Brennan: In Harbaugh, Michigan brings home 'Bo Jr.'
Jim Harbaugh arrived hoarse and wearing blue, with a touch of maize, just as Bo Schembechler would have wanted. Bo has been dead for eight years, but I swear he came back to life Tuesday afternoon in Ann Arbor.
They said it was Harbaugh, and clearly it was, but there was something about him that just screamed out Bo.
I mean, did you listen to him, to the way he scratched out those words of reverence and pride?
"Michigan's always been great, it's always been great and I always believe in it," Harbaugh said. "In terms of selling something, if you're selling something that you believe in, in your core, you know, to everything you know, like you know your name. I know Michigan football and believe in Michigan football."
Bo never said it better, even when he was gearing up for battle with Woody Hayes' Ohio State Buckeyes in the 1970s, which was just about as nasty and important and terrific as a sports rivalry will ever get.
News flash: Michigan just hired Bo Jr.
"I'm standing on a foundation that has been built for over 100 years by some great men," Harbaugh said. "I feel like I'm standing on their shoulders."
Oh my goodness, Michigan. You've done it. After inexplicable detours to bring in Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, you've hired the perfect man for what once was the perfect college football job – and might yet be again.
Come out from hiding, you Michigan people, you. Belt out "The Victors." Book the Rose Bowl. (Maybe not right away, but soon.) Put Urban Meyer on notice that it's not going to be so easy anymore.
The quintessential marriage of a football man to a college football job has just taken place.
Harbaugh was born 45 minutes down the road from Ann Arbor in Toledo in the 1960s. He was raised in Ann Arbor when his father worked as one of Bo's assistants in the 1970s. He was a quarterback for Michigan in the 1980s, winning Big Ten player of the year in 1986 and finishing third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy.
And now he's back. Something interesting is going on with these homecomings in the Great Lakes states. LeBron James left South Florida to return home to Northeastern Ohio this summer. Now Harbaugh has left the Bay Area to come back to Southeastern Michigan. Reverse commuting has never been more appreciated, at least by those on the receiving end.
As the requisite "will he or won't he" song and dance reached a crescendo over the long Christmas weekend, Michigan fans were almost childlike in their hope that Harbaugh wouldn't let them down. Of course he wouldn't. He's one of them. If he didn't want the job, he never would have let the rumors blossom.
As things turned out, he came to Michigan for exactly what he was making as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers: $5 million per year, plus a $2-million signing bonus.
Harbaugh appeared to have the jobs he wanted in California, first at Stanford, then with the 49ers. But, in the end, that just wasn't so.
"In 2014, to come back as football coach at the University of Michigan, I have to tell you that I have thought about that, dreamed about that, since the time I was a young lad – 9, 10 years old – and throughout adult life, dreamed about coaching at Michigan, and now it's time to live that."
He actually said "young lad." He really did. Proof that Michigan went back to a different time and place Tuesday, the only place it could go to move forward.
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