The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/703389
I f there's a day that goes by these days that Jim Harbaugh isn't in the news, it's because something big happened in the world. Whether it's coaching 40 to 50 satellite camps in a month or giving commencement speeches, the Michigan head coach is a head- liner. Big Ten coaches were put on no- tice the day Har- baugh was hired that Michigan was very likely to be Michigan again, even if the coach didn't arrive with the bravado some expected. The ex- pectation, he said, was simply to compete at a high level and see where the chips fall. The SEC coaches realized he wasn't just a regional act when Harbaugh invaded their territory last year for a handful of satellite camps on their hallowed turf, causing some pundits to lose their minds. "I think he has been an entertain- ing entrant to college football since he arrived in Michigan a year and a half ago," ESPN and Birmingham, Ala., radio show host Paul Finebaum said in early summer. "Entertaining. That was then." And after a summer in which Harbaugh upped the ante with four times the number of satellite camps, nationwide? "I find him growingly and increasingly an- noying now," Finebaum said. There's one particular reason why, Sporting News' Bill Bender wrote in April — because SEC fans had a frame of reference with an- other coach they loved to hate. "Harbaugh is the loudest and most-hated coach in the SEC since … Steve Spurrier," he wrote. "Oh, it's too perfect whether it's the visor or the khakis. Two former star quarterbacks. Two coaches who are dedicated to their own unique offensive system. Two non-filter personalities — per- haps the only two — that absolutely INSIDE MICHIGAN CHRIS BALAS For Love Of The Game Jim Harbaugh said he doesn't let outside criticism get to him, but rather uses it as motivation while he focuses on positive things such as the people who benefitted from U-M's satellite camps. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN