Mr.Jim

March 30th, 2018 at 8:05 AM ^

.. Bo must be rolling over in his grave. This is going to be a real interesting football season for the Wolverines and their fans.

Winchester Wolverine

March 30th, 2018 at 8:26 AM ^

Really, dude? What's wrong with being close with the players you coach? What's wrong with being human? Harbaugh wants a closer, family atmosphere in the locker room. What's wrong or odd about that?

This entire article is overplaying something that's common between players and coaches. It's a fucking hug. Not every man needs to be stone cold and robotic.

redwhiteandMGOBLUE

March 30th, 2018 at 8:37 AM ^

"So it's a tight game, he thinks he got some bad calls, I know we had some bad calls, we're never going to agree on that. We finally get a stop (and win the game), the place is going crazy and I just think 'I've got to go talk to Jim,' " John recalls. " 'I've got to shake his hand ... we're brothers, it's a great moment.' I had to get through this first."

 

John Harbaugh then explained how he jogged out to midfield at the Superdome in New Orleans to meet his brother for a nice embrace after the biggest win of his life.

 

He explained how he went in for a handshake with his right arm, and a hug with his left.

 

At that point, Jim stuck his forearm in John's chest and looked him dead in the eye. The following exchange took place:

 

"There will be no hug," Jim said bluntly.

 

 

"What?" John replies.

 

"There will be no hug," Jim says finally. " ... Congratulations."

 

John then stood slightly amazed, but not surprised, as his brother jogged away.

 

"I just gave him a little 'I love you,' " John said finally, shrugging his shoulders with a smile.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/03/john_harbaugh_tells_s…

Winchester Wolverine

March 30th, 2018 at 8:50 AM ^

Thank you for the context. It does indeed seem that Harbaugh is changing a bit, and the players, according to the interviews, are responding to it well.

I've been a football coach for going on 5 years now, and in my experience, the kids seem to respond much better and give their absolute best effort for someone they know cares about them. Simply leaving the door open for them, for suggestions, problems, questions, or even a hug now and then, does so much for them, for me, for the team.

Im not implying that coaches need to be soft candyasses. But this isn't the 80s and 90s anymore. Being an asshole on and off the field just doesn't work.

Sam1863

March 30th, 2018 at 11:32 AM ^

I learned the same thing many years ago, when I was coaching baseball with 11-14 year-olds. If you just got mad when they did wrong, they'd tune you out after a while. But if you showed them how to do it better, they'd listen. They could tell that you cared.

And when it came to discipline, some kid needed and would respond to a chewing out. But other kids responded better to a pat on the back. The trick was knowing the difference.

ILL_Legel

March 30th, 2018 at 7:50 AM ^

I am thankful for Chase Winovich speaking up. Great feedback and it is cool that Coach is openly asking for and accepting player input.

I’m not advocating to do everything the players want but incorporating some of their input will make the team better.

Get a Grip

March 30th, 2018 at 7:50 AM ^

Anybody who questions Harbaugh's long-term commitment to Michigan need look no further than this. Harbaugh is unquestionably more disappointed with how last season went than even the most miserable and self-hating fan. Instead of being tone deaf and stubborn, he instead sought feedback from those around him to improve, and genuinely took that advice to heart. It's clear that he learned something from his time with the 49ers. He wants to be here long-term, and he wants things to go as well as they can.



While it may seem odd to an outside observer the way that he put it into practice (no question we're going to be getting some flack and snide comments from opposing fans for this), and the headlines obviously focused on the oddest part of the equation, Harbaugh is an extremely odd guy. I've seen it floated multiple times before that he may be on the autism spectrum, and I've long thought there might be something to that. It would definitely explain a lot, including this additional oddity. I think that it very much so speaks immensely to the level of commitment that Harbaugh has to his job, carried out in his own very Jim Harbaugh way.

Get a Grip

March 30th, 2018 at 8:07 AM ^

I said "the most miserable and self-hating fan," not "the human incarnation of negativity and gloom, borne from the despair and hatred of every tormented soul in the deepest circle of Hell and then channeled purely into pessimism and bitterness against Michigan sports." Different categories, you see.

rob f

March 31st, 2018 at 12:12 AM ^

of Maizen could only have been gained by venturing close enough to the very precipice of hell to gaze directly into his sordid soul.

I can only imagine the scars you now forever have on your own soul after such an encounter. Meanwhile, can I get you some Visine™ ?

Get a Grip

March 30th, 2018 at 8:37 AM ^

I'm not saying without question that Jim Harbaugh is autistic (and obviously can't do so without a clinical diagnosis), but consider this:

Google "Jim Harbaugh" "autism" and get 65,900 results.

Google site:mgoblog.com "Jim Harbaugh" "autism" and get 129 results.

Google site:mgoblog.com "Jim Harbaugh" "autistic" and get 151 results.

Here's a link discussing Harbaugh's interaction with Frank Beamer in which approximately six different people independently theorize that Harbaugh might be somewhere on the spectrum after reading the story.

While we wouldn't know for sure without a diagnosis and it really doesn't matter, I'm clearly not alone in thinking that Jim Harbaugh displays signs of possibly being on the spectrum based on what we've seen from him. I don't think that it's severe by any means and it in no way is a bad thing, but I do think that high-functioning autism would explain a lot of Jim Harbaugh's behavior. There are a great deal of extremely successful people that have been speculated to have exactly that. I'll leave it at that because I don't want to derail the thread, but I wouldn't dismiss the possibility so readily.

cobra14

March 30th, 2018 at 8:01 AM ^

After the final four to talk about Jim and Michigan football. A real championship level team is about to play.

Though I do think this thread discussion on how “Hugs” will lead us to a B1G championship and playoff should be hilarious.

Matte Kudasai

March 30th, 2018 at 8:10 AM ^

as I stated in a post last week, based on how he was treating the media.

Now I'm not sure he needs to be hugging all the players, but its positive to have the open dialogue.

The quote from Chase about the food was interesting.  What the hell was being served?

MarcusRay97

March 30th, 2018 at 8:11 AM ^

I hope this change entails running a more college style offense open things up a lil bit more ....

Perkis-Size Me

March 30th, 2018 at 8:28 AM ^

I'm okay with whatever he runs as long as it works. MSU has more or less run the same boring, vanilla, Tressel-esque offense for years, and it's worked. Not a juggernaut by any means, but its won them a lot of games. 

If Harbaugh wants to transition more to the spread because he thinks it'll lead to winning games, then he should by all means go for it. But if he wants to line up in the I and pound the ball down his opponent's throat 60 times a game, that's fine with me too. As long as it works. 

814 East U

March 30th, 2018 at 8:16 AM ^

“I felt like we lost last winter in a way. I said if we could switch something up, that was just my opinion. Other people might think it works.”

Is that a Tolbert jab, a Harbaugh jab, or both? Having starters basically say a major part of preseason was lost is not good.

Carcajou

March 30th, 2018 at 8:50 PM ^

No, I think it was more a jab at the players, not at Tolbert, and only obliquely Harbaugh and the coaching staff. I think he was saying that maybe they were focusing on the wrong things. Winovich gave the specific example that he felt that players were sand-bagging squat lifts on their lift days so that they wouldn't be too sore (or torn up) for their running competitions.



While Harbaugh loves competition and thinks that brings out the best and loves to set that up on a daily basis, sometimes that brings unintended consequences- you have players who might win the battle, but lose the war. Another example Harbaugh gave recently of Speight throwing INTs in the Florida game because they had spending so much time with the 1s versus 1s and not enough time with the Scout team playing various zone coverages. Sounds like Harbaugh and the coaching staff have reevaluated everything, including to how they relate to the players, to get better results on the field in 2018,

Carcajou

March 30th, 2018 at 8:55 PM ^

One might wonder if Beilein and the success Michigan Basketball is having might have made an impression on Harbaugh. The basketball team has a great personal chemistry, and a family like love for one another. Beilein was humble enough to critique himself and how they were doing things, and the weakness in his coaching (defense) addressed that.

Jeff09

March 30th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^

These kinds of changes seem fine and nice and fun to write about in fluff pieces but don’t really move the needle for me. Chase not liking the omelettes and Karan not hugging Harbaugh weren’t the problem last year. Failing to recruit capable tackles, not having a WR coach with like 20 freshman WRs on the roster, failing to teach the OL to pick up simple stunts and twists, and failing to develop a single QB on the roster were the problems, and we all know it. Now, it seems he’s fixed most or all of those - but that is the real story to me.

Carcajou

March 30th, 2018 at 9:02 PM ^

Blitz Pick Up (including stunts) is a normal part of the practice plan for many teams. They obviously need to spend more time on that.



So many times the OL was getting beat with that pass stunt where the DE loops inside and the DT contains.

Ghost of Fritz…

March 30th, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^

this will be played on the recruiting trail.

Negative recruiting is part of the game. 

But over the decades how often have the words 'on the autism spectrum' been uttered as a negative recruiting tactic?

 

EDIT: Meant to respond to Get A Grip's comments above.  Does this mistake mean that I am on the autism spectrum too?

goblue16

March 30th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^

If he beats OSU mad makes it to Indy this year I will gladly give him a hug if he can’t he can go hug himself!