Jim Harbaugh is already the most-covered first-year head coach in college football history, and it's not as if the former Michigan quarterback, NFL quarterback, Stanford head coach and San Francisco 49ers head coach was under-covered before arriving in Ann Arbor, either. What is there to know about Harbaugh that we didn't already know? A lot, actually.
Sports Illustrated's Michael Rosenberg uncovered a number of new things you probably didn't know about the new head Wolverine.
For instance, did you know Harbaugh plans to move his family from California to Michigan in a Mercedes Sprinter passenger van? Did you know he once plucked his dad's nose hairs out at an eye doctor's office after an argument about how many offensive lineman Jim was recruiting at Stanford? (I promise that sentence will make sense when you read the article.) Did you know he lives on the same street Bo Schembechler once called home?
But Rosenberg also dug into the meat of Harbaugh: The Coach is so successful, an insatiable thirst for competition that will not be clinched as long as he draws breath.
When the rest of the team is ready to run a play but the quarterbacks are unavailable, Harbaugh steps in to take a snap. When the receivers need someone to load balls into the juggs machine after practice, Harbaugh is there. When a sign needs hanging in his office, Harbaugh is there with hammer and nail in hand.
“A player can see: Hey, man, this guy is doing it with us,” assistant coach Tyrone Wheatley said. “That’s where he wins them over. He’s pushing, he’s demanding, but he’s in there.”
The sign Harbaugh changed? It's an addition to the maize and blue's iconic "Those who stay will be champions" slogan. It reads, "Try hard and you will stay."
Try to imagine the fervor Rich Rodriguez or even Brady Hoke would have created by tagging Michigan's mission statement with a mark of his own so early on the job. Harbaugh, however, is no ordinary first-year coach.