Harbaugh on future NFL opportunities: "This is where I want to be. I'm having the time of my life!"

Submitted by Maizen on

Harbaugh has been making the media rounds in SF at the Super Bowl and said this on the Tiki and Tierney Show today. Also reiterated 2015 was his favorite year every in football. He told Dan Patrick he doesn't feel he has any unfinished business in the NFL, only "new business" at Michigan. Also told Bill Simsonson of the Huge Show on NSD he can't see himself coaching anywhere else the rest of his career.

I'm sure our Buckeye and Spartan lurkers will love reading this.

 

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UMProud

February 5th, 2016 at 10:42 AM ^

Michigan fans know this I'm pretty sure.

It's funny how we understand Harbaugh and love how authentic the guy is.  It's strange to listen to non-fans who think everything he does is a calculated act.  Not sure I've ever seen this sort of disconnect in perceptions over a sports figure before.

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FA_Wolverine

February 5th, 2016 at 10:45 AM ^

You're right. I read through Twitter and FB comments when he's brought up and I see the hatred and the shitty things said about him and UM. It's almost comical. I love the man because he's a Wolverine. He's strange and crazy but genuine in my opinion. Fuck everyone else! Go Blue!



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turd ferguson

February 5th, 2016 at 11:00 AM ^

Honestly, I think he's a tough character to figure out.  Sports fan like to create narratives that their rivals are dirty, nasty, and evil.  Guys like Saban, Belichick, and Calipari get those tags.  Other fans - and especially OSU/MSU fans - are eager to fit Harbaugh into that narrative.  That's why the Swenson story got so much attention nationwide.

But I really don't think Harbaugh is that guy.  He's just completely, absurdly, maniacally obsessed with football and winning.  I think we're seeing that it's totally genuine, but if you're hardly paying attention, you figure that it's all an act by a manipulative guy, since who could possibly care that much?  But he really does.

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Salinger

February 5th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^

I totally agree with you. He's not easily classifiable. He doesn't fit into a box. I think he is authentically, unashamedly a football fanatic and that is a key driver to his behavior on the field and as a recruiter/administrator.

However, I think it sells him short a little too if we don't validate how calculating he is. The SOTS event, the tree climbing, the sleepovers... that's not just a guy doing things because he's authentic. Those are differentiators. That's Harbaugh competing. I for one love it, though I know a lot of people (non UofM people) who find him abrasive. And I think he is a little abrasive; Harbaugh isn't the right fit for everyone. Glad he's our coach though. Looking forward to seeing what other tricks he has up his sleeves.

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Wolverine 73

February 5th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^

He doesn't cheat.  Nothing else matters.  (He also seems to be a marketing genius, but comes upon it naturally.)  As far as what other fanbases think of him, fuck 'em.  Don't care.  They will hate him even more as the team gets a few years in his system and becomes dominant.  I look forward to those days.

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MGoMagee

February 5th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^

He definitely is polarizing. My class is full of SEC fans and a big Sparty fan and they often ask about harbaugh "what do you think about sleepovers?" "what do you think about signing of the stars?" tree climbing, radio interviews, satellite camps, etc... I always respond with "I LOVE IT and it seems like the studen't athletes do too".. To which they follow with a hateful rant about Harbaugh. I just sit and smile knowing we got harbaugh and our stock is rising!

Harbaugh seems to bring out the best in Michigan, and the worst in others.

 

 

 

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Tater

February 5th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^

If they have formed opinions about Harbaugh, they're not "non-fans."  They are fans of rival schools who feel threatened by the success he is having.  Every pathetic complaint is just another sign that Michigan is "back" in a big way.

I think Harbaugh will surpass his mentor because he is constantly trying to evolve and improve.  While his offense and defense are based on a lot of Bo's principles, he is a QB at heart who loved to throw the ball.  He may be pro-style, but he is not afraid to use principles from other offenses and mix up the playcalling.  On defense, he isn't afraid to attack and take the occasional risk.

Michigan is on the way to the top and fans of opposing schools don't like it.  I look forward to their incessant bitching.

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LB

February 5th, 2016 at 1:29 PM ^

I was not 100% sold on Harbaugh. I don't mean in terms of coaching ability, but "everything" else. He has blown my expectations out of the water, and part of that was the realization that all of those things are just JH being JH. 

Hackett could not have paid for the publicity he generates by tossing out a Harbaughism. When he makes a public appearance now, I usually react the same way I did when Denard broke into the secondary and saw green, I just start laughing. Dear valued opponents - he's ours, deal with it!

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East German Judge

February 5th, 2016 at 10:43 AM ^

His idol is Bo.  Bo built his career here and stayed loyal even when he got a financially lucrative offer from tamu, while there are no guarantees, I feel confident he will be here a long time. 

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JamieH

February 5th, 2016 at 1:08 PM ^

Michigan is PAYING Harbaugh.  Sure someone else might offer him a bit more, but he's already making 5 million a year.  Bo was making peanuts here in comparison when A&M offered him the big bucks. 

Once you are making that kind of $$$, the thing you can't buy is happiness.  If coaching at Michigan makes him happy, the money he is making is plenty enough to keep him satisfied IMO. 

 

 

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bacon

February 5th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^

I don't know why this is so hard to understand. Some people are made to be college coaches. They want to control everything, from roster, to player development, to coaching staff, to play calls. They don't want to answer to an owner and gm. Harbaugh is that kind of guy. Saban is that kind of guy. They're college coaches, not necessarily because they wouldn't succeed in the NFL, but because the control they want is hard to get. Harbaugh clashed in the NFL with the owner/gm over control. He doesn't have to worry about that at Michigan.

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RoxyMtnHiM

February 5th, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^

To me it seems that with Harbaugh it's less about total control and more about getting out the straitjacket that the NFL really is, not having borders and not being pressed to conform. The creativity he has unleashed here is, imo, the blossoming of the rah-rah thing the whisperers always said didn't play well in the NFL. Harbaugh has been around the NFL a long time, so I'm pretty sure he understands the nature of that particular beast well.

He sure appears to be having more fun than any football coach (ever, anywhere) that I can think of.

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You Only Live Twice

February 5th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^

"Control" can be a giant negative, where it really works is someone like Harbaugh who knows exactly what he wants to do, how to accomplish it, who is best to help him do so, and, within the existing ethical boundaries.   The fact he's having fun with it is icing on a beautiful cake.

I couldn't care less what other fanbases think. 

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PopeLando

February 5th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^

Don't worry, the next job opening in the NFL will respawn the "Harbaugh to NFL" headlines. Sports media is like that creepy guy that high school girls liked keep on the hook. Sure, they'll let him help them on their homework, but they constantly have to tell him "no" when he goes too far.

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mgofro

February 5th, 2016 at 11:11 AM ^

They do that with every top college coach anyway. Meyer was being linked to to the Browns and Brian Kelly interviewed for the Eagles job (in 2013) but decided to stay at ND. Kelly actually had a great quote about the NFL...

"How would you give up control of all the things you have at Notre Dame to do that," Kelly said, according to ndinsider.com, "unless they gave you full autonomy and control of an organization? I don't think that's happening anytime soon for Brian Kelly. "I handle the contracts. I negotiate the contracts. I recruit the players. So I'm the owner, the GM, I'm the football coach. Very rarely do you have those scenarios in the NFL. There's very few of them that control all those buckets, if you will, in the NFL. I control all those buckets here at Notre Dame. So if you're going to make that move to the NFL, you have to understand what you're getting into."

Harbaugh saw how that works with the Niners. Also, after what Eagles ownership just went through with Chip Kelly, I doubt anyone will be willing to give full control to another coach.

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Muttley

February 5th, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^

Just last night, on the label of the skim milk that my wife drinks*, I covered "FAT FREE" w/ a hand-made, cut out "Candy-Ass" label.  My wife howled "Vandalism!" this morning as she poured it into her cereal.

Nary a day goes by that a Jim Harbaugh joke/gag/prank isn't pulled in our house.

*I haven't been able to talk her out of it.

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djlaczyn

February 5th, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^

Why does Jim spawn so much of the NFL talk compared to Urban and Saban? Maybe because Saban wasn't successful in the NFL? I might be off and maybe there is a lot of Urban to the NFL, but I just don't see it. 

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HermosaBlue

February 5th, 2016 at 11:06 AM ^

Because Jim was actually a good, successful NFL coach, unlike Saban.

And if you believe the spin, Urban's Florida stint almost killed him, so imagine what would happen if he had to step up to an NFL workload. Also, system applicability issues with translating Urban's college success to NFL.



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ConcretePillow

February 5th, 2016 at 11:07 AM ^

Is there as much chatter about Nick Saban's unfinished business in the NFL with every possible NFL job opening? I get maybe not Urban and assuming he's just a college guy, but Saban did the college -> NFL -> college thing too? Maybe I'm just not paying attention to the non-Michigan stories out there....

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mm92.

February 5th, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^

In October of 2014 I was convinced that Harbaugh to Michigan was "HAPPENING" because he did not do what he is now doing with NFL rumors - shutting them down. He's a man of his word and the silence spoke volumes.

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