#5: The (Michigan) Messiah Returns

After the brothers Harbaugh grew up idolizing the legendary Bo Schembechler, Michigan looks to its hometown hero to restore its college football program to its glory day.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Last time on Man of the Crowd. Honestly, when John
came in the building, she was expecting a fight. I
was getting really ugly at practice, so I just went
over and I told him said that's enough. So we're
a team. And that outside I kind of unleashed time
and he's kind of, you know, looking at Michael, you
want to go, You want to go right now. Rex

(00:20):
was our guy. You know, we were very loyal to him.
She was very loyal to h and we wanted him
to get the job. Hars first guy hire man. Oh,
he was just like tough, way tough, tough. This is
my team, you know, a new coach. I don't care
if y'all older guys. This is my team. You know.
We didn't like it at first. You know, Mike, why
are you Why are you moving me away from either?

(00:40):
Are you moving me away from Negga? And then having
to take no for an answer. Let's say no, we're
not going to view it through this prison anymore. And
I told him that will be your biggest challenge from
the book More Ravens. This is Man of the Crowd,

(01:03):
a multi episode podcast that pulls back the curtain on
Ravens figures personal lives this season the Horrorba family. I'm
Sarah Ellison. We're going to attain this day with an enthusiasm.

(01:24):
No to be a car because you are a fighter,
and that's what you are going to be today tomorrow
You're a horned fight Frank Blink. San Francisco head coach
Jim Harba recently cut off contract negotiations until after this season,

(01:48):
and his relationship with the front office. Let's just see,
it's rocky at best. How does this thing end? I
think in a very ugly divorce. I'd be surprised if
Jim Harbaugh is actually back in San Francisco next year
and Michigan needs a new football coach. The university fired
head coach Brady Hope today after four seasons. The Wolverine
football team got progressively worse during each of Hoake's four years.

(02:09):
I'm gonna just settle this right now, Okay, Jim Harball
is not going to coach at University of Michigan. If
Jim Harball coaches at the University of Michigan, I was
shot every pair of shoes that you have, and yes,
I realize it's on tape. God please, but the dude
was a play away from winning a Super Bowl. I mean,

(02:30):
you don't go from movies to TV. The NFL's the NFL,
it's the big league. Stop reading NFL writers, NFL writers.
They think the NFL is the be all end all.
I'm telling you pretty emphatically, he's gonna take it unless
some drastic happens. And these guys are giving you these
open ended things that he wants to see in the NFL.
His wife doesn't want to leave the bay. It's all bologney,

(02:52):
it's all garbage on the show yesterday. I looked at
the camera and I told Jimmy to come home. I
told him to come home. Yeah, that we need. Did
you clear it with them? I did? Do you think
I'm wasting my breath? Though you saw it in his eyes?
Am I wasting my breath? Do you think there's a
little bit of like even a dumb and dumber chance
that we're same? Where's a chances there's a chance here,

(03:13):
you'd think, give me with him, just give it to
me straight. Where are my chances not good? I'd say
more like one out of a million. So you're telling
me there's a chance. Yeah, If you're saying there is
a little bit of a chance that Jimmy can come home.
You're gonna give it, Just give me a little hope, Charles,

(03:36):
you know a chance it will go. I guess you
do have a slight chance. Okay, but man, it ain't
looking good. Rich Charles snakes for calling in. Enjoy the
Heisman weekend and good luck in Kansas City. And as
this music shows, blown music to my ears, always great,

(03:57):
talk to the same ear, Chelse, Charles Woodson, Sam, there's
a chance, not a great chance, not a dumb and
dumber chance, but there's a chance. There's a chance. Jimmy culpable.
While San Francisco forty nine Ers fans were in shock

(04:18):
over the firing of Jim Harbaugh after the twenty fourteen season,
Michigan Wolverines fans, well, they couldn't have been happier. The
timing of Harbaugh's dismissal was perfect, as the university was
beginning at search for a new head coach that could
restore its slumping football program back to its glory days,
and maybe, just maybe they could lure their nineteen eighty

(04:41):
six Heisman Trophy finalist and hometown hero back to Ann Arbor.
There was no question in their minds that he could
turn the program around. Some were even calling him a
potential savior, the messiah of Michigan football. But just because
Jim was available, that didn't mean he was going to
take the Can you explain the mood in Ann Arbor

(05:03):
for those that are kind of outsiders when there was
rumors that Jim could be parting aways with San Francisco.
I think it was for that whole month of December,
people were just on edge because there were no other
real candidate. It was it was Harbaugh or bust. This
is Mark Snyder, a reporter for the Detroit Free Press.
I think that to them, you know, Michigan hadn't gotten

(05:25):
its first choice in a couple of previous coaching searches,
and Hardball was one of them. So the possibility of
landing him was thrilling to them because they figured that
he would take the panels to the program and then resuscitated.
Before I get any further into this story, a quick
side note. I want to address a question that some
of you may have, and that's why is a Ravens

(05:47):
podcast diving into a Michigan story. Well, for a couple
of reasons. First, the Harbor name is huge in Anne Arbor,
and that all started when Dad Jack was hired by
the legendary Boschem Beckler to be the defensive backs coach
in nineteen seventy three. Both John and Jim, who were
about ten and nine years old, grew up in that

(06:08):
Wolverine's locker room. Both John and Jim learned at the
feet of Shechem Beckler and both were shaped in those
signature years of their lives. Shechem Beckler's fingerprints are on
both coaches programs today. Now. Of course, Jim returned to
Michigan two more times, once as their starting quarterback in
the mid nineteen eighties and now as their head coach,
so you'll hear more about him in this episode. That

(06:30):
brings me to my second point. To better understand what
makes the Ravens head coach tick and who he is today,
you also have to know his younger brother. Just like
in any family, John was greatly influenced by his brother Jim,
and Jim was influenced by John. We're all molded by
our family relationships. And thirdly, I think that historic Super

(06:52):
Bowl matchup between these two brothers will be better appreciated
by getting to know both what is harb on me
to that community there in that and that alumni base. Well,
it's not just Jim, it's Jack and obviously John has
some ann Arbor pioneer roots too. This is Rich Eisen.
I'll introduce him more in a minute. And that's why.

(07:14):
You know, while there was rumors that Jim was going
to stay in the NFL, there were equal rumors that
John was being contacted by Michigan. Uh at it. No,
I didn't that one. I didn't believe. Yeah, that one
I did not believe because you know, John didn't play
for Michigan. I mean, so it's a different story when

(07:36):
you when you put on the Amazing Blue. I mean
it would have been great, don't get me wrong if
John had gone, obviously that would have lit up the
fan base in the alumni base as well and have
a Super Bowl winning head coach. Okay, I think you
get it. The story applies to John too. And now
that I've got that out of the way, back to
the story. That voice you heard pleading for Jim to

(07:58):
come home in the opening one top of media clips,
this one m culpable. That's richis in. He's one of
the most popular NFL reporters in the country, in part
because of his lovable humor, but also because he's just
flat out good at his job. Well, he's also a
University of Michigan alarm, so he believes Mason Blue and

(08:19):
he badly wanted to see the program back on top
of the country. He explained to me why he thought
Jim was the only guy who could take him there.
Had he not done it or not been interested in
it for whatever would be his personal reasons, Michigan could
have found another name to go with, another person to
go with, but no one with the resume of coaching

(08:42):
resume as well as Michigan pedigree like Jim Harbag guy
who played at ann Arbor Pioneer and was both schem
Beckler's you know all American quarterback, I mean, come on,
who then went to be captain come back in the
NFL for Ditka and Jim Mora and playing for all
those coaches and then doing what he did on the

(09:03):
coaching sidelines and Michigan being in the state that it
was in needing to remind you know, the college football
world what Michigan football is all about and invigorate the
alumni base. There was only one human being on planet
Earth who fit the bill. That's why Eisen took to
the airwaves and started pleading for Jim to take the job.

(09:25):
And if Eisen's police had a desperate colble, that's because
it was. Jim could have had any football coaching job
in the country after he party ways with the forty
nine ers. NFL teams and college programs were willing to
back in the Brinch trucks full of cash to entice him.
But nothing can quite compete with nastalgia. Nothing can compete

(09:50):
with the memories of a young boy who effectively grew
up in that Michigan locker room. That locker room was
his home every day after school from about nine years
old until sixteen. Both John and Jim ran around the
practice fields like they owned the place, and back then
everyone referred to them as Johnny and Jimmy, So by

(10:10):
using that name, it was like Eisen was talking to
that nine year old Jimmy himself, telling him to return
to ann Arbor, his home. I think I was the
first person on the air, while I was the only one,
but I was the first to talk about him actually
doing this. I just started from the set of my
show that I knew every day just challenge him to

(10:33):
come home, that we're here for him. He's the only
guy that could help turn this thing around. And man,
oh man, was I blown up by people like Desmond
Howard and Charles Woodson and saying, you know, people's just
not going to happen. I was getting emails from friends
and people in management and in sports world saying just

(10:53):
drop it. It's not going to happen. And then it didn't,
and then it happened, and then it did and it's
you know, it's awesome. It's the greatest thing ever. Now.
I saw in an interview you did with Jim once
that you you said you approached him in two thousand
and eight when he was at the Ravens game and
you said come home, and when he was in Stamford
that has bananas toy. When did you actually think was

(11:14):
it just that December? Even during that December, did you
think it was really going to happen or were you
just hoping? Oh? No, I was, you know, I was
telling him, you know, it's got to happen. I'm on
the set of NFL Network and this was the closing
of Texas Stadium and the Stanford season was over where
he was playing his bowl game, and we show a

(11:37):
shot of the sideline and this is when Willis mcgahey
and the rest of the Ravens closed Texas Stadium with
the thumping of the Cowboys. Yeah. And we take to
the set and the team's running off to the tunnel
directly to the side of the set, and I see
Jim Harball running and I stopped him, like, Jim, great
to see you. You got to come home. You're gonna

(11:58):
come back one of these. He smiled, and he said,
he goes, yeah, okay, like that, what do you say?
I did, and ran off with the rest of the
team instead of Jim leading the program like Isaan asked.
In two thousand and eight, the Wolverines hired Rich Rodriguez,
but then he was gone after three years because he
lost more games twenty two than he won fifteen. And

(12:22):
then the details are a little murky during that twenty
eleven coaching search, but reports said the Wolverines offered Jim
the job, but it didn't take it, but then athletic
director Dave Brennan said an offer was never made either way.
The Amazon Blue went with Brady Hook instead, which really
didn't make guys in very happy. I think he kicked
the tires on Michigan years ago. As the story in

(12:43):
Michigan didn't you know listen or wasn't interested, which is
to me like crazy talk. That was absolute craziness. Hoak
started out with a bang in twenty eleven by notching
an eleven and two record and a win in the
Sugar Bowl, but things went downhill from there by going
eight and five, seven and six, and then five and
seven the next three seasons. So the once proud Michigan

(13:07):
program had fallen on hard times. Well, while all this
was going on in ann Arbor, Jim was out on
the West just tearing it up. He's just turning around
program after program after program with what seemed like a
snap of the finger. He got his first head coaching
job at San Diego University, where he won two Division

(13:27):
one Double A Mid Major national titles in just three seasons.
Then he takes over the one and eleven Stanford Cardinal
team and turns them into winters. By twenty ten, Stanford
naunched its first eleven win season in program history. That
was good for a number four ranking in the country
and an invitation to the Orange Bowl, which was broadcast

(13:48):
on ESPN and the Cardinal One. Jack Harball is going
to help me to set up man for his son's
Gatorady baton one of the great chat arounds in college football.
A Stafford football season in forty a, Harbaugh was named
the winner of the Woody Hayes Coach of the Year Award,

(14:08):
which is given to the nation's top coach. That's when
the NFL came knocking and Harbaugh inherited a San Francisco
forty nine Ers team that hadn't notched a winning season
in almost a decade. He whipped them into shape, leading
them to three consecutive NFC Championship games and the Super
Bowl appearance against his brother in his first three years.

(14:29):
Fox Sports captured Jim's big moment. Ryan throws underneath for Jones.
He makes the catches knocked down, and the game is over.
The forty nine Ers are going to the Super Bowl.
I think that's enough, right. I don't need to keep going,
because I think we can all see why teams were
lining up for Jim. He was in high demand. There
was no shortage of teams. The Harball lottery was on,

(14:52):
and it's true that Michigan had to compete with the
big boys of the NFL. Usually college teams can't compete
with the lure of the all I D NFL. But
the new interm athletic director, Jim Hackett, well, he was
heading up the search for new head coach and there
wasn't any doubt in his mind he wanted Jim for
the job. Here's a little background on Hackett. He was

(15:13):
an offensive lineman for Boschembechler in the nineteen seventy so
he knew Jim when he was a young boy. Now,
after graduation, Hackett's career was not in sports. He was
a businessman before Michigan brought him in, and then after
he was there for about fifteen months as the introim
ad he went back to business. He's now the CEO
of Ford. In sports programs, they're stable to have an

(15:34):
aspiration for six seven and they aren't sure what it
looks like. You know, the opposite was here. This is
a winning program in the history of American college football,
and it was suffering in the way that was so
atypical of what so many people remembered. So that's the

(15:54):
backdrop to the statement I'm want to give you, which
is I felt like Michigan couldn't experiment anymore. Now what
that meant was that in the course of college coaching,
selection and development, people love this romantic story of finding
bo Schembeckler, you know, in a smaller program, or Woody

(16:15):
Hayes was when he was discovered he was in a
small high school called Dennison. To think of that in
a romantic kind of way, it isn't had a great story,
but Michigan kept struggling with with the investment in the
idea we can predict how somebody's going to be in
a program like this, who hasn't had a program like this,

(16:36):
and they weren't. They're working. So the Sunday night, in
the course of decision making, I make the decision that
we can't experiment anymore. It just hits me that that's
the simple rule that I've got to I've got to
pay honor two and now if I have to, if
I can't experiment, I have to go with certainty. And

(16:57):
that's that's what led me in a gym. Being grown up.
My background playing for bow My dad played for Paul Brown,
and a brother played for wood he Hey. So we
we we kind of could recognize great coaching in our
house four boys, and and so I don't want to

(17:18):
do that in a Boa school way. I'm just saying
it was not mysterious to me, and that he reminded
me of Paul Brown. And you go, well, why would
he remind you of Paul Brown. There's very few coaches
ever in the history that we're in a Super Bowl
and Rose Bowl or you know, whatever the college bull
equivalent was in their career. There's lots of stories we

(17:40):
don't I don't have to give them to you. You
can find them that went from college to pros and
didn't do very well and came back or frey. Well
you get to say that because I don't want to,
you know, I don't want to cast this version spec
and you can and you can observe pro coaches stepping
down to college that have a So that says, boy,

(18:03):
this is rare, you know. And guess what that hit
me when I'm now the ad and I'm trying to think, true,
I can't experiment, and what's the business we go, what's
evidence that our position, you know, is clear? And here
you got a guy who's excelled the pro and the

(18:25):
college level Unquestionably clearly, Hackett knew that he wasn't the
only one who saw how good Jim was. But as
a businessman, he knew that he and the Wolverines had
perhaps the biggest bargaining chips of all. Here's a bargaining chip,
the chance to restore glory to the program that his idol,

(18:46):
bo Schembeckler helped build. Another bargaining chip, running out of
the tunnel at the Big House to the roar of
one hundred and seven thousand fans, just like he did
when he was Michigan starting quarterback and led the team
to the Rose Bowl. There were more ships he could
reconnect with, childhood memories of being the ball boy on
game days, memories of falling around another idol, Michigan legendary

(19:08):
quarterback Rick Leach. There was also the ann Arbor Packer
Junior Football League that he and John played for Pioneer
High School, where he and John were actually recently inducted
into the school's Hall of Fame. So clearly there was
a bargaining chip after bargaining chip. This is where we
need to talk about Bouschem Beckler and the Harbaugh's introduction
to ann Arbor in nineteen seventy three. John was in

(19:30):
fifth grade at the time, Jim was in third. Jack
and John explained to me that Michigan put the family
up in a basement apartment on this golf course right
across from the university. We rolled into town in March
snowstorm that paralyzed the entire city. What you recall, I
do he still walk to practice over there. They put

(19:51):
us in the golf course across the street, and we
were actually marooned in that golf course. The amazing part
is that explored the building and you found places that
may have never been seen for the last twenty five
thirty years. That's why there's the store in the sand.
They had to driving range down there with nets, and
we had it was a playground down there, so we

(20:13):
didn't want to move out of that golf course apartment.
It lived off Anderson, and you guys could walk to
the elementary school right there at Saint Francis. Didn't know
or bumper ski bupper ski in Michigan. You know what
mumper skiing is in Maryland? Familiar with that upper ski?
You don't know bupper ski. You get behind the bumper,
you hold on, you sneak up and they stopping to stop.
Sign take it right to school. They drive by the school.

(20:35):
You kind of let go. Did you hear that? Did
you hear that old's going crazy? Or is it all
over here? And that's your mother? Ever knew we bumper
skied mom? Bupper skiing is a Michigan tradition. I did.
Didn't insult the roads back then, you know they d
you plowed him. You didn't think that was somewhat dangerous,
never crossed our dangerous. It was, it was efficient, it
was quick. Well, it's not before long that the boys

(20:57):
get to meet Beckler, the Michigan coach for twenty one years.
He became John and Jim's idol. I'm telling you he
was bigger than the president, bigger than any movie star,
bigger than John Wayne Bow was. Obviously, he was an
icon in our life. This is John talking at a
coach's clinic in Michigan. Jim can speak to it. As
a player. He played for Bow and they had that relationship.
I think that it was pretty amazing. I saw him

(21:20):
as a coach's kid, you know, I was, we were
we were kids and my dad was coaching it for
seven years and We thought we were the kings of
the world, and we ride our bikes around town like
you know, we owned this town because our dad coach
football at Michigan, you know, and we told everybody that
would hear us. And Bo Bo was my dad's boss.
Bow was the head coach. Bow was a guy that
allowed us to come to practice every day. He was
a guy that allowed us to be in the locker room,

(21:40):
in the weight room and bench pressed with Calvin O'Neill,
you know, get taped up to the goal post, get
stuffed into the locker. He was okay with that, you know.
It was It was just a part of who we were,
and I think it's kind of made us who we
are as coaches today. John was once asked how much
those years growing up in Michigan and watching sham Beckler
played a part in Jim and his desire to become coaches,

(22:02):
and he said one hundred percent. And here's an example.
This next ESPN clip is the best way I can
describe it. It speaks volumes. Okay, here we go. It's
a famous speech from Schembecker given in nineteen eighty three.
We want the Big Ten championship and we're going to
win it as a team. They can throw out all

(22:22):
those great backs and great quarterbacks and great defensive players
throughout the country and in this conference, but there's gonna
be one team that's gonna play solely as a team.
No man is more important than the team, No coach
is more important than the team. The team, the team,
the team. And if we think that way, all of us,

(22:44):
everything that you do, you take into consideration, what effect
does it have on my team? Because you can go
into professional football, you go anywhere you want to play.
After you leave here, you will never play for a
team again. You'll play for a contract, you'll play for this,
you'll play for that, You'll play for everything except the team.

(23:04):
And think what a great thing it is to be
a part of something that is the team. We're gonna
win it. We're gonna win the championship again because we're
gonna play as a team better than anybody else in
this conference. We're gonna play together as a team. We're
gonna believe in each other. We're not gonna criticize each other,
we're not gonna talk about each other. We're gonna encourage

(23:25):
each other. And when we play as a team, when
the old season is over you and I know it's
gonna be Michigan again. Michigan. As we already know from
past episodes, this team philosophy is in the DNA of
every Harbaugh coach team. So when we talked with their dad, Jack,
who with the assistant coach under Schembeckler for seven years,

(23:47):
he was so proud to see that the message stuck.
With John, Jim and even his son in law Tom Crean,
who is a former head basketball coach at Indiana University.
All three of you have the team, the team, the
team in a prominent place in your locker room. And
I got to think that somewhere, you know, he smiles

(24:08):
and thinks, yeah, they got it. They got it. They
were less than they're paying attention. They were paying attention.
It's amazing. As coaches kids, I'm sure that anybody you
grew up and you kind of adapt the philosophy of
your family or whatever. But I think our family coaching philosophy.
Bow is a big part of that obviously here at Michigan.
And and where does Bow come from? You know, Bow
tracks back to Midwest football, right, Woody Hayes, You can

(24:31):
go back to Earl Red Blake at Miami of OHIOKO, Miami,
Ohio has a lot to do that too, when you
stay the creator. Saget was part of that that fraternity. Yeah,
you may have noticed John's voice perk up when he
mentioned the University of Miami in Ohio. That's where he
went to college. And he just recently in twenty fourteen
had his own statue who wretched in the legendary cradle
of coaches Bowling Green deut Perry. Who is your coach?

(24:54):
I mean Midwest coaching? Uh, you know that that's been
I think ingrained in us. And that's what the team
is all, you know. Douglas MacArthur talked about the core,
the core, the core, and both saw that plaque at
West Point on a trip. I think he was a
player for Miami, Ohio and he saw that kind of
hit click with him. The team, the team, the team,
and that's what's really all about. In addition to learning

(25:14):
about Schembeckler's coaching philosophies, John and Jim also got to
know him on a more personal level. Bosche Beckler just
sitting in the locker room, you know, on a little stool,
a little fold up chair, and Boschem Beckler got a
tower wrapped wraps up, He's going into the shower. Okay, Bo,
hey kid, you know I mean yeah, forget that stuff. So,
as the story goes, the brothers didn't get that kind

(25:37):
of access, the kind of access where you can actually
see an icon in a bathroom towel. Well, they didn't
get it because their dad Jack that's the assumption, because
he worked there. But it was actually because of their mom. Jackie,
you were the one who was able to get the
kids into practice. Jack didn't even have to go and
ask Bow that. Maybe you went to Millie Millie Milly

(25:59):
schem Beckler. Oh what happened was one time I was
with Millie and she said, did you take your kids
to practice? I said, yeah, I took them to practice
everywhere we went. I said, but you can't go to
Michigan's practice. So the next thing we know, Bo's saying, well,
look the coaches, kids can come to practice if they want,

(26:20):
but they have to stay off the field. That didn't
happen all the time. They not all the time. Give
Jackie credit because the boys didn't always steer clear of
the fields. Here's John Michigan. Ohiose state, I mean I
remember it's a big game. We're maybe our second or
third year here, dad, And they had those two little
fields that were turf, like thirty yards of turf on
the side of the turf field, and so the molars

(26:42):
and the hardballs in the midis and gaglasses out there,
and we're playing touch football, not touch football, probably tackle football.
During Michigan's practice for Ohio State. Someone overthrows a pass
onto the field, rolls right at to my dad's feet. Jim,
go get the ball. You know. She goes right of
that there, picks the ball up. You know, that's the

(27:02):
first time he got yelled, yelled, chewed out by Bo.
I think possibly, not, possibly, definitely. And I can say
that because in Bo Schembechler's autobiography that he wrote in
nineteen eighty nine, which was before he passed away in
two thousand and six from heart failure, in that he
wrote about this little incident. Here's what it says. Even then,
Jack's son was a devil running around on the field

(27:24):
when he shouldn't be playing with his friends. And one
time that he did it, I screamed, get that kid
out of here. Now, I think he was ten years old.
So for the record, that is the youngest I ever
yelled at one of my quarterbacks. Close quote. Jack remembers
one of those moments vividly. I said, oh, please, dear God,
don't let this be one of mine. And then Bow

(27:44):
wouldn't say it, he just glare at me. Those damn
kids off. The other thing is three year it's great
time after practice. You know, we'd be in the locker
room and then we could go home because the film
was being developed, and you had to come back about
seven seven thirty and try to round you guys up.
And we'd hear someone going, hell, what were they ways

(28:07):
a lot? We're a locker or taped to a goalpost
or something. It'd be hard, hard to judge the guys.
The players hadn't had their fun with us here. There
was a bench press in then the old which was
a freshman locker room. They changed into a weight room,
and they taped you guys to the have our hands
taped his hanging there by our hands. It's like a
like an old movie, you know, back in the old days,

(28:29):
torture jam, Oh hey, come on, guys, we'd we'd cut
you down to take you over dinner. What a great day,
Great time. Yeah, of the many players that taped the
boys up or stuffed them into lockers was superstar All
American quarterback Rick Leach. John and Jim worshiped him. He's

(28:50):
considered one of the best quarterbacks in Michigan history, if
not the best. Leech set school passing records, and he
led the Mason Blue to three Big Ten championships. And
by getting odd jobs from their dad as ball boys
or parking attendants or whatever, the boys had a front
row seat to history. Sometimes they didn't always stay in
those seats. Yard fourth down and one Ick'll be deep

(29:13):
in Davis Close in Michigan is geared right now offensively,
Ricky Leach needs a yard for the first down, and
I believe they pulled Duke off side. He keeps the
ball down to five. Boy creak on butt down, Ricky
Lee butt down, Ricky Leech as Ricky Leech just picked
up his third touchdown, the first one running. So Ricky
Leech has just picked up his thirty fourth touchdown of

(29:35):
his career. That's the voice of Michigan Football, Bob You
first play by play call of Leech running in a
six yard touchdown on a keeper against Duke in nineteen
seventy seven. Well, you can hear the crowd go wild, right, Well,
I highly recommend that you go to Baltimore Ravens dot
com backslash men of the crowd to watch this play seriously,

(29:56):
because while you're watching, if you look at the top
of this dream, you can see this tall and gangly
thirteen year old Jimmy Harbaugh on the sideline near the pylon.
He's in a blue buttonup shirt and long pants, and
he's bouncing up and down on the bowls of his feet,
screaming and cheering Leech on as he nears the goal line. Well,

(30:17):
Jim must have been overcome by his excitement because he
actually makes a break for the field, But there's a
referee with both hands in the air signaling a touchdown
right in front of him. So Jim just sidesteps the
ref and runs into the end zone while pumping his
fist and clapping twice. He makes it too. Rick Leech
in the end zone, who was on his knees after

(30:40):
getting banged to the ground by a couple of defenders,
Jim delivers hard celebratory pats on Leech's back. I just
took off that's the grown up Jim talking about the
play with Andrea Kramer on HBO's Real Sports. And ran
over here and he was he was on his knees,
get the ball like this, and I patted him on

(31:02):
the back and then then ran back to the sideline.
And it was a picture in the newspaper. Little Jimmy Harbaugh.
Well not only it didn't even say my name, but
but that's who it was. It was. Jim studied every
single move that Leech would make, down to the detail.
He'd watch how Leech approached the offensive line and the
way he walked, the way he looked across the field

(31:23):
to diagnose the defense, the way he adjusted his shoulder pads,
or the way he licked his fingers before taking a snap,
and then the way he dropped back for a pass.
Literally everything. And then he took those notes and he
put them into practice while being a quarterback for his
own team with the ann Arbor Junior Packers. That was
the first football team he and John had ever been

(31:45):
a part of. Their head coach was Tom Minnick. He
and his three sons end up being lifelong friends to
the Harbus. But Minnick told us later that while he
was their coach. He probably learned more about football from
the young boys than they learned from him. I can
guarantee you John and Jim Harball knew more about football
night and the xes and all was particularly at nine

(32:06):
and ten. So Jim would Jim was a quarterback, and
I'd say, Jim, what do you got. He'd give him
four places to start, and he was on those four places, succeeded.
He just kept the rand a team and every once
in a while only throw a goal route to John
Harball or a goal route to one of my sons.
And it was just confidence and not over confident, not cocky,
but just confident. I got there and run the game,

(32:27):
and he could do that at ten. Everything's been positive
about that family with us, and we've we've stayed with
him for years. Well maybe Minick learned X as a
nose from Jim, but Jim learned from him the proper
way to drink and milk. Here's one of the classic
stories from the Harbaugh and Minnick families. What time I
was I was good. I was in between high school

(32:48):
and college and it stayed with the Minicks for a
summer out at the house, and they gave probably Minick
gave us a shopping list, told us to go get groceries.
Jim had half. I had the other half. Brought the groceries.
We got. We got home. Hey, we're having a family
dinner with the menics. And Domnic liked. There's a man
who liked milk. He would have a we're sponsored by milk. Tonight.

(33:08):
Tom would have a gallon of milk right next to
the right on right on the table or next to
his chair, and uh, you know, he filling up the glass.
So he took his first sip of milk. I think
we're having spaghetti mepoles that night. If I recall and
gotta spit it out. Gosh am it, Polly, what's this

(33:31):
two percent stuff? Tom? I didn't do it. It's the boys.
The boys went out stopping today. Jim got Kim. It
was Harball, Dad, Harball head the milk god, you Harball,

(33:52):
you candy ass drinking that low fat two percent stuff
over at the Harball House. No Minick would ever drink
anything but home milk. This day, I drink only whole milk.
Coach Bedeck got that candy ask two percent stuff. Between

(34:15):
studying shem Beckler and leech and drinking all that whole milk.
Jim became quite the athlete. As a sophomore, he already
won over the starting quarterback job at Pioneer High School
in ann Arbor, but he never got to finish what
he started there. That's because Jack was hired as Stanford's
defensive coordinator in nineteen eighty, so Jim transferred to Palo
Alto High School in northern California and played quarterback there.

(34:39):
By the time he was a senior, Jim received a
few college offers, including from the University of Miami in Ohio,
but he always wanted to play for Michigan. That phone
never rang, at least not until right before the National
College Football Signing Day, when recruits officially commit to a school.
And I went into bow one day, heard you getting
recruited by Miami, Ohio, And I said, boh, what's the

(35:02):
story here, Jim Harball is gonna be recruited by Mammy, Ohio.
This is John Falk, the beloved Michigan equipment manager for
forty years, talking on w x y Z TV in Detroit. Well,
look at me, he said, let me tell you something, Falk,
He's coming to Michigan. He doesn't know it yet, but
he's coming to Michigan. And that's just the relationship that

(35:23):
Bo had with Jim Harball. Shechem Beckler recalled in his
biography how he got Jim to come and it wasn't
too hard of a sale. This is what he wrote
in the book. When we finally recruited him out of
high school. We waited until the last minute. He came
into my office, sat down, and I said, Jim, I
want you here. He nodded, and that was it. Well,

(35:43):
Jim committed, but things didn't get off to the best start.
As Jack and John recall, when Jim first came here.
You know, he hit his buddy who now worked with
Jim Nick, and they Jim Nick was going to get
him to practice. They had the old brown station wagon
that the Minicks drove around and and they were running
slightly late, but they were going to get there on
time until the whole muffler system fell off the boom
of the car, you know, about ten miles out, you know.

(36:05):
So once they got a paper, hangered back together and
got a glue back together. There that he got Jim
to the freshman meeting a little bit late. Jim walks
into the meeting room and Bow said, you could probably
do the better pomitation than I could, Harball. You'll never
play it down for the University of That was his
introduction as a fresh not a great start, but you

(36:27):
know what, I knowing Bo and knowing Jim, it was
a perfect opportunity for him to send a message to
every freshman in that group. There is no one above
Bo's Bo's scrutiny right right right, and then like was
like a winken of the eye, and this is perfect
this it's going to have been delivered up to me

(36:47):
anymore perfectly. It actually did take Jim quite some time
to get on the field, but not necessarily because of
his tardy He red shirted that freshman year, and then
he broke his arm his sophomore season, forcing him to
miss most of that year. Then he busted out his
junior year. He started all twelve games, set a new
Michigan passing record, led his team to a number two

(37:07):
national ranking and a Fiesta Bowl victory. It was in
that nineteen eighty five season that Jim made a play
that is still considered one of the best in Michigan
stadium history. While playing Ohio State on ESPM and one
of the best rivalries college football has ever seen. The
game was a tight, back and forth battle. The Wolverines
were hanging on to a slim three point lead when

(37:30):
Jim completed a seventy seven yard touchdown pass to wide
receiver John Kolissar despite being absolutely leveled by an untouched
Blitzer rover all the blitz plosarge districts, Coucherai trucks. Big

(38:07):
score for So they came with the strong safety. The
strong safety came and we did not get a helmet
on him. He was not blocked, and this little Jimmy
hardball stood back in there. Colisar came ran down right
past their best defender, and Jimmy looked at that strong
safety who's going to hit him right under the chin,

(38:29):
and knocked him flat and pinpointed that ball into Kalosar
for a big play in the touchdown, and that took
the wind out of their sails. That was Boschemickler himself
breaking down the epic play, and it was so epic
that in twenty ten, twenty five years after Harbaugh threw
that touchdown bomb, Wolverines fans voted it into the top

(38:50):
ten plays of Michigan Stadium history. As much as everyone
loved Jim and Ann Arbor, they detested him. In Columbus, Ohio.
It started with that seventy seven yarder in victory, but
it got infinitely worse the following season because of something
he told multiple media outlets before the Buckeye Wolverine battle
for the Big Ten Championship. I guarantee we'll be the

(39:12):
house stage this Saturday. We'll be in Pasadena on January first,
that there's no doubt in my mind about that. Wait,
what I guarantee? You don't guarantee you'll beat somebody. You
just don't do that in sports, especially not on a
Bo Schembechler coach team. Well, Schembeckler wasn't there when Jim
made the guarantee, but in his book he explains that

(39:34):
he found out about it later and went to approach
him about it. Here's the exchange. Jim, are you crazy?
Did you really guarantee a wind of the press? He said, yeah,
I believe it. I said, well, damn it, you better
be right. Schembechler added, quarterbacks are a special breed. They
need to be cocky and the cockiest I ever had

(39:56):
was probably Jim Harbaugh. Well, Jim needed that cockiness heading
into the game. He was welcomed by ninety thousand fans
of the Horseshoe in Columbus chanting Harbass sucks. And you
talk about a cruel bunch of people. When Jimmy took
the field, of course, he had guaranteed that they were
going to beat Ohio State, and everybody in Columbus was

(40:16):
just on Jimmy. We came in on Friday and our
truck had lost his spreaks. We're heading down a hill
and we hit a semi going through the intersection and
the police came over to the Columbus Police, they investigated
the wreck and the fellows said what do you have
on the truck? And I said, well, sir, I've got
Michigan football gear. He said, he's Jim Harball's back on
that truck. I said, yes, sir, it is. He said, well,
we're going to impound this stuff for the next forty

(40:37):
eight hours. And I looked at him, as it now, sir,
and he looked at me and he laughed. He said,
you'll have the stuff. That's just right to report. But
that's how everybody down in Columbus, Ohio. Remember it's Jim Harball.
Well guess what, Jim mister comeback himself made good on
his guarantee. Despite being down early fourteen to three. Michigan

(40:58):
ended up winning twenty six to twenty four. It made
Shim Meckler the winning is coach in school history. I
can't tell you, can't tell you how broad I am.
Let me know, such a director budgets. I knew what.
It couldn't stop us. It was hard turned to win.
And those who thought we were done after last week,

(41:20):
I forget about Michigan. And Jim was the quarterback? Am
I right? When you were a freshman in nineteen eighty six?

(41:41):
What was his reputation on campus then? And what were
your impressions all the way back then? Are you just
just stunned? This is rich eyes? And again he just stunned.
You know, was a bow proje but also had an
independent streak in him that he was a perfect extension
of bow but also a perfect yang to bose being

(42:03):
you know, and I think a bunch of players, a
bunch of the fans and students. I was definitely inspired
by his cockiness, you know, I was definitely that somebody
that's like, yeah, I will follow that guy. It all
comes full circle, doesn't it. As a college freshman, eisensaw
Jim as a stud leader on campus. Then nearly thirty

(42:25):
years later, Eisen saw him as a potential savior that
could resurrect a Michigan team and community that was starving
to return a legitimacy. Eisen wasn't the only one who
knew that using Michigan nostalgia as a bargaining chip was
a smart strategy. There was shem Beckler Leech getting stuffed

(42:46):
in the lockers, the ann Arbor Junior Packers, Pioneer High School,
the Ohio State rivalry. It was those types of memories
that actually kicked off the discussion. When Hackett called Jim
to make his sales pitch to return to Michigan, My
first call was to Jack to see Jeff talking to
Jim was going to be, you know, disrupted to Jim's
life and if he really didn't his dad didn't think

(43:08):
he had any interest in us. I didn't want anyone
catching wind of it and dishonoring the family or anything,
you know. And Jack said we ought to call him
because I bet he would be interested. So I think
his dad told him I was going to call and
and remember Jack is an assistant coach in seventy three

(43:28):
when I'm a freshman. Yes, I was a center. Jack
Jackson deco. Well, Jim answered the cell phone and he
goes this to Jim Hack if they used to take
me up in the locker room. And that's his first sentence,
and I go, no, I'm the one who cut you out.
And we hit it off from that standpoint. You know.

(43:52):
It wasn't long after that phone call that it was
announced that Jim Harbaugh would become the twentieth head coach
of the universe City of Michigan. The announcement was made
just two days after his departure from the forty nine ers,
on December thirty. Then, he was introduced to fans, alumni,
and students at the halftime of a Michigan men's basketball game.

(44:15):
Where do you coach? Thank you very much, Obviously this

(44:42):
crowd does not need to be motivated. Thank you for
the enthusiasm and the support. Even though I haven't we
have not done a dark thing. It is much appreciated.
I pledged to you we will do our very best
to carry out the great tradition of Michigan excellence. Everybody

(45:08):
that's for us is for us. Thank you very much.
You know how to make a guy feel at home
and my family and I appreciate it very much and
I love you too. Thank you very much. From the

(45:30):
University of Michigan. Joining me back on the Rich Eyes
and show Charles. What's in Charles? How are you, rid man?
I'm doing great? Were great man, It's a great day. Hey,
this is a great day. Man. What do you think Charles,
when we last spoke in the middle of December, we
didn't think this was going to happen. Well, well, let's

(45:50):
let's let's revisit that. We didn't say there was a chance, right, Yes,
we did, like a dumb and dumber chance. Like we're
saying that you dumb and dumber chance. Let let me
put that in contact for us. So in the movie,
you know, Jim Carrey wanted this this woman and she said,
you know, doesn't wanted a million chance, right, But in
real life he actually married that woman. It's true, Yes,

(46:14):
he actually married that woman. So when we say there's
a chance, we are speaking values about something that means
there's really literally a chance that it could happen, And
it happened, Charles, thanks for calling in. I appreciate it.
A big day today for us, Charles, A big day today,
and all I gotta say, and certainly to Wytsam twelve

(46:36):
thirty in Columbus, Ohio, Who's got the Rich Eyes and
show on its radio station, Go Blue. So it happened.
Ann Arbor actually won the one in a million Harball lottery.
And I asked Jim why he did it? What ultimately
made you choose to go back to Michigan over maybe
any other opportunity that you had. It came down to love,
it really did. Love the game of football, love coaching football,

(47:01):
and I love the University of Michigan. Please join me
and welcoming Jim to his first press conference is the
Jay Era and Nicky Harris family, head coach of the
University of Michigan. Jim Harball, thank you, thank you very much.

(47:32):
Apologize for my voice. They dumped gatorade over me Sunday
after our ball game, and I've lost my vocal cords
a little bit. But and I don't know if anybody
saw me trip on the way end. They bay see
that unlesser athlete would have gone down That's all I

(47:59):
had to say about that. But uh, there there are
very special words uh that uh, that are in the
English language that we all embrace. There's family, there's friends,
there's teammates, there's victory. I was reminded of another very

(48:22):
special word when I was driving into ann Arbor this morning,
and and that word is homecoming. When did you actually
make the decision that this was gonna happen? I could
remember thinking about it as a He's a young youngster,
nine ten years old. There was a time where I
was sitting in coaching Beckler's office. I had my sitting
in his chair. I had my feet up on his
desk and uh. He walked in and said, how you doing, Jim?

(48:45):
And I said, I'm doing great bow. How are you doing?
He said, what are you doing? I said, I'm sitting
in your sitting in your chair, coach. I couldn't I
couldn't think of anything better to say, but uh uh.
But yeah, There's just been times in my life where
where I've thought about it, dreamed about it, and now
it's time to live it. And I'm curious to know
with the way that Michigan has been roughed up against

(49:08):
the rivals over the past years, if you have any
guarantees or perhaps any anything about Ohio State and Michigan
State that you can lend here today to the fan
base throughout standing programs. No, I make no guarantees. I
made a guarantee a long time ago, and I've learned
from that. I've grown. I understand that you don't make guarantees. Hey,

(49:34):
as I was out last night and these lancing As
a matter of fact, somebody asked me if I was
going to come down arbor and see the Messiah. I'm
wondering how comfortable or uncomfortable you are with this perception
that you're the savior of Michigan football. I'm not comfortable
with that at all, as as I said, Yeah, as

(49:57):
I said, this is uh, I'm standing on a fou
nation that has been built for over one hundred years
by some great men, and uh, I feel like I'm
standing on those their shoulders. And Uh, I want to
do a good job. I want to be good. I
want to win. Uh. If the man who coached you

(50:18):
here was able to be standing here today, what do
you think he'd say to you? Steve. Steve Kardaky already
asked me that question, and Uh, what I told him was,
I feel like he is here, you know, I feel like, well,
I'm if standing next to Lloyd Carr and uh and
Gary Moeller and and my dad and Jerry Handling and

(50:41):
John falk h John Gindia. That to me, that is
that's the same that's the same people, That's the same feeling.
And Uh, they said they were happy to have me
here for somebody that is former coach called cocky. That
was a pretty humble answer, basically saying that him Meckler
would be happy to have him back. I thought it

(51:02):
could be more than that. So I asked Jack and
Eisen the same question, what would both think about little
Jimmy Harbaugh returning and leading this historic program. Bo was very,
very very proud of jim uh and what told me
one day that he thought he would he would be
back and he would be coaching at the University of

(51:24):
Michigan before he got children, before he passed away. So
I'm sure he's somewhere. He's got a probably a little
cigar and cigar and he's entire bow. What what are
you doing? What are you another camp? What are you?
What are you doing? What do you think Bo would
say right now, if he saw Jim leading this program, Oh,
he'd be so proud. I think he'd just be so proud.

(51:47):
And I think he does know how about that. I
think he looks down and get an emotional just talking
about it, because you know, hard Jim, Jim Harbaugh is
the is the modern day version of Bow and so
he has within his DNA bo Schembechler. He's got it.
It's there. So he's an embodiment of Bowman, part of Bou.

(52:09):
M'd be chuckling a little bit to Santa. Can't believe
that Kat who was late for practice or the one
who the one who guaranteed victory against Ohio State is
the one who is the molder of men and the
leader of this program. But you know, when you run
out of the locker room at Michigan into the big house,
to your right is this huge mural of Shechembechler in
his sunglasses, Michigan jacket, Michigan hat headset glory and it

(52:36):
says those who stay will be champions, you know, which
is Bow's long term phrase. And I mean, it's just
I can't make this stuff up. He's he's like he
hits every writing note. I mean the Harball family with
Bo Shechembechler is I mean intertwined forever, forever, and so
you know, the Harball name is as good as gold

(53:00):
in ann Arbor and in the past it always was
and now even more so. I mean just coming off
the campus, the ann Arball T shirts that I saw,
the Jim Jim Arball gear that I see everywhere. I mean,
he is a throwback to the past as well as

(53:20):
a portal to the future. And it's perfect. I mean
I just saw it up close. It was just the
honorary captain. I was in the locker room, I was
in the dining hall, aways been the host team, hotel,
and the buses. I mean, I saw it all firsthand,
and you know, it confirmed everything that I had hoped
that Jim Arball returning to ann Arbor would be the
fresh breath of life that Jim injected into the community,

(53:42):
the alumni, the student and the fan base. It wasn't fleeting.
It's still there. He restored attitude, he restored confidence in excitement.
After inheriting a five and seven Michigan squad, he immediately
turned them into ten and three teams and the two
seasons that he's been there. Obviously you're the man who
chose him and thought he could read you help restore

(54:04):
this proud football program. But I was going to ask you,
were you even surprised a little bit by how quickly
he was able to start winning again. There's no slugness
in this answer. Absolutely not. I mean a hundred and
here's why. I have a quick story, but I need
to tell it to you. He has his first practice.

(54:26):
Think of the Jim Harball's first practice at Michigan. I
think I want to go to that, you know, that
kind of a story. He institutes some race at the end,
which is you know, because at the end of practice,
when people run the way the traditional people that don't
have to skift think about it genalty for something not
going well. Jim makes it a reward trophy, so to speak,

(54:50):
that if you want, you get to keep racing. Okay,
so you think, if you want the race, you can
exhale and not be hired to get to keep racing,
and you get to keep racing if you keep win.
So I get there and I'm witnessing this at the end,
we're now down the way you would call like the
last two heats. So the whole team of one hundred
plus people are going in heats, and the whole team

(55:13):
first day of practice, the whole team is out on
the field screaming like communison or who's gonna win the
next race? You know what I mean. And I'm by
myself forty yards away and I'm sobby. And the reason
I was crying was it hit me. I mean, we

(55:33):
worked so hard on this, how lucky Michigan was gonna be.
I knew that what he had brought in that one
practice was that total return to what I remember about
that university. So I hate to sound swug, it is
no spice. I mean I cried because I was so happy.
I thought, who can I call and tell We're back?

(55:58):
Is back? But Jim still has some unfinished business. A
Big Ten championship and of course a national championship are
the next goals. Here's Mark Snyder from the Detroit Free
Press to follow in the footsteps of his mentor. Bosche
really carried him. I think that that drolled him to
be the guy to save it, and I think that

(56:19):
that's something that he's done. And I think that you know,
that'll always hold legends, especially the ends up winning a
national championship here, they'll have legend status forever. Jim Harbaugh
going down as a legend, it makes you wonder why
did the San Francisco forty nine ers let him go.
We'll explore that and Jim's controversial satellite camps next week.

(56:39):
And I've also talked the friends and family about whether
Jim is too competitive or maybe even a little crazy,
or just misunderstood. Next time on Man of the Crowd,
what are your impressions of Jim crazy? Jim is hyper
hyper competitive. He can never lose even when he's won,

(57:04):
so he's not so. I would talk to Jim and
he was struggling with you know, the management there. Try
to have a direct relationship, you know with jed Yorke.
I mean, that's your bet, your owner, that's the guy,
you know, do whatever you can. And he did. He
tried to do that. And everytimes I didn't have a friend,
as you know, I sometimes I wear those out. Sometimes
he was my older friend. He got just treated really

(57:26):
badly in one of those jobs, really badly, and I
know that. Yeah, I do think Jim is misunderstood sometimes.
When Paul Brown invented game film, they said he was cheating.
Innovators always been accused, and it's because they're far ahead.
So Jim's inventing things and he's more clever than butts
of the people he compeats with. Because people assume the worst.

(57:49):
I think the Age and of Change is never really
the most popular person in or in any room. Also,
people trying to intimidate you. That's part of life. To
me is competing. But that offends somebody, then then so
be it. Hey, Man of the Crowd listeners, Before you go,
I just wanted to say thank you for such a

(58:11):
strong showing of support for the podcast. We're very happy
with how many of you there are out there listening,
and we'd love to have even more people find us.
So please consider rating the podcast and writing a review.
The more subscribers and positive ratings Man of the Crowd gets,
the more others will be able to find it. Also,
don't forget to continually check back to our microsite at

(58:33):
Baltimore Ravens dot com backslash Man of the Crowd. It
has content that compliments what you're listening to here, including
biographies of key interviews I've conducted, photo galleries and more.
And as always. I want to hear from you after
each episode. If you have any comments or questions or whatever,
hit me up on Twitter. My handle is at sg Ellison.

(58:55):
I look forward to your feedback and would love to
interact with you. Okay, that's it. That's all I've got,
but I'll be back next week with episode six. Is
Jim crazy or just misunderstood