Harbaugh and DAy don't like each other.
But the rivalry is better because of it
When Michigan defeated Ohio State last
year, Jim Harbaugh couldn’t help himself.
The Michigan coach was about ready to
wrap up his postgame press conference where
he spoke of “moving forward with humble
hearts” and “taking the high road.” But then, he
decided to get a quip in before he left.
“Sometimes people standing on third base
think they hit a triple,” Harbaugh said. “But
they didn’t.”
It doesn’t take much reading between the
lines to know who Harbaugh was referring to:
Ohio State coach Ryan Day. Day has only faced
Harbaugh twice, but both coaches have been
trading jabs since Day took over in Columbus
in 2019. Harbaugh’s comments following his
first win over the Buckeyes were just the latest
installment in their war of words.
In their inaugural meeting, Day and his
squad dominated with a 56-27 beatdown. Ohio
State was a heavy favorite entering the game
and looked the part. There wasn’t much else to
say at that point, but it wouldn’t take much lon-
ger for tensions to explode.
It began in the summer of 2020 during a Big
Ten coaches conference call. There, Harbaugh
reportedly interrupted Day, accusing him of
providing on-field instruction to his players
during the summer and allegedly violating
NCAA rules.
Day didn’t take kindly to Harbaugh’s accusa-
tions, and he wanted revenge on the field. His
reported response: Hang ‘100’ on the Wolver-
ines.
JOSH TAUBMAN
Daily Sports Editor
The Buckeyes didn’t get a chance to attempt
that feat in 2020, when the game was canceled
due to COVID-19. The Buckeyes, however,
made a run to the National Championship
Game, cementing Day as a premier coach in
the sport in only his second year at the helm.
This success came much to the chagrin of Har-
baugh, who had hit his coaching low point with
an abysmal 2-4 season — causing fans to call for
his head.
With his job on the line, Harbaugh threw
down the gauntlet at 2021 Big Ten Media Day.
He put the team’s goal of beating Ohio State out
in the open.
“That’s what we want to do,” Harbaugh said.
“And we’re going to do it or die trying.”
When the two finally faced off again, Har-
baugh brushed death aside, emerging the vic-
tor. Thus, he felt entitled to take another shot
at Day.
That’s what their relationship has become.
There is no love lost between Harbaugh and
Day. They are building their programs with an
eye not only on the College Football Playoff and
winning Big Ten Championships, but also with
the goal of destroying each other in the process.
And, despite all the bitterness encircling their
relationship, that’s a good thing.
It’s difficult for college football rivalries to be
player-centric. There is too much roster turn-
over for a constant string of players to headline
a rivalry. The coaches, however, are mainstays,
and two great ones with strong personalities
make a rivalry hum.
With
Harbaugh
and
Day
seemingly
entrenched with their programs for the long
run, that only further fuels storylines and
anticipation for The Game.
Given Harbaugh’s involvement, though, this
tension was easy to see coming.
He hasn’t shied away from rival coaches
before. At Stanford, he jawed with then-USC
coach Pete Caroll, beginning in 2009 when
Harbaugh went for two already up 53-21 against
the Trojans. In the postgame handshake, Car-
rol had a simple question:
“What’s your deal?”
Harbaugh barked back: “What’s your deal?”
That animosity carried over to the NFL
with Caroll leading the Seattle Seahawks
against Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers
between 2011-2014. In 2013, after a blowout loss
to Seattle, Harbaugh accused the Seahawks of
using PEDs.
Then, when Harbaugh took over at Michigan
in 2015, going toe-to-toe with Urban Meyer, he
never minced words about the former Buck-
eye head man, once claiming that everywhere
Meyer goes “controversy follows.”
But the trash talk always rang a little hollow,
as Caroll and Meyer both had multiple cham-
pionships to their name while Harbaugh’s shelf
remained bare. On top of that, Caroll defeated
Harbaugh in their only playoff meeting and
Meyer went 4-0 against Harbaugh during his
tenure. Harbaugh never hid his brash person-
ality when facing his coaching adversaries,
though that approach was used
in part to compensate
for
what
his
team hadn’t accomplished on the field.
But Day and Harbaugh’s relationship is dif-
ferent — for the first time, both coaches feel like
they have something to prove. Day doesn’t quite
have the resume to outdo Harbaugh, at least not
yet. And while Harbaugh ignited the sparring
match, Day hasn’t been afraid to punch back.
It’s early, but it’s hard to ignore the shades of
another great Michigan-Ohio State coaching
rivalry — perhaps even following in the foot-
steps of the Ten Year War.
Back then, from 1969-1978, Woody Hayes
and Bo Schembechler — both magnanimous
personalities with patented looks — squared
off, often for a shot at a Big Ten Championship
and a Rose Bowl berth.
Flash forward to this year, and Day and Har-
baugh, for the second season in a row, have
their teams fighting to be the class of the Big
Ten. Based on both teams’ recent success, they
could very well battle for conference suprema-
cy for the foreseeable future.
Now, Harbaugh can say what he wants, but
Day isn’t getting off the bases anytime soon.
Together, even if the pair wants nothing to do
with each other, they can take this next decade
of games into the stratosphere.
The Game speaks for itself. But a
great coaching rivalry, like the one
Day and Harbaugh are forming,
transcends it.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Thursday, November 17, 2022 — 9
EMMA MATI/Daily