Harbaugh at ODU, local news fluff
Harbaugh was at ODU yesterday. Unfortunately I wasnt able to get out to see him but here is some local fluff about the camp.
Quick summary. Kids are traveling 10+ hours to come to these camps. Are more about promoting local colleges and their recruiting efforts than Michigan.
Seems to me these camps are really bad for kids and local colleges. Camps should be abolished. /s.
Funny, the reasons parents like him is the same reason other coaches loathe him.
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Good story.
I'd suggest that many of the coaches that know Harbaugh up close and personal have a good relationship with him. I go to all Michigan home games and arrive early. You will almost always see Harbaugh and the opposing team's coach standing somewhere in midfield chatting amicably before the game. I'd bet the coaches from Bama at ODU were treated cordially and would have nothing but good things to say. Harbaugh is out there in the heat teaching a lot of kids with no hope of playing at Michigan how to improve their skills. Look at the relationship between JH and Pat Fitzgerald. Look at what the kids are saying who attend these camps...it's all positive.
I think I'm preaching to the choir.
If you criticize Harbaugh and he sees the criticism as being unfair, watch out. It's coming back at you and then some.
What an amazing father Jack Harbaugh must have been
Saban/SEC/Finebaum will find fault in this somehow/someway, as sure as the sun rises in the East and sets in the West.
That's 10 hours in a car. Environmental catastrophe. Harbaugh has contempt for God's creations.
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but if it was, Harbaugh would be contributing to it.
Yes, but what is he wearing?
There's a photo in the article. Allen Iverson 76ers jersey.
EDIT: and a cap featuring the guided missile submarine USS Michigan, because why not?
He was at Old Dominion and he was giving the commencement address at Saline High School? Harbaugh breaks physics. Reality bends to Harbaugh. It is apparently official.
In all seriousness though, it is hard to fathom making all these stops - camps and otherwise - that quickly and as efficiently as he does. As others have pointed out, sleep is apparently not something he does in great quantity.
I can't even keep track of what time zone Harbaugh is in, much less what city.
That MGoJet is getting a workout.
This probably isn't thread-worthy, but I attended the camp at ODU and figured I would share some of my observations (TL;DR - Harbaugh had a blast and was totally in his element):
Before the camp officially started Harbaugh was all over the field talking to coaches, trainers, etc. As the coaches set up for the first set of drills, Harbaugh was literally setting the cones up. I bet a lot of head coaches don't bother with things like that. It was obvious from the start how much fun he was having.
During the opening/introduction of the camp, the coaches all lined up and introduced themselves to the players (name, school, position coached). When it came to Harbaugh, he introduced himself as "Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers," which the players enjoyed. He then spoke to the players a bit introducing the camp. He started by quoting Iverson's "practice" press conference, but did so to emphasize the importance of practice, and how it prepares you for games. He then made all the players raise their hands and take an oath not to get injured, which made the players laugh.
The first drills of the camp were races (30 yard dash, shuttle) which the players ran in heats according to position. Harbaugh led the drill, screaming instructions to the kids throughout. At the end of each race the other coaches identified the top three for each position group. Harbaugh then brought the kids to midfield and introduced each of them to the crowd, raising their hand like a boxing champ. He had the winners take bows too. This happened for like 30+ kids but he took the same time to introduce them.
After the races, the players split up into position groups across several fields so it got kind of hard to follow everything. As the article stated, he took off and didn't even stay for the closing part of the camp. In my estimation there were 50 or so Michigan fans that were disappointed by that, myself included.
The overall takeaway was how much fun Harbaugh seemed to have. He clearly was in his element and commanded the attention and respect of the players. Probably the most disappointing thing was how coaching/instruction time seemed fairly limited. This may have to do with the ODU camp more than Michigan's camps, however almost half of the camp was spent seeing the players race.
How much can you really learn at one of these camps given the logistics?
Not just Harbaugh's camp, but any very large camp that only lasts a few hours.
I'm not familiar with how these kinds of camps work, so I don't really have a comparison. It just seemed odd that nearly half of the three hours was spent running, with 50 or so college coaches watching. Didn't seem like the best use of the time.
A good friend of mine went to ODU - I refer to it as "Oh-de-doo-da-day," and he likes it.