This year’s conference was a new experience for four new head coaches in the Big Ten.
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Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh was the last coach to speak during the first day of Big Ten Media Days on Monday in Chicago.
Cap and blazer: Harbaugh wore his signature blue cap with the maize block “M”, which was an interesting complement to his dark blazer and tie. “Good for student-athletes, coaches, parents”.
“I’ve been made fun of pretty much since I can remember, since I was little”, Harbaugh said.
On lessons learned from year one: “Mostly, you learn the fellas…You’re doing things for the second time, and that’s the biggest advantage”.
The one thing worth gathering from Ash’s statement is that rivalries don’t happen overnight (or as the result of an attempted curse, of course).
Next up is the big match at the Big House between Real Madrid and Chelsea.
While he considered the next question that was not focused on his rap endeavors, he realized he had more to add to his comments on the video. And he likened his depth chart to a meritocracy. “Usually I subscribe to the sticks-and-stones philosophy, but when somebody talks about somebody you love or something you love or makes a personal attack, you have the right to shoot one over their bow”. He’s goofy enough to use the word “meritocracy”, ask whether he’s the one who invented it and look disappointed when told he did not.
“I want to start by giving my condolences to both Nebraska, Michigan State and the Foltz and Sadler families, ” said Penn State coach James Franklin.
It’s not just lip service when Harbaugh calls Peppers serious about football and highly motivated.
His brand has never been more popular. He also has broadened Michigan’s exposure by holding part of spring practice at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. He organized 39 events in 22 states, American Samoa and Australia, raising the ire of coaches across the country and forcing the NCAA to examine how it polices such recruiting events.
“It’s insane. You see it as madness”. We see it as genius. That’s really what it is. If it doesn’t arrive this year, he might not be around to see it. “Everything is calculated. Everything he does is for a reason”.
Harbaugh was at his amusing best on Monday. But timing, coupled with everything else working in Michigan’s favor at the moment, is a big piece of why such grandiose expectations may not be so implausible. There are plenty of questions.
Also, Iowa was just a drive away vs. MSU in the Big Ten Championship game from being defending Big Ten champ. For preseason camp, Harbaugh proclaimed the slate “clean and wide open” in the competition to start between junior Wilton Speight, senior John O’Korn and senior Shane Morris. I’ve coached under a lot of great coaches and have taken bits and pieces from all of them. “He’s a quarterback guru”, MI tight end Jake Butt said.
According to Harbaugh, the same rules apply to this season.
He said he hasn’t yet decided his plan when camp begins August 8, but more than likely he will shut down media access until shortly before the season.
That fit right in with Harbaugh’s sudden fascination with Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico.
“He can play cornerback, safety, nickel, linebacker”. Our players come to the building to work and get coached and get pushed to be the best that they can be every single day. After finishing fourth nationally in total defense previous year, MI has the potential to be even more productive in 2016.
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It’s probably only a matter of time until Jabrill Peppers is a National Football League player, but MI coach Jim Harbaugh says that his two-way star player already is there in one regard. “We had to do something to help the football team, so we brought in Zach”. If you look at the footprint of the Big Ten, Ohio has the most players that are being recruited to Division I football teams. We want to dream those dreams so much that people would laugh at us. We’ve got structure. We’ve got discipline. “All those are achievable”, he said. “They deserve to go to practice, work on their game, make mistakes and learn from them without people outside of the program watching and calculating their completion percentage or dropped passes or missed assignments”.
