Quick takes from media day: 1. I thought the idea of having 5 kids ask questions during the press conference was a bad idea—but it turned out to be pretty fun, cute, and at times, actually a little interesting. Well done #1000SSS. 2. The Harbaugh highlight was old #4 himself coordinating the team photo – from calling out the order of where guys would sit, to the spacing, to where they should put their hands, etc., etc. It was classic. I sat there and watched the whole thing. 3. Peppers is a beast. 4. Uniform notes: The players appeared to be wearing last years’ jersey and the 2015 maize pants. The pants were clearly a darker shade of maize. Just a guess, but the jerseys will follow the same tone. Speaking of the 2014 jerseys, they deliberately put a blue patch over the big block M above the nameplate (see Morris below). Hmm. I’m guessing the block M over the name plate won’t return in 2015.
-
-
Harbaugh: The Legacy Hired Gun
Since the turn of the last century, as I see it the Michigan coaching hires have fallen into 2 buckets: Legacy Hires > under the Michigan Man umbrella, these are guys with playing and/or coaching experience in Ann Arbor before they took over. (And FWIW a lack of outside heading coaching success). Hired Guns > gents with head coaching “success” (let’s call it .550 or better) at other college programs but no previous coaching or playing experience at U-M. Harbaugh is the first hire that really falls on both sides of this divide, having had both college (& NFL for that matter) head coaching success along with U-M ties as a player and alumnus. A breakdown*: * I removed George Little who kinda/sorta coached U-M for one season in 1924 while Yost took a breather, and ok if I moved the Mendoza line for “success” down to .500 Hoke gets a check. A few thoughts: Of the 4 Hired Guns, I think Ivan Maisel of ESPN got it right, comparing this hire to that of Fritz Crisler who won two national titles at Princeton before taking over in Ann Arbor: For one thing, Harbaugh is the most successful head coach Michigan has hired since it swiped Fritz Crisler from Princeton in 1938. All Crisler did in 10 seasons in Ann…
-
The Bo Brackets | Elite Eight Results
[Ed. On this day of what would be Bo Schembechler’s 85th birthday, Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis returns with the next round of the Bo Brackets. You can find background including how the teams were selected here, and a breakdown of the Schembechler 16 results here.] 1969 vs. 1976 Result: 1976 211969 10 In an impressive combination of speed and power, Rick Leach, Rob Lytle & Russell Davis combined to rush for 349 yards and three touchdowns as the 1976 squad defeated Bo’s 1969 team, 21-10. Don Moorehead’s passing (227 yards) and Billy Taylor’s rushing (110 yards) staked the ’69 Wolverines to an early lead until a colossal collision changed the complexion of the contest. Leading 10-7 midway through the third quarter and facing a 3rd and 7 on their own 23-yard line, Moorehead handed off to Taylor on a draw play. Before Taylor could put two hands on the ball, ’76 linebacker Calvin O’Neal hit the Michigan running back so violently that both players were out cold before they hit the Tartan Turf. Jerry Vogele recovered the fumble for the ’76 Wolverines at the 15-yard line. Three plays later, Leach kept on an option keeper to give the ’76 team a lead they would not relinquish and the ’69 Wolverines were reeling. A 4-yard TD run by Davis…
-
No Passing Fancy
On today, Jim Harbaugh’s 50th birthday, a nice time for another guest post from Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis. While it’s no shock that Bo Schembechler didn’t like to put it up in the air, check out this breakdown by Sap. Guest Post by Steve Sapardanis Woody Hayes taught Bo Schembechler a lot of football lessons. One that resonated with Bo was the importance of running and possessing the football. The thinking was establishing a powerful ground game would almost certainly ensure victory, because by the end of the game you would be able to impose your will on your opponent. When that happens, your opponent will have been morally and physically defeated. Besides, when you throw the football, three things can happen, and as Woody liked to say, two of them were bad. You think Bo forgot this? I pulled the passing stats for every game during the Bo era at Michigan (1969-1989) to see if there was any statistical correlation to Bo’s disdain for throwing the football and losing. Sure enough, I found something. In the 21 years that Bo coached at Michigan, his teams only attempted more than 25 passes just 23 times. The Wolverines lost 20 of those games. And before Jim Harbaugh arrived, Bo had lost 17 straight games when attempting more than 25 passes. In…
-
Turning Minutes to Hours
I have no gut feeling on what’s going to happen—I’ve had people tell me before the bowl that Harbaugh was pretty much a done deal, and for a while I’ve had word that discussions with Hoke were very serious. Prior to the bowl, the needle seemed to sway toward Harbaugh leaving Stanford and heading to Michigan. Now, the chatter seems to be the other way, with even a few speculating that he might stay in Palo Alto. Several folks close to the program, like Sam Webb, say all the talk at this point in nonsense. It’s not about the money, at least when talking Michigan vs. the NFL as Brandon will pay what it takes. I see Harbaugh as the type who’s going to value the better situation for himself and the people in his life ahead of the bucks. Guys who tweet out Gordon Lightfoot lyrics (and mean it) don’t chase dollars: If I’m Harbaugh I absolutely leave Stanford—you’ve got to move now and who knows what will happen in the next couple years. And I’ve always understood when college coaches head to the pros. No matter what happens at that level there always seems to be a high profile gig waiting for them back in college. I think Harbaugh’s a different kind of cat, as many of…
-
Harbaugh Joins Colin Cowherd (Dec-1 audio)
Jim Harbaugh on ESPN radio with Colin Cowherd this afternoon. Here’s the somewhat relevant portion on the coaching talk: [display_podcast] – * Talked about and praised QB Andrew Luck. He compared him to his wife…”perfect”. * “Coaching’s the next best thing”..to playing. * Is Stanford big enough for Jim Harbaugh: “No question it’s big enough” * On addressing the coaching rumors: Harbaugh: “I’m not one of those guys that spends any time on the blogosphere.” bah! Then he won’t mind my Jimmy bobblehead. * He’s just focusing on his dad’s advice: “Just coach the team”.
-
Jamie Morris on Columbus Radio on Rodriguez, Harbaugh (audio)
So I went over to the Columbus’ 97.1 The Fan website to find the audio of Rich Rodriguez’s call today, and stumbled on this. Jamie Morris, Michigan football legend, WTKA Sunday radio host and most importantly an official within the U-M athletic department spoke to the Columbus host (Bruce Hooley…Chris Spielman was away) about the upcoming Ohio State game, but also answered a few questions about Rodriguez and Jim Harbaugh. My frustration with Morris on WTKA is that he’s been such a company man towing the company line on WTKA, that it’s prevented him from offering actual opinions. But give this is listen as Morris gets candid. I don’t know if this is just Jamie measuring his words, but he didn’t exactly serve up a wild endorsement of Rodriguez and admitted that Harbaugh would be welcomed back to U-M if he were the Michigan football coach at some point beyond RR’s tenure. It’s not so much what he said, but that Morris never says anything remotely beyond the company line. Give this a listen, it gets interesting about 3 minutes in: [display_podcast] . Notes/Quotes: For starters, he referred to Harbaugh as “Jimmy” instead of “traitor”. Hooley asked for a general sense of the radio caller support for Rodriguez. Morris: “I think we’re at a 50/50 split now…” When asked about…
