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…
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Origins of “Michigan Man”
The term Michigan Man hasn’t been this hot since Bo dropped his epic blast at outgoing coach Bill Frieder. We know the use of the term goes way back, certainly before Bo used it so famously. Heck, we know that Bo dropped this on Mark Messner during a last-ditch recruiting trip in the mid-1980s: Bo walks over, just hands me a tape and says [Messner in perfect Bo voice]: “You’re a Michigan man and you belong at Michigan.” And got back in the car. I don’t know if there will ever be a true “source” of Michigan Man because as I understand it, it’s piggybacking on the concept of the ‘Harvard Man’, which I believe was simply extracted from England and the ‘Oxford Man’ or ‘Cambridge Man’, for instance. The Great Gatsby, chapter 7: “And you found he was an Oxford man,” said Jordan helpfully.“An Oxford man!” He was incredulous. “Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit.”“Nevertheless he’s an Oxford man.”“Oxford, New Mexico,” snorted Tom contemptuously, “or something like that.” Anyway, I did a quick search to find the phrase and nabbed a century-plus old source of it being used in the context of a U-M grad in a coaching position. Vanderbilt was coached by a former M player, assistant and Yost’s brother-in-law Dan McGugin. Frank “Shorty” Longman…
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Coach Red Simmons Passes Away at 102
Coach Simmons during our interview at Crisler in 2009 (MVictors photo) It was very sad for me to see the press release this morning. We lost a great man and incredible tie to the history of athletics in this area. Simmons ran track with Jesse Owens and Willis Ward and was a pioneer in weight training and in women’s athletics at Michigan. For football fans: I’m confident he’s was the last living person to see the inaugural game at the Big House in 1927. Here are a few videos I took of Simmons during our interview: Part 1: On his friend, track legend Jesse Owens Part 2: Police Department Part 3: Hired by Fritz Crisler Part 4: Working out at Crisler Arena Part 5: More Workout at Crisler And here’s a link to several quotes from our interview a few years back, a few of my favorites: On meeting Fielding Yost: I met him, I think it was 1927. He was at a high school meet at some point. It was so long ago. My impression was that he was a very sociable man. He’d walk around and talk to you. There was no feeling that he thought he was special. He was just a regular guy.” On his friendship with Jesse Owens: I became friends with Jesse Owns in…
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Michigan Men can Make a Funny Video
Via Mark at the Freep and Craig at HSR: What is A Michigan Man? from Charles Woodson
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What is a Michigan Man?
What is a Michigan Man? A brief discussion and a definition provided by former U-M and NHL hockey player Dave Shand.
