Jim Harbaugh got to experience his first taste of the bitter in-state rivalry with Michigan State in the waning moments of Michigan’s 80-67 loss at Crisler Center as a large contingent of visiting Spartan fans serenaded him with a “…just a like football” chant.
Harbaugh took the whole scene in from a center court seat flanked by Michigan basketball coach John Beilein and interim athletic director Jim Hackett.
Harbaugh will begin efforts to remove that particular chant from the Spartan repertoire when spring practice begins.
His first step will be to instill a culture of intense competition at every position on the field. Practically every football coach in America gives lip service to this goal but Harbaugh measures and tracks every drill while posting the results for all to see.
When players arrive for practice they’ll be under the microscope as never before during their athletic careers.
Former Stanford all-conference player Ben Muth described to mlive.com what it was like to practice under Harbaugh:
It all started in winter conditioning, two guys would go through the same drill at the same time and every single drill we did in winter conditioning had a winner and a loser. And they'd post those stats in the locker room, and they'd be there for everyone to see. It'd be, 'hey, these guys are winning, these guys are losing. Where are you?'
Harbaugh stressed his commitment to competition during his signing-day press conference.
All things will be earned on the field. There are no guarantees, only opportunities, and they will have a great opportunity here at the University of Michigan to compete at the highest level academically and at the highest level athletically.
And just in case his players missed his press conference, Harbaugh tweeted about how they will be evaluated:
The open competition should yield some interesting results by the time Michigan plays its spring game on April 4.
Harbaugh’s method of intense competition will remove any remaining recruiting hype from his players. From 4-star phenoms to walk-ons the only thing that will matter is performance.
Phil Callihan is a featured writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations obtained firsthand
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