2B — December 10, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Another round of Harbaugh rumors
M
y grandfather called
me last week.
I’ll preface this by
saying that my grandpa is not
your typi-
cal hot-take
sports fan.
I respect
his opinions
on sports
as much as
anybody I
know. So in
this case, I
think he was
probably just
checking
in and had a topic in mind he
thought would make me laugh
or at least give us something to
talk about.
He asked me if Jim Harbaugh
was leaving Michigan.
We had both seen the head-
lines by that time, on ESPN and
other platforms, that certain
pundits were reporting that
certain NFL teams were in talks
with Harbaugh to pull him from
the Wolverines and back into the
ranks of professional football.
I laughed and brushed it off,
because the reporters I know on
the Michigan beat, who would
definitely know if Harbaugh was
considering leaving Ann Arbor,
had all but called the reports
stupid.
Apparently, the rumors, per-
haps aided by the de-commit-
ment of five-star safety Daxton
Hill, were enough to make Har-
baugh give a response.
“This is a choreographed
message that comes up at this
time every year before signing
day,” Harbaugh told ESPN this
weekend. “It’s people spreading
messages to further their own
personal agenda.
“But I’m on record right here,
right now: I’m not going any-
where. I’m staying at Michigan.
We have big plans here, and
there’s a lot we want to accom-
plish.”
On Sunday, he elaborated
further when asked why he com-
mented on the story at all.
“To make a
statement of it,”
he said. “To go
on record, and to
not be asked any
more after that
by people who
like to yap and
ask questions.”
Thinking back,
though, the call
from my grandpa
wasn’t the first
time I had gotten the question.
A couple months ago, an edi-
tor from a well-renowned news-
paper called The Daily newsdesk
asking for me. He was doing a
story about Harbaugh, and he
wanted the perspective of some-
one on campus.
Among the
questions he
asked was one
about Harbaugh
and whether or
not students and
fans were losing
patience with
him.
I laughed
then, too. If I
remember cor-
rectly, it was just
after Michigan had lost to Notre
Dame, so I understood that there
were some questions about the
state of the program and its lead-
ership.
Now, with the benefit of hind-
sight, it seems ridiculous that
there are and have been ques-
tions if the Wol-
verines want to
keep Harbaugh.
Michigan is
in a far better
place than it was
when Harbaugh
took over. The
program was
competing for
a conference
championship all
season, until its
hopes were snuffed out by Ohio
State yet again.
Michigan athletic director
Warde Manuel addressed that
side of things Sunday. His sup-
port has always been steadfast,
so his statement should come as
no surprise.
“Jim is one
of the greatest
coaches (in foot-
ball), college or
pro, so I think it’s
to his credit his
name continually
pops up,” Manuel
said. “As I said
before, when
we think about
bringing student-
athletes here, we
want the best, and we have the
best coach. I just hope people
understand, and particularly
our recruits don’t get dissuaded
because people put out these
rumors which this man deserves
because of his ability to coach.
“... Every year as soon as
there’s an opening, all of a sud-
den his name’s mentioned that
he’s not going to be here. He and
I have a great relationship. We
talked about this from the first
year on. I have full faith in Jim,
in the person he is and the leader
he is of this team. I’m so happy
he’s our coach. I look forward to
him coaching, as I said before,
until he retires from Michigan
and ends his career here.”
And, listen, I get impatience.
But wanting better from the
coach you have is much different
than wanting a different coach
altogether.
It is okay to both expect the
Wolverines to actually win a
conference championship — or
better — and want Harbaugh to
stay on as head coach. Believe it
or not, those two things are not
mutually exclusive.
Harbaugh does need to
improve, and he is the first to
admit it. Hence, the “there’s a lot
we want to accomplish,” part of
his quote to ESPN.
But it seems like if you are
going to bring up this neverend-
ing question about Harbaugh’s
permanence at Michigan, you
have to answer two other ques-
tions first.
First: What gives anybody any
indication that Harbaugh actu-
ally wants to leave?
Second: If the Wolverines did
want him gone, who could they
possibly get that would be bet-
ter?
If you can’t answer the first,
spare me the waste of time it
takes to prove any rumors false.
And if you can’t answer the
second, don’t bother pining for
greener pastures.
Persak can be reached
at mdpers@umich.edu, on
Twitter at @MikeDPersak or
on Venmo at @Mike-Persak.
EVAN AARON/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh dispelled rumors this weekend that he woud be leaving Michigan for the NFL after five-star safety Daxton Hill decommitted.
MIKE
PERSAK
Poole finding consistency
Last February, Crisler Center
filled with bathing suits and pool
noodles — a strange sight on a
snowy mid-winter afternoon in
Ann Arbor. The ‘Poole Party’
theme had been organized by
the Maize Rage — Michigan’s
courtside student section — to
celebrate
Jordan
Poole,
the
team’s
swaggering
freshman
guard.
The freshman Poole wanted to
give the crowd what they came
to see. He came off the bench
midway through the first half
and immediately fired off two
3-point attempts. Both clanged
iron. The rest of the game was no
different. Poole attempted four
threes, made none of them, and
finished with zero points in 12
minutes.
Saturday
against
South
Carolina,
the
Maize
Rage
brought the ‘Poole Party’ theme
back. With a year of experience
under his belt, the sophomore
Poole hit 8-of-12 field goal
attempts en route to a career-
high 26 points, as the Wolverines
won 89-78.
“I
wasn’t
really
thinking
about it,” Poole said of this year’s
‘Poole Party.’ “I think last year,
I was thinking about it. … Being
a freshman, I only played 11
minutes, I kinda wanted to go
out there, because it was a Poole
Party, and play
excited.”
Games
like
the
Minnesota
one
weren’t
unusual for Poole
last
year.
He
quickly
became
a
fan
favorite,
often
providing
a spark off the
bench,
like
he
did in a 19-point
game against Indiana or a 4-of-5
showing from the three against
Ohio State. But other times, he
was invisible, scoring less than
six points in half of Michigan’s
games.
“Last year as a freshman, he’d
have moments in which he didn’t
look as good as he really was,”
said South Carolina coach Frank
Martin. “Cause he’d get wrapped
up in the emotion of the game.”
Earlier this season, it seemed
as if Poole hadn’t changed. He
totaled just 13 points over the
Wolverines’ first three games.
When it looked as if he busted
his
slump
in
a
22-point
performance
against
George
Washington,
he followed up
with four against
Providence
the
next day.
Since
then,
Poole
has
been
the
star
that
Michigan
expected him to be coming
into the season, hitting 17-of-
28 threes and scoring at least 14
points in five straight games.
“I just feel like I’m letting the
game come to me,” Poole said.
“Taking the right shots but also
being aggressive.”
“…
I
feel
like
I
was
overthinking, ‘What’s a good
shot, what’s a bad shot?’ So
focused about assists to where I
was passing up a lot of stuff. But
now coach is giving me the green
light to be aggressive. They feel
like I’m one of the best shooters
in the country.”
That
green
light
paid
dividends early in the second
half when the Gamecocks cut
Michigan’s deficit to six.
Poole pulled up and hit a three
with a defender draped all over
him. Then another one, followed
by a fast-break dunk. He had
effectively shut the door on South
Carolina’s comeback hopes and
rewarded his coach’s green light
all in a two-minute stretch that
exemplified everything he was
anointed to be last season.
As he jogged to Michigan’s
huddle after his dunk forced
Martin into a timeout, students
hurled snorkels and beach towels
into the air in jubilation.
Somehow — on a freezing
December day — that now
seems normal.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore guard Jordan Poole hit 8-of-12 field goal attempts Saturday night.
“They feel like
I’m one of the
best shooters in
the country.”
“I’m not going
anywhere.
I’m staying at
Michigan.”
“We talked
about this from
the first year
on.”