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Thursday, July 23, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

The Michigan coach 

is making waves, 
and his boss is 

loving every bit of it

By ZACH SHAW 

Summer Managing Sports Editor

Jim Harbaugh is in France right 

now. After reviewing restaurants 
in the city while donning a maize 
and blue V-neck shirt, he trekked 
up 
to 
the 
Northern 
coasts, 

where on Friday morning he 
visited the famous Omaha Beach 
battleground in Normandy and 
chatted about life with 1957 Ohio 
State captain Leo Brown.

Chances 
are 
you 
already 

knew that, though — and not 
necessarily 
because 
you’re 

stalking the Michigan coach.

Using social 

media, a goofy 
demeanor and 
a 
growing 

national 
presence, 
Harbaugh 
has 
turned 

his 
summer 

into a pseudo-
reality 
show 

that demands a 
following.

You can call it a manufactured 

plan to wake up a long-dormant 
program, or simply a weirdo 
coach craving attention.

Either way, it’s working.

He can be in Peru on a mission 

trip, struggling with a five-minute 
radio interview over the phone 
or even debating the definition 
of irony from his armchair, but 
you can bet he will be a national 
talking point.

According to 

the 
analytics 

website 
Topsy, 

the 
name 

“Harbaugh” has 
been mentioned 
over 
45,000 

times on Twitter 
in the past 30 
days — an average of more than 
1,500 tweets about him per day. 
Seven weeks ago, his shirtless 
rampage 
in 
Alabama 
was 

America’s No. 1 trend on Twitter.

Do you remember the last time 

Brady Hoke trended nationally — 
other than being fired — or where 

Lloyd Carr went 
on vacation in 
the offseason? I 
doubt it.

Even 
other 

high-profile 
coaches 
can’t 
escape 

Harbaugh’s 
summer. 
The 

first 
question 

asked 
at 
SEC 

Media 
Day 

earlier this week was related 
to 
Jim 
Harbaugh’s 
satellite 

camps. Local coaches such as 
Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and 
Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio 

repeatedly 
field 
Harbaugh 

questions at their own press 
conferences, 
much 
to 
their 

politically-correct chagrin.

“Our staff is certainly aware of 

Coach Harbaugh,” Meyer told the 
Columbus Dispatch. “Any time 

the 
adversary 

has 
quality 

people in there, 
you’re 
aware 

of 
everything 

they’re 
doing 

and 
their 

work.”

But just as 

you can bet anything Harbaugh 
does draws attention nationwide, 
you can also bet that his boss, 
Interim Athletic Director Jim 
Hackett, is smiling from his desk, 
trusting the coach he’s admired 
for years.

“This is a rare talent that I’ve 

seen in my life,” Hackett said last 
week. “I’m talking business, peers 
(etc), he’s a rare talent. I told you 
this at the spring game: I’m happier 
with what I thought I was going to 
be delighted about.

“I’ve learned to not worry about 

these types of things … I really 
don’t worry much, there’s very few 
things I fear or worry about.”

In an era with increased media 

scrutiny and people monitoring 
a coach like Harbaugh’s every 
move, Hackett’s lack of worry 
is 
startling. 
Conventional 

wisdom would suggest that an 
Interim Athletic Director at a 
program that seemed to have a 

PR nightmare every 
week 
last 
fall 
is 

supposed to dial back 
the 
publicity, 
not 

encourage it.

Then 
again, 

Harbaugh 
isn’t 

conventional, 
and 

Hackett 
— 
who 

played 
under 
Bo 

Schembechler 
from 

1974-77 — has seen it 
before.

“The 
thing 
I 

contrast with is the 
statue out there -- 
(Bo 
Schembechler), 

if he had been alive 
during social media, 
this 
wouldn’t 
feel 

so idiosyncratic to 
you,” Hackett said. 
“Those personalities 
were always here … 
the media makes it 

transparent.

“What I love about 

it is the authenticity. 
He’s not a second guy in 
the dressing room who 

takes a mask off. He’s authentic.”

Though many 

will still question 
the 
authenticity 

of 
Harbaugh’s 

eccentric 
summer, 
one 

thing that can’t 
be denied is its 
impact. Michigan 
is 
still 
winless 

in 
Harbaugh’s 

tenure, but the buzz around the 
program already feels different. 
Ticket sales are already at their 
highest in years, and even during 

the Ann Arbor Art Fair, the talk of 
the town is still Harbaugh.

“When I’m in the public it’s, 

‘How’s Jim Harbaugh? How’s 
the team doing?’ It’s a good 
excitement,” sophomore receiver 
Moe Ways told reporters on 
Thursday. “Fans are really excited. 
Everybody’s really excited to see 
what we do this year. I think it’s 
going to be a good year, we’re going 
to surprise a lot of people.”

Added Hackett: “He’s a very 

creative, competitive guy. I don’t 
think I’ve ever met a guy who’s 
more competitive. We’re now, 
as a community, glad we’ve got 
somebody like that on our side.”

But 
even 
with 
Harbaugh 

traveling the same world that 
watches his every move, Hackett 
knows the value of keeping 
the coach grounded. He’s not 
going to stop the Jim Harbaugh 
Show, he’ll just make sure it has 
the right numbers — wins, not 
Twitter mentions — to last for a 
few seasons.

“I wear this yellow watch — it’s 

yellow, not maize; they didn’t have 
maize — I wear this to remind 

(Harbaugh) 
he hasn’t won 
a game yet,” 
Hackett said. 
“I’m taking it 
off when he 
wins his first 
game.

“For 
both 

of us, humility 
with all the 

drama is (important). This is 
about 
Michigan 
earning 
its 

rightful place and performing at 
the level that we know we can.”

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh has yet to coach a game at Michigan, but his name is mentioned on Twitter over 1,500 times per day.
The wet, hot Harbaugh summer

DELANEY RYAN/Daily

Harbaugh has used controversial satellite camps to revamp Michigan’s recruiting.

“When I’m in 
the public, it’s 

‘How’s Jim 
Harbaugh?’ ”

“This is a rare 

talent.”

“I’ve learned 
not to worry 
about things.”

