jim harbaugh as great white shark

From the Editor: We're about to launch into the season preview week, so what better time  to yell "Here's some important reading material!" at you. Fact is, the preview is going to be as useless in a week's time as the notes an author took in 2020 while preparing to write a book about Harbaugh's program at Michigan. Friend of the blog Ben Mathis-Lilley, who's written for Slate, the NY Times, MGoBlog, and some publications that don't make you throw things, has written a book about Michigan and being a fan of it. Last year he spiraled through Michigan's program, from the outer rim of insane fandom (IE an MGoBlog game thread) to the core of Schembechler Hall, to capture all the frenzy, absurdity, and potency of college football as an institution, specifically ours.

What follows is an excerpt from this book, which is called THE HOT SEAT, A Year of Outrage, Pride, and Occasional Games of College Football. It can be purchased in myriad mysterious ways like giving money to an online bookstore, giving money to an electronic bookstore, or transacting with a purveyor of audiobooks.

There are also two Live Events for this book that may be in your proximity and featuring guests of interest:

	ANN ARBOR	BROOKLYN
When	August 30 (tomorrow), 6:30pm	September 13, 6:30 pm
Where	Literati Bookstore 124 E Washington, Ann Arbor 48104	The Dram Shop 339 9th Street, Brooklyn 11215
With	Austin Meek of The Athletic	Jane Coaston of the NYTimes
Link?	Link!	Link!

Also we might have him on MGoRadio, as soon as we figure out if we're doing that in-person this year.

Anyway, I said there would be a sample. It's from the part that's mostly interviews with people who know Jim Harbaugh personally, like Josh Metellus, Donovan Peoples-Jones's mom, and Ben Muth, a star tackle for Harbaugh at Stanford who's now a writer for Football Outsiders (IE the place that's qualified to call Michigan the #1 team in Special Teams). In classic Ben Mathis-Lilley fashion, he got all these guys talking all about who Harbaugh really is as a person, then convinced them not to take any of it back, probably because it was only going in a book and not some website that everybody reads.

I guess we should talk about this. Rumors starting swirling last week that the Raiders were going to offer Jim Harbaugh uncanny money to take over in Las Vegas, and that Jim is going to hear them out. People keep asking me what I’ve heard, and I’ve pointed them to the premium message boards because I’m not an insider. Other than some peripheral people who tell me things, I know dickety doo except what goes out in public, or what I get from 247, On3, and Rivals. If you want insider information you should pay the insiders for that.

Those insiders have done their best to keep up, but the list of sources who know anything here is small enough that real information is scarce. Both Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider/247 and Chris Balas from The Wolverine/On3 have reported that Raiders interest is real, and also that Michigan has a new offer on the table that rewards Harbaugh for last year’s turnaround and increases the assistant pool. Presumably there’s at least enough to bump up some of the young assistants on prove-it contracts and still have enough to play the field for a Nua replacement. The insiders are also convinced that a new contract will come with promises to manifestly change Michigan’s approach regarding changes in the competitive environment, which various people close to Harbaugh have suggested are more important than his own paycheck.

Harbaugh isn’t talking, whomever he’s talking to in Las Vegas isn’t talking, and what we’re getting are reflections of what he’s said to his staff, what people who know him well think, and then a lot of dubious third-hand stuff from a guy who knows a guy who thinks he knows a thing that he doesn’t really.

The latest from Sam Webb($) is that Harbaugh hasn’t told Michigan what he’s doing yet, but hasn’t stopped doing his job. Previous updates from Sam said Michigan is going to have to wait him out($), and that Harbaugh intends to listen($) to what the NFL has to offer. Balas has been tracking the ups and downs($) that staff inside the building have gone through. There are many interesting details about those points behind the paywalls. Most of the rest of the insider information matches what John U. Bacon et al. are getting from people they talk to, which is that money (for himself) isn’t what Harbaugh cares about.

That’s the end of information. Let’s speculate what it all means.

[After the JUMP: Live turkeys vs jive ones]

[Fuller]

We often hear about service academy offenses. How difficult is it of a challenge to prepare for them?

“Defending option football and conventional football at the same time. That’s what we’ve been studying. Air Force has been very successful. Seven, eight, nine game winning streak. They go back and forth between conventional and option football.”

Your defense is scoring a lot, more than they’re giving up. Is that something that has been emphasized? Is that just guys making plays? How do you account for that?

“It’s a good thing. Very good players and a good scheme and they work very hard at being good on defense.”

Talk about your impressions about Lavert Hill. I know you’ve been happy with him.

“Yeah, been happy with Lavert. He’s asserted himself and played very well. Made the big play for us in the ball game this past week.

“Tyree Kinnel would be another person that I’d spotlight; defensive player of the game; sacks, two I believe; tackles for loss; interception for touchdown; seven tackles total, I believe. Well done. Brandon Watson also had a couple PBUs and played very well. Josh Metellus did good. Up front, I thought Rashan had one of his best games. Devin Bush again, another very good game for him; sack, tackle for loss, PBU. Outstanding game by him. Chase Winovich. Noah Furbush was better. Mo Hurst probably played the best of all of our upfront defensive players.

“So, there was a lot of good. Dodged a couple bullets. As was pointed out, scored two touchdowns on defense, so we’re doing well. We’re good. Attribute that to hard work and good scheme and good players.”

How has Lavert—how have you seen him digest all the information that a young starter has to digest?

“Yeah, doing well. Seeing him digest information very well. Comes from good stock. You’d love to be Lavert Hill Sr., to have Delano Hill playing professional football and now here you see Lavert in there starting at corner, making plays, helping his team win. Lavert Hill Sr.’s probably boring the heck out of the neighbors with how well his sons are doing.”

[Learn how to avoid emotionally hijacking Jim Harbaugh after THE JUMP]