordin's house before driving him to Ann Arbor for his official visit. Nordin, who was not a Michigan com- mit at the time, posted this picture on twitter and eventually signed with the Wolverines. PHOTO COURTESY QUINN NORDIN