Spring Practice Presser 2-24-15: Jim Harbaugh
Bullets:
- Sione Houma had a procedure done and will be recovering over the spring. He’s expected to be back for summer conditioning and fall camp.
- Khalid Hill and Drake Johnson are also injured and not participating in spring practices.
- The first practice went well; Harbaugh thought the whole day was great “with a capital G.”
- The coaching staff is still in the process of asking questions themselves; how to get better, what scheme fits the personnel, what players fit what position, etc.
- Harbaugh said nothing has been determined as far as players switching positions, so take the initial depth chart with a massive grain of salt.
- Harbaugh declined to comment on freshman ineligibility
Opening remarks:
“I have no opening statement. I wasn’t expecting a press conference. If anybody has any questions I’d be glad to attempt to answer them.”
How’d it go?
“Good. You know, it’s good to start. Feel like when you start you have- you can lay down a benchmark of where you are and it gives you a place to go forward from. It gives you a place to improve from [and] things to get better at.”
Talk about how you go about building competition in practice with some of the things you implement.
“Uh…some of the things we do to build competition? I mean, it’s football. It’s a very competitive sport.”
Are there things you do to encourage guys to…
“I’m sure there are. I’m sure there are. I don’t really have that list in front of me right now.”
You said you wanted to find out what their intent was in winter conditioning. Were you pleased with some of the results?
“Yes. Team’s in very good shape. Kevin Tolbert and his staff did a very nice job and the fellas did a nice job. You could see that throughout practice that the team’s in good condition and that gives us a fighting chance.”
Do you know how much of an install you want to do this spring versus just evaluating the guys and getting a feel for the team? Do you know how you’re going to balance that at this point?
“We’ll do both.”
How long is the evaluation process going to be?
“Daily. Every day there’ll be an evaluation process on every player in every drill. That’s on-going. That’s always.”
[After THE JUMP: the first day of spring practice, or New ThanksBirthMas]
Aside from Drake Johnson and Khalid Hill, are there any players that won’t be full-go in spring?
“Yes, Sione. Sione Houma had a procedure done. He’ll be working through something all spring.”
Can you say what that is? Upper body? Lower body?
“Yeah. It’s just…he’ll be out for the spring and he’ll be working through something, and he’ll be back. It’s not a long-term thing, we don’t think. He’ll be back for summer conditioning and fall camp.”
I’m assuming you’re not going to name a starting quarterback until sometime in August. What can these quarterbacks earn this spring in terms of your trust, in terms of positioning, that sort of thing?
“We’re not putting a timetable on that. I mean, that’ll be the one position that I’m sure we’ll talk about. Don’t have one to name today. But I don’t know, at some point you’d like to think that that’s clear cut and somebody earns that and it’s not close. That’s what we’ll be hoping for, but they were all good to start and there’s going to be good competition at that position.”
You guys have seven quarterbacks in camp right now, is that right?
“Mmm hmm.”
How do you handle the rotation? How much time are you spending with them individually, or what’s the plan for that?
“Keeping everybody involved. Got multiple individual periods and opportunities for the quarterbacks to get reps.”
Is it just you working with them? Does Jedd [Fisch] work with them individually?
“Yeah, we do. Jedd does. I do. Tim Drevno has input. Our coaches…running backs coach will have something to say to them at a certain time. Jay Harbaugh will have something to say to them at times. It’s a group effort.”
Have you experienced any lag/transition going back to the college ranks from the NFL? Has it been any different or is coaching coaching.
“I think that coaching’s coaching.”
Brady Pallante moving to fullback [and] Ross Douglas moving to cornerback: can you talk about what they bring to those positions and why those moves were made?
“I wouldn’t say any moves have been made. I mean, there’s people trying to…we don’t mandate what position a player plays. Some guys are trying out at multiple positions on both sides of the ball. It’s too early to say what’s going to take place. Nothing’s set in stone that way. We’re still trying to figure out who the best players are. We’ve just had one practice so far.”
[Two men attempt to talk over each other. Both have microphones. Only one will emerge the victor. But who?]
Working with the quarterbacks, can you talk about the-
“And their best position. Don’t know exactly-”
…the labor of love it appears to be?
“Don’t know exactly, just to finish the thought there, we don’t know what everybody’s best position is or who the best players are at those positions after one practice, so it’s going to be a process. So nothing’s been done.”
Working with the quarterbacks, can you just talk about the labor of love that it appears to be and how you just really enjoy getting in there?
“I do! I just- it’s the fun part about being the head coach. You can coach any position. You can coach them all at any time. That’s the fun thing about the job of head coach. So I like coaching all the positions at some point.”
When do you want to have a tentative depth chart? At the end of spring or later?
“Uh…do you need one at some point? When would you like to have one?”
We’d like to have one today if you have that ready.
“We don’t have that list in front of us right now.”
Is that the goal though, by the end of spring to have a two-deep? At least a rough one?
“Uh…hadn’t thought about that, at what point [there is] a deadline or a goal of a depth chart. Haven’t thought about that.”
You’ve put trust in Tim Drevno over the years with your offensive lines. What is it that he does that’s good with these guys, and how much can they come along in a spring?
“Fantastic coach, Tim Drevno. It’s day one. We’re not really answering questions as much as we are asking questions. What can we do? How can we get better? Where can we improve? Where can we get a mile an hour faster? Where can we get a percent better? And we’re all in that process right now. Day one.”
Obviously there’s a lot of snow out there [and] it’s really cold. How important was it to get an early start and just to get the team together and see what you had on the field?
“Well, we were inside. We have an indoor building.”
But just to get an early start with spring practice.
“I thought that was important. We haven’t really had football since last November. Didn’t have a bowl or bowl practices. It felt like the time to do it, as early as we could. Wanted to make sure we got seven [or] eight weeks of conditioning before we did it.”
Are there specific goals or priorities you want to accomplish over the next few weeks?
“Yeah, we’re really just trying to get better every day. Trying to be better today than we were yesterday. Trying to be better tomorrow than we were today. I know that sounds very simplistic, but it’s just so simple it might work.”
Is there a point where there’s too many [quarterbacks] and you have to pare that down?
“I don’t know that there’s an exact number. Right now we’re throwing the balls out there and letting the fellas compete, and the more good ones you have the better.”
After seeing your team go through some things today for the first time since winter conditioning was there anything that surprised you coming out of conditioning?
“No, I felt they were in good shape. We worked with them last week for two days and you could tell their conditioning was at a high level. The only thing that surprised me was that it was a four hour practice and it flew by. Time flies by when you’re having fun.”
Sticking with that, how much of it right now is them getting used to how you run a practice [and] you getting used to how they are in practice? How much of it right now is just one foot in front of the other in terms of that?
“Um…I would just say it was good from that standpoint. Everybody- you’re in uncharted waters, somewhat to your point, but sometimes that can be a really good thing. Some people thrive on that and it’s life giving you energy.”
You said Sione’s going to miss camp. Is he the only one?
“I said he’s going to miss spring. He’ll be back for camp.”
Who else is out?
“I think we mentioned two other names.”
So those two guys, Khalid and Drake, are not in?
“Correct.”
What kind of grade would you give today just on the effort and energy and what you saw out there today?
“I thought it was very good.”
I’m hoping for those that don’t have access to you often, myself among them, can you take a second to reflect on the day? You only get one first practice at Michigan. I’m also interested as you look forward in the East, in particular Ohio State and Michigan State…some say we may be entering a golden age of football in the Big Ten. Reflect, if you would, on your day and as you move forward the fall and rivalry games and what you might see.
“It was a great day. It’s like the new year. I’ve said this before but a lot people think January 1st is the start of the new year, and those that believe in Christianity and espouse Catholicism believe that correlates with the birth of Christ but we in football treat the first day of spring practice as the new year. It’s like your birthday, it’s New Year’s [Day], it’s Thanksgiving. You’re thankful you can participate in football. It’s like Christmas- you have this gift. It’s a family reunion. It’s all those things all rolled into one. It’s a happening. It’s like the first day of school. You lay your clothes out the night before and pack your lunch box tight and you head off to school. Everybody knows that feeling.
“In football you get two New Year’s Days: the first day of spring practice and the first day of fall practice. Very enthusiastic, very energetic day. I’d like to bottle it; the kind of enthusiasm where people show up early and are excited to get to work. At some point we’ll have to open that bottle up and use it to get better. Yeah, that’s how I would describe it.”
No full circle moments? I know you’re focused on what you’re doing, but as far as the position being yours- was it just another day?
“It was great with a capital G.”
SID: did you want to touch on the rivalries in the division?
I’ve heard from a lot of people that in rivalries teams go up and down, Michigan obviously more up than down maybe, but we have a chance, a lot of fans feel, over the next few years to have an incredible division. The competition could really be unique in terms of the lifetime of football that I’ve been watching.
“Yeah, our expectations are really high. They were high for a great practice today and they’ll be high for a great practice on Thursday and great meetings on Wednesday, tomorrow. Try to make those the best of the year if we can and try to make Thursday’s drills the best of the spring. Our expectations are very high for that.”
You said you’re going to have more questions than answers, but at what point do you want to figure out what some of these answers are, and do you need to have answers by the end of spring going into summer workouts? My second question is about freshman ineligibility; what would be your opinion on that?
“I don’t know if you need somebody else weighing in on that. I’m sure there are other people that are weighing in on that, so count me as one that’s not weighing in on that, not one more person adding their opinion to that.
“To your other question, I think it’s fair. I think it’s right. It’s the first day and we just had one practice, so we’re going to be…how can we get better? What can we do to…what is it that will work? We’ll just keep grinding on it. You have our vow that we’ll do that.”
February 25th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
But I'm not really surprised for two reasons:
1) What he says at the presser may have little/no correlation with what he thinks or says to the players; and
b) I think he's smart enough to realize that each team needs a slightly different approach. Bo's first season, they needed their asses kicked. This team may or may not need that. For example, JH may sense that their confidence has been shattered, and he needs to build them up a bit before breaking them down. Maybe not. Who knows? Not me, anyway.
February 25th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^
February 25th, 2015 at 11:13 AM ^
February 25th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^
February 25th, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^
I just really liked how he said that the first day of spring practice is like "A Happening".
HARBAUGH!
Also, maybe it's just me but I think this is a pretty quote worthy piece too
“Yeah, we’re really just trying to get better every day. Trying to be better today than we were yesterday. Trying to be better tomorrow than we were today. I know that sounds very simplistic, but it’s just so simple it might work.”
February 25th, 2015 at 11:35 AM ^
one "well"...refreshing
February 25th, 2015 at 11:50 AM ^
I think you can basically just put a /s behind everything Harbaugh says when recording a JH presser.
February 25th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
I see a lot of differences between Harbaugh and Hoke in the presser department. Hoke really didn't give "non-answers" during his first spring, or during that first year when everything seemed to be going right. He didn't always answer the question that was asked, but he always said *something*... the question could be:
"So coach, do you think, with the backs that you have, you're going to try a few more one back sets than maybe you've historically used in the past?"
and Hoke would respond "Well, you know, you're always trying to fit your personnel to your scheme and, you know, we'll see what we're going to do there, we've got some great backs, some real 'Michigan' backs that know the game and love the game, and I'm sure they're going to do whatever we need them to."
Harbaugh, with that same question *might* say something similar, but he's just as apt to say:
"Dunno, haven't really thought about that." ...and then look around with a far off stare as though he's trying to pick out where that voice in his head yelling "these people are ponderous!!!" is coming from.
Hoke didn't really start giving non-answers, or avoiding questions altogether, until the questions started getting uncomfortable. At that point, there was a noticeable change in his answers and demeanor which we didn't appreciate. If or when that happens with Harbaugh, we won't notice as much of a difference because he isn't being very frank now, and this is still the honeymoon phase when he could say pretty much anything and we'd be like "Wow!! What a great answer! He's great!!"
Plus, Harbaugh will probably never come across as befuddled as Hoke sometimes did toward the end. He'll just keep the same air of "I really don't understand the point of any of this" that he now displays.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:12 PM ^
I really hope JUB's book addresses some of this press conference stuff with Hoke.
I think Hoke's goal (or Brandon's goal) was to make his press conferences as much of a non event as possible. It seemed like over Hoke's tenure, They tried to make his press conferences less and less eventful, which obviously backfired.
How much of that was just Hoke? How much of that was Brandon directing Hoke?
February 25th, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^
hated talking to the press. Absolutely despised it. Since he's the benchmark for all Michigan Coaches, I have no problem with JH giving non-answers to the press. I had no problem with Hoke giving non-answers either.
We'll just have to wait to see the results on the field. Which will of course will be winning the B1G East this year.
February 25th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
The majority of coaches give non-answers, especially some of the best. ex:Belichick,Saban,Harbaugh..
I consider very much like real life, the people who sit back and listen in life and choose their words carefully are usually the smart ones. The people who babble on and on about how much they know are probably those trying to prove how intelligent they are by saying more.
Although this is far from a fact, I learned at about 22, after i was "That guy" arguing about everything and speaking over the top of people. It wasn't until I shut up and listened that I actually started to learn things.
I think as Harbaugh has aged, he has matured and learned as well. Emotions will always be a factor in someone as competitive as him, but a restrained but hungry, a competitive but conservative, and a think before you speak Jim Harbaugh IMO, should be a scary thought for opposing teams.My guess is that we will be seeing pressers with fewer "guarantees of winning" or " defensive answers" and more "non-answer, clever, and sarcastic coachspeak".
And I am perfectly fine with that!
February 25th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
be that guy too. Now I limit my ranting and arguing to the internet.
February 25th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
...this sounds a lot like a Brady Hoke press conference.
Won't say anything about the nature of Sione Houma's injury, had a great practice, still evaluating this and that.
And somehow I loved it.
February 25th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
Harbaugh unknowing PC > Hoke preparing for a PC
February 25th, 2015 at 12:36 PM ^
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February 25th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
I remember when Hoke gave non-answers to the media, and at one time people blaimed the media for asking dumb questions. Then it turned when Hoke started losing more, and people got angry at everything he said.
I'm really not reading anything different from Harbaugh. In fact, it may be more terse and dismissive than Hoke was. He isn't talking about injuries (clearly avoiding any more info than "so-and-so is out"), intentionally vague, etc. But it's being explained or rationalized a lot above in ways it was rationalized and twisted against Hoke.
I'm not sure there is a point to this post other than to point out the hypocritical nature of it all. Lots of love in the discussion above, which is good, people should be excited about Harbaugh. But Harbaugh is going to talk a lot about "execution", "competition", and "toughness" just like Hoke did. They learned media relations as coaches in the same way. Hopefully Harbaugh can win like Hoke ultimately didn't so that we don't have the very annoying twisting of pressers like we did at the end of the last regime.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:20 PM ^
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February 25th, 2015 at 1:37 PM ^
If Hoke went 8-0 2/3rds of the way into the season we wouldn't need answers.
And there's no crime in wanting answers in a situation where anyone who cares about the results wants answers.
What, are we supposed to be dicks to someone who's delivering good results? That usually doesn't go well.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:51 PM ^
In fact, now might be a good time to want answers from him, being that he is new at Michigan. Neither coaches owe you a damn thing in pressers. I like the way Harbaugh handles interviews. I like the way Hoke did. Fans shouldn't be dicks about either, it's a press conference. People wanted to be upset with Hoke so they found more reasons to be upset with him. It's as simple as that. It's understandable. It's also hypocritical. You can try to twist out of it all you want, but it is what it is.
Also, Harbaugh answers press questions a lot like Dantonio does. But one handles the mdeia the worst and the other they love. Not hypocritical? It's easy to explain, you're a fan of one and a rival of the other. But it's still hypocritical.
February 25th, 2015 at 2:10 PM ^
The answers you're referring to are more in the context of his hiring, and Hackett was asked those questions. If you've got doubts, now is a little late to be having them. Again, this is the same for every job, ever. People research your background and ask questions before you're hired, then you get a Honeymoon period to get into things, then the questions return if you're screwing things up.
But as for coaches not owing people a damn thing. . . whoa.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:31 PM ^
Hopefully the department/Harbaugh have a somewhat looser policy regarding injuries. The injury policy was kind of crazy last year.
NO information unless someone was done for the year. I don't gamble so I don't have any tangible use for that information but I do follow the team closely enough that it's nice to know whether or not someone is or is not injured.
I'm actually for limited injury information being shared but give us something! His answer on Houma was totally acceptable to me. Injured. Back in fall.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^
It's not hypocrisy. The situations are different. No one's going to take a HC to task for non-answers on what's effectively his first day as a coach. Same with Hoke. We accepted non-answers when we expected non-answers. We started wanting answers when (gasp!) we needed answers.
THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENS IN ANY JOB WHATSOEVER. If nothing's going wrong, people generally don't ask questions. (Unless you've ever worked for a Japanese company like I have, in which case I pity your miserable existence.) They start pushing for answers when there's a reason to need accountability. My manager doesn't ask me questions when my customers are all happy; that changes when one of them blows up. No one asks a security guard shit when he's just watching people enter and exit the building right up until a bunch of guys with guns show up at which point he's expected to remember every last detail. This may or may not be fair, but FFS no one here is doing anything differently than in any other circumstance that goes from good to bad. And while complacency is a dangerous game, at least ethically, they're right.
That this is called "twisting" and "hypocrisy" grinds my gears. It's completely failing to take the change in situation into account. A HUGE change in situation. What, is our conduct NOT supposed to change when everything's falling apart? Hoke's answers never changed and that, THAT was the problem. You may be able to blow off others when things are going well but if they're storming at you, society expects YOUR attitude to change. I'm OK with terse non-answers now. If Harbaugh starts losing games in bunches and getting pummeled by our rivals even after four years, yes I will stop accepting terse non-answers because I'm not Dave effin' Brandon.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:47 PM ^
Managers start asking those questions, but you are claiming it is your job to keep Hoke accountable, and that's why you justify being angry at his pressers. And I acknowledged the difference from winning to not winning (or just starting).
It's hypocrisy, absolutely. Just like a bunch of people coming out of the woodwork saying "I thought Funchess was a TE the whole time" now that Funchess had a bad 40.
I'm not going to call out a bunch of posters, but there is plenty of "I can't stand these bad reporters and their awful questions" when they are pretty much asking the same mundane questions as they asked Hoke most of the time. Harbaugh talking about competition and saying "it's football" is funny, but if Hoke said the same thing it would have gotten destroyed. You say it's different because you needed to hold Hoke accountable and he needed to answer to you (or the media) and explain how the team was being competitive, as if that made a difference. No, he didn't, his job was to get that across to his players, which failed enough to get him fired. His presser owed nothing different.
Harbaugh not talking specific injuries, apparently doesn't even know. Completely avoided the answer. Difference, he just didn't say he wasn't going to talk about it, he just didn't talk about it. But for one it's a stupid policy, for the other it's "complete focus on football". When one doesn't want to be there it's "he owes us answers", when the other it's "complete focus on football". A lot of coaches do pressers different ways, Hoke and Harbaugh do them very similarly, almost to a tee. The difference is that one was losing and the other is in the Honeymoon period. It's hypocrisy, whether you want to try to avoid being called that or not.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:55 PM ^
People point out awful questions at EVERY presser. So in that context it's the exact opposite of hypocrisy on your terms because that's one area where MGoBlog's behavior IS consistent.
"The difference is that one was losing and the other is in the Honeymoon period. It's hypocrisy, whether you want to try to avoid being called that or not."
Hypocrisy implies that the losing didn't matter, because the definition of hypocrisy entails inconsistent behavior in similar situations. Considering it's football, I don't think a Honeymoon period and a tailspin are similar situations. I'll just have to disagree on that.
As for the injuries, I might concede a point there (not sure why his dodging Houma's injury is suddenly acceptable), but I don't have a dog in that fight. Because while that is hypocritical, I don't consider questions about injuries to be inane. Inappropriate perhaps, maybe counterproductive, but unavoidable and at least it's a question of substance.
February 26th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^
I'm pretty sure it's hypocrisy
Only if you're re-defining "hypocrisy"
February 25th, 2015 at 3:13 PM ^
Today most people are still trying to process and register that Harbaugh is finally here at Michigan and that he held his first press conference as HC.
As for Harbaugh's honeymoon, September 3 at Utah (9-4 last eyar) will be here soon enough.
After a long chronology of events spanning 7 years, with both Rodriguez and Hoke, even Jim Harbaugh, as great as he has been at previous stops, is not going to get away with a combination of road game blowouts, poor play calling, horrible clock management, repeatedly placing 10 guys in for special teams play, keeping concussed quarterbacks in the game, great practices but horrible game day execution, and getting blasted off the field by 24 points to MSU.
I don't think Harbaugh will have to "get away with" anything above, because it won't happen. Harbaugh is a more competent, hands-on football coach with NFL experience and intellect, and who has wisely surrounded himself with a superior, proven, high-performing coaching staff. Harbaugh is at a different level than Hoke. This may explain with the perceived hipocritical response to Harbaugh's identical responses to identical questions fired off at Hoke.
I don't hate Brady Hoke like others do here. Hoke could hide his inadequacies of aptitude easier at places like Ball State and SD State. At Michigan, combined with all his bad luck, poor decisions and the dumb moves of his asshole boss, success became impossible for Hoke.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:15 PM ^
February 25th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^
Perfectly stated
February 25th, 2015 at 3:22 PM ^
No. I said upthread I don't have a dog in this fight, but you putting it this way changed my mind. There were several other reasons, at least for me, why Hoke's refusal to answer questions about injuries was a matter of relevance.
1) They claimed Gibbons was injured when he was about to be expelled for sexual assault.
2) A pattern of fielding players who were clearly injured and hiding/denying it.
So in one case they said someone was injured when they knew he wasn't, and in others, they knew a player was injured, played him anyway and hid it. The latter is more justified (anyone who thinks targeting doesn't exist is a fool); I get it, though they took it to the level of insulting. But when reality casts doubt on your answers, people start doubting them too. I can only speak for myself, but I wanted to know if Gardner, Funchess or Peppers were going to play not because of the outcome of the game -- I do care about that, but not quite so much that I'd compromise a player's long-term health and I was concerned they were undermining that. So yeah. . . once I noticed they were fielding players who clearly shouldn't be out there, the non-answers stopped being acceptable.
As far as Harbaugh giving the same non-answers, there's a particular reason why I find it OK for now -- he hasn't earned that mistrust. At least, not here, and in that context there's little upside to injury questions. If we have no reason to doubt his management of player health, revealing injuries only helps opponents prepare. But IF Harbaugh does something to warrant scrutiny, then -- and the "hypocrisy" crowd may want to be sitting down for this -- his answers will deserve additional scrutiny. If someone has evidence he can't be trusted with the players, that could change my mind because I happen to think context matters. After all, when it was revealed Hoke WAS mismanaging his players' health it became a catalyst for Brandon's resignation. That's a greatly preferred outcome to pleasing a few people here who expect consistent behavior regardless of circumstance.
February 26th, 2015 at 10:40 AM ^
February 26th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
That is normal, understandable, and hypocritical.
Nope. Hypocrisy requires inconsistent behavior in similar situations. The two are not, in any way, similar situations.
February 27th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^
Hypocrisy requires inconsistent behavior in similar situations.
Anyone who criticized Hoke for his answers before he coached any games and isn't criticizing Harbaugh for similar answer before he coaches any games - is being hypocritical.
Someon that criticized Hoke for his answers after seeing the product on the field and isn't criticizing Harbaugh for similar answer before he coaches any games - is NOT being hypocrtical.
Hokes answers don't need to change, nor do Harbaugh's answers need to be any different - if the situation isn't similar it is NOT hypocrisy. The situation Harbaugh is in now is not similar to Hoke's situation post 9/2011.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^
(stupid internet)
February 25th, 2015 at 1:23 PM ^
Bo didn't really enjoy it except in comfortable situations with a few key guys. Lloyd's halftime interviews with sideline reporters are legendary icy / funny exchanges of the Gregg Popovich variety. RichRod eventually had a reason to treat the press with disdain (cough, Rosenberg, cough). Brady's "aw shucks" isms and dodging drove everyone crazy. I can't remember Moeller's press interaction very well, but I can't imagine it being warm and fuzzy. Harbaugh gives a look that I'll call the "are you speaking a different language" when he gets questions he doesn't want to answer, and then he doesn't answer them.
February 25th, 2015 at 1:39 PM ^
I don't think there's been many coaches, PERIOD, who've loved the media. But I will say, when I lived in Texas for few years, Mack Brown was about as frank and open as any coach I'd ever heard. Now, it was his own radio show, granted, but he'd be asked serious questions like:
"So coach, do you think player X is coming along enough to maybe be the answer at safety?"
and he'd say "you know, actually, that young man has some work to do. We're moving away a little bit from our old zone scheme and are going to be asking whoever plays that position to do a lot more man coverage than we have in the past and, frankly, I'm not sure he's quite gotten his speed where it needs to be there. Now, he's got some time, and we're certainly going to give him every opportunity, but right now, he's gotta get quicker if he wants to play there."
I remember hearing stuff like that and thinking "WHOA! I've never heard a coach just, flat out, ANSWER a question like that and, essentially, lay out where a specific player is lacking. He answered questions like that a lot on his show and I remember coming away pretty impressed with his candor.
February 25th, 2015 at 2:02 PM ^
Some of these reporters are dumb already and then they waste more time repeating questions that have been asked before.
February 25th, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^
It seems the constant craving for something interesting we want to know everything right now including the starting lineup, the 2 deep, the game strategy for MSU and OSU, who the probable starting QB is today after the 1st practice. How ridiculous is that? He doesnt know and he isnt going to know next monday or the monday after that either. Probably isnt going to know until late in August the answers to most of those questions. Plus if he makes some kind of statement the national media will jump on it and repeat a snippet that is played on the national sports news for all to mock. If you watch PR guys for politicians or companies they all do the same thing, they say nothing but it takes 30 minutes to do that. Harbaugh isnt PRing anybody here he truely doesnt know the answers to these questions. Why they have pressors 2-3 times per week is beyond me, even during the season once a week is sufficient.
February 25th, 2015 at 2:42 PM ^
a hat that fits?
February 26th, 2015 at 12:54 AM ^
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