Tom Crean: Jim Harbaugh is having the time of his life at Michigan

Forget the salt content, what are the lead levels?

and Tom mentioned another one, Nick Saban who I would excuse him all day long if he were our coach, but anywhere else they'd be the asshole. Both are cursed with a love for what they do that make them do everything possible to gain an advantage and their focus is so intense on that they do not even realize - I think Jim doees, in some cases, but he's having fun this year, and part of the fun is the freedom and joy that comes with calling an ass an ass - they might be misinterpreted or judged wrongly. I heard a story about Saban preparing for the rematch a few years ago with LSU to decide the whole thing. He did not spend one second with the offense(don't know if Smart was his DC at that time and how his DC handled it but there was no doubt who was getting the D ready for the Big game) and there was an incident, either by a hit, heat exhaustion, nothing terribly serious, that caused one of his players to hit the ground. Nick was so intent on correcting what he had just saw on the defensive side, he merely stepped over the player and continued toward the player that had committed the mistake, confronted him, instructed him on what to do so there would not be a repeat and moved on to next assignment. Guess some onlookers were taken aback a bit, but no one worried about explaining things to them.

These are two coaches that whoever signs their checks does so with a smile, knowing they are getting every penny's worth. I am glad, especially after what he did for S.F., to hear, and you can see it as well, Jim having fun again and that is what football coaching is supposed to be about. Enjoy your job and the best way to do that is coach it until at the end of the day you know you could have done no better. That alone will bring satisfaction, not the type you feel when your team executes a play to absolute perfection, but it will tide you over until that does occur. Actually, there is no other place for Jim except for college. Yes, winning a Super Bowl would allow the satisfaction in knowing you coached at the highest level of the game better than anyone else during that particular year. And that is definitely noteworthy.

However, the politics that come with the owners, the GMs, and oh yeah, that ass hat responisbile for the "reap what you sow" quote at the top of page are just not worth it. Here, despite titles such as A.D., President, etc., he knows exactly who is in charge of the football program, and in this particular case exactly what that means and as he said after Brandon made the half-ass effort in '11, "wasn't feeling the love." A frickin 5 minute phone call Dave, asking "would you have any interest?" WTF? The pain could have ended so much earlier.

However when Hackett took over, surrounding himself with any and eveyone recognized by name as being Michigan Royalty in regard to football, just to make sure he got it right. The obvious you know; Des, Charles, Leach, Jansen, Wheatley, former teammates, Edwards, both of them, A.T., Griese, Carr, etc. They did not hesitate to phone him when asked. Of course they wanted Tom to call, but it took some digging to find out that his best friend while he was in  A,A. was a former dishwasher at a Pizza place. They contacted him to ask for his advice. He said, "I have to do it at the right time. I cannot call after a loss because Tom Brady is the worst loser in the world." They lost to G.B. that week but the next week, they beat San Diego, so the former dishwasher called Tom, congratulated him on the great game, etc., and then told him why he was calling. Tom said, "Oh, I think he would be great in Ann Arbor" and after they hung up, Tom called and spoke with Jim for over an hour. Sarah, his wife, said despite still being employed by S.F.., that outpour of love was so great Jim didn't even have to make a decision. It was made. Then the former dishwasher ever emailed Jim, introducing himself and like everyone else, let Jim know how much he was both wanted and needed here. He said he was astonished to receive an answer from Jim the very next day thanking him and letting him know he was coming home.  Who the hell wouldn't be happy after a display of that magnitude?

Jim is happy and I am happy. The only thing I can think of that might unnerve me a bit is if I were to learn he were actually making more than me per year. Like we just discussed, he is happy all the time at work. Me? Not that much. I mean we must keep things in perspective. GO BLUE!!!! Be a Dude