HARBAUGH STAYS A STEP AHEAD
SEC green with envy at Big Blue coach’s methods
It’s not Jim Harbaugh’s fault that he’s smarter than pretty much everyone else in college football.
Harbaugh continued his excellent adventures of the offseason — sleepovers at the homes of recruits, golf at Pebble Beach, hobnobbing with celebrities — by coaching first base for the Detroit Tigers in a spring training game Wednesday during Michigan’s trip to Florida.
No doubt Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and NCAA President Mark Emmert seethed when they saw all of those photos of Harbaugh throwing out the first pitch, hanging with Tigers manager Brad Ausmus in the dugout, exchanging fist bumps and high-fives with big-leaguers, signing autographs … you get the picture.
Sankey threw a fit last month about Harbaugh having the nerve to bring Michigan to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for a week of practice during the Wolverines’ spring break. It wasn’t about location, Sankey huffed — sure it wasn’t — it was about “tone.”
“We just haven’t seen widespread use of spring break for out-of-season practice,” Sankey said then. “It just seems the wrong tone, and it’s viewed by me and (others) as the wrong direction.”
New Georgia coach Kirby Smart went further, saying Harbaugh was trying to gain a competitive advantage and, in doing so, was opening a “Pandora’s box.” Now Arkansas coach Bret Bielema says he might drop in on Michigan’s open practice Friday.
All of which is just a less whiny way of saying, “I cannot believe Harbaugh thought of this and we didn’t.”
Harbaugh is a different breed of coach for any number of reasons. But what sets him apart, and galls the SEC and everyone else, is that he sees things in 3-D while they never even realized they were in a box, let alone thought to think outside of it.
Everything Harbaugh does is calculated to provide maximum benefit to Michigan — now and in the future.
When Sankey huffs about the Wolverines being robbed of their spring break, you can almost hear the players giggling. Not only are they trading the snow and ice of Ann Arbor for Florida’s warmth and sunshine, for some it will be the only way they could afford a spring break trip.
You know, one of those quintessential college experiences that athletes almost never get to enjoy.
And despite Emmert’s heartfelt concerns about not encroaching on players’ off time, practice this week means the Wolverines will have one less week of it during the spring semester. Meaning they can concentrate on school, which, last time I checked, is supposed to be the priority for these “student-athletes.”
(If Emmert is this worked up, I assume he’ll be giving similar talking-tos to all the baseball, tennis and golf coaches from the East and Midwest who have been taking their teams south for years. If he wants to chastise the coach of Michigan’s men’s gymnastics team, however, he’s going to have to wait until the team returns from its trip to Puerto Rico.)
Of course, Harbaugh also is using this trip to recruit without actually recruiting. Just as he did when he played in the AT&T ProAm, joined his brother on the Baltimore Ravens sideline and had Tom Brady and Derek Jeter as his guest hosts for Michigan’s signing day event.
You use whatever tools are at your disposal.
Or you ought to if you’re any good.
Rather than grumbling about Harbaugh, Sankey and his coaches ought to be thankful. College football is better when the traditional powerhouses are good and, after one season, Harbaugh already has Michigan pointed in the right direction.
Don’t like Harbaugh’s methods? Fine. Find a way to one-up him.
Passing rules to stop satellite camps or end spring break trips is lazy, and that’s why Harbaugh will win every time. Because instead of worrying about what he’s doing now, he’s already thinking of what he’s going to do next.