What kind of coach is Jim Harbaugh? Michigan boss remains an enigma despite decades in the spotlight

HOUSTON — Early last week, a roomful of Michigan players leaned forward waiting to hear the latest profound message from their coach. It was one of the first team meetings following Monday’s Rose Bowl semifinal win over No. 4 Alabama.

Where, they wondered, would Jim Harbaugh go with this moment?

“He said we were like a pack of wolves who were super hungry,” running back Blake Corum recalled. “That’s how we’ve been treating it. We’re hungry. We’re not full at all. We’re starving. We want a meal, and we’re a pack of wolves. We’re dangerous.”

That’s one way of putting it. Here’s another: A program on the cusp of becoming the greatest in Michigan history is coached by an enigma.

We don’t really know Jim Harbaugh, not the way we really want to know him — as a coach. His time at Michigan has largely been a deflection of what he has actually done to have become the school’s winningest coach since Fritz Crisler (1938-47).

We know about his chickens (many). We know about his pants (khaki). We know his style off the field has rankled some in the profession — satellite camps, the sign-stealing scandal — with a toe that may have sometimes crossed over the ethical line.

Still, heading into the College Football Playoff National Championship, we don’t know him as a coach. Harbaugh remains a coaching mystery clothed in those khakis and topped by a block “M” baseball cap. At this point, he’s become almost a caricature of himself.

“The thing people don’t realize, he’s not one who loves the attention or does stuff to seek attention by any means,” tight ends coach Grant Newsome said Saturday. “I think that gets misconstrued because he does get so much attention. He would like nothing more than to coach our team and be a ball coach in the pure sense of…

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Author : Dennis Dodd

Publish date : 2024-01-07 16:26:02

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