ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Here we go again.
That’s the message from Jim Harbaugh — same as it ever was — while his Michigan team dives into its first week of spring practice. Buoyed by back-to-back Big Ten championships and a second straight College Football Playoff appearance, the Wolverines are seemingly unbothered by another winter filled with off-field drama surrounding the program.
And whether you believe that or not, or whether you buy the story Harbaugh is selling now — from the passive-voice answers about his pursuit of an NFL job last month to the hard pass he’s taking on questions about alleged NCAA violations or the firing of co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss amid an investigation of computer crimes in Schembechler Hall — what’s clear is that Michigan’s head coach believes what he has built here is too big to fail.
“It's almost, in my mind, like some of those housing markets that become recession-proof, you know?” Harbaugh said Thursday. “They’re just good.”
And that’s probably as good a place as any to start with Harbaugh’s first formal media session of 2023 and the various topics he addressed. Most notably, the fact that he’s still here to address them after taking everyone —players and recruits, his staff and his superiors, and Michigan’s dizzy fanbase as well — for a ride on another NFL coaching carousel.
“I mean, calls come in, calls are taken, those conversations are had,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a few coaches on our staff that those calls came in and they decided to stay here at Michigan. I'm one of ‘em. … So, you know, people do what they think is best for them, professionally and personally.”
NFL comes calling, again
Of course, that answer largely ignored the point of a question he fielded more than once Thursday. The one about him suggesting last February that he’d gotten the NFL bug out of his system after flying to Minnesota to interview with the Vikings on National Signing Day. Harbaugh even went so far as to tell the Free Press then that he’d informed his athletic director, Warde Manuel, “this will not be a reoccurring theme every year. This was a one-time thing.”
Clearly, it wasn’t, as Harbaugh appeared to openly court an NFL offer again this winter, reportedly speaking with the Carolina Panthers and then interviewing twice with the Denver Broncos. Once virtually on Jan. 9, and then again in person when Broncos co-owner and CEO Greg Penner flew to Ann Arbor barely a week after Harbaugh and university president Santa Ono had released statements reaffirming the coach’s commitment.
"My heart is at the University of Michigan,” Harbaugh tweeted at the time. “I once heard a wise man say, 'Don't try to out-happy, happy.' Go Blue!"
Thursday, he happily deflected repeated queries about all that dissonance.
“Like I said,” he finally said at one point, “I think you’d have a real story if I if I wasn't right here doing exactly what I predicted I would be doing.”
What Harbaugh wouldn’t do — what he couldn’t do, he said — was shed any light on the university’s decision to fire Weiss last month after an investigation showed “inappropriately accessed” computer accounts. Nor was he “at liberty to discuss” where things stand with Michigan’s response to a draft Notice of Allegations from the NCAA received on Jan. 5. That detailed Level II violations during the COVID recruiting dead period in 2021 and a Level I violation against Harbaugh for allegedly misleading investigators.
Still, when asked about all of that — and much more — swirling around Michigan football the last several months, he replied, "Compare us to perfect, and we're going to come up short in the major areas. Compare us to any other program, I think you're gonna see that ... it doesn't get any better."
As sound bites go, they surely do. But there was some more context there as Harbaugh talked about everything from the team's record to its graduation rate, all while acknowledging what he viewed as imperfections only "makes us even more hungry."
"We'll work on that, we'll fix that," he said.
Excitement on field
Harbaugh did address some of the other offseason changes on his staff, including the promotion of Kirk Campbell from offensive analyst to quarterbacks coach after Weiss was dismissed and the return of Chris Partridge as linebackers coach. The latter is what Harbaugh calls “a trusted agent and known friend” — Partridge was on Michigan’s staff for five years before spending the last three at Ole Miss — in addition to being a terrific recruiter.
Harbaugh, who is entering his ninth season at his alma mater, also talked about his excitement in working with what may be the most talented roster he’s had yet. He highlighted the depth on the offensive and defensive lines, and an intriguing position switch this spring that has seen rising sophomore Amorion Walker move from receiver to cornerback, where after just two practices, Harbaugh says, “I consider him a starter right now.” And he talked about all the untapped potential he still sees in junior-to-be J.J. McCarthy, both as a player and a leader.
“He's just so willing to do whatever is best for the team,” Harbaugh said. “I would follow him anywhere. Happily. I suggest that all players on our team do the same thing.”
And for better or worse, I suppose what Harbaugh’s doing here is he's following his own lead, leaning into that mantra of “Who’s got it better than us?”
He dismissed the “narrative” that his relationship with Manuel is strained — “I trust Warde, he trusts me,” Harbaugh insisted — and shrugged off the notion that he’s upset over his contract or the support he’s getting from the administration. Or that any of that played a role in his NFL flirtation again this offseason. Or that we'll be asking all these same questions again next January.
“I just asked, ‘Hey, do you want me here at Michigan?’” Harbaugh said. “After every season - after every season anywhere I've ever been - that's the conversation I want to have (with Manuel): ‘Do you still think I'm the best person to do this job?’ And then I want to know what the rest of the administration thinks. I want to know what the players think. I want to know what the other coaches think. And I want to know what the fan base thinks.”
And after saying all that, what he has decided, he says, is that it’s “as good as it has ever been" since he has been back at Michigan.
“So here we go again,” Harbaugh said. “Let's tee it up and have a great season.”
