Michigan may have ended its spring practice session two weeks ago, but the offseason of Jim Harbaugh is still going strong.
If you're a subscriber to cable television, it was hard to miss the new Wolverines head coach on Tuesday night, as he made appearances on both ESPN and HBO programming. Harbaugh's big night on the tube was just his latest installment in an offseason that has seen his actions go viral on a regular basis.
But as opposed to eating pizza courtside at a basketball game or his always entertaining Twitter feed, Harbaugh's appearances on Tuesday night offered the most insight into his life and personality that we've received since he took over his alma mater at the end of 2014. And ultimately, it could all be to Michigan's benefit.
Especially after his appearance on ESPN's Draft Academy, which not only showcased his interaction with actual players but propped up his ability to prepare prospects for the pros. Along with Wolverines quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch, Harbaugh was seen walking Florida State's Jameis Winston through the draft interview process, including an exchange about how he would handle telling teams about his off-field issues.
Harbaugh's mere presence in the piece was positive publicity, a chance to get both him and Michigan's block "M" logo in front of a national audience. But being seen as an adviser to the NFL draft's likely No. 1 overall pick only furthers his credibility on the recruiting trail, which is largely built on his ability to develop quarterbacks into pro prospects.
Earlier this month, Harbaugh landed a commitment from 2016 4-star quarterback Brandon Peters. When asked why he chose to give his verbal pledge to the Wolverines, Peters revealed it was one of Harbaugh's most famous former players who served as one the primary selling points in his recruitment.
"He compared me to Andrew Luck," Peters told Bleacher Report's Tyler Donohue of Harbaugh's sales pitch. "It's a similar situation to what he had at Stanford, with Luck being the first quarterback recruit he brought in [with a full cycle]. He thinks I'm a really good fit for him at Michigan like Luck was for him there."
Thanks to his time with the San Francisco 49ers, Harbaugh can also pitch the hand he had in developing Colin Kaepernick, and his public appearance with Winston only helped further his cause. Despite spending his college career at FSU, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner even offered an endorsement of his own for the new Wolverines head coach.
"I wish I could have played for him," Winston said of Harbaugh in a video posted to MGoBlue.com.
Baylor's Bryce Petty also worked out with Harbaugh in preparation for the draft and joined in by stating that he would have loved to have played for the former 49ers head coach as well. It may be four years since Harbaugh last coached at the college level, but it's clear he's using his experience in the pros to his benefit, as Draft Academy displayed a growing stable of players who have vouched for his ability as a player-developer.
49ers offensive lineman Alex Boone also sang Harbaugh's praises on Tuesday night, although his compliments were couched with what could be described as criticism of the intensity of his former head coach. Appearing in a profile on Harbaugh on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Boone said that Harbaugh's personality wore out its welcome in San Francisco, which ultimately led to his departure from the organization at the end of last season.
"I think he just pushed guys too far," Boone said in the segment. "He wanted too much, demanded too much, expected too much. You know, 'We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this. We gotta go out and do this.' And you'd be like, 'This guy might be clinically insane.'"
Ultimately, the piece painted Harbaugh in a positive light, however, as he embraced both his intensity and quirky personality while reveling in his return to Ann Arbor. In bonus clips posted by HBO later on Tuesday night, Harbaugh discussed how he met his wife and why he only wears khakis, videos that each went viral by Wednesday morning.
Harbaugh's knack for being everywhere is a page right out of the Urban Meyer playbook, as the Ohio State head coach used his first offseason in Columbus in 2012 to reshape his image after admittedly leaving Florida on what wasn't the best of terms. Meyer did more media appearances than usual and allowed ESPN to film the Buckeyes' fall camp for a series called Training Days, a Hard Knocks-style show that he said played to Ohio State's favor on the recruiting trail.
Harbaugh has taken that strategy and increased his efforts tenfold, as his omnipresence on TV Tuesday night showed. Whether or not his big offseason will eventually yield big results as it did for Meyer remains to be seen, but with more than three months to go until the start of the season, it's clear that the summer of Harbaugh isn't going to end anytime soon.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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