Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh raised the energy at the university football facility with a guest appearance from pro wrestling legend Ric Flair.
A few hours later, Harbaugh took to the microphone to remind critics of the program can feel free to unload on him, but not his family or players.
“Nobody wants criticism. That’s why I work so hard to do everything right – both on and off the field. Because it’s been that way for a long time, since I was 22 years old,” said Harbaugh, whose Wolverines are now listed as the favorite to win the College Football Playoff ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Penn State (8-1, 5-1).
Harbaugh said Michigan (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) has remained focused on being at its best each week. He credited his players for not being distracted by headlines and topics involving the NCAA probe into the involvement of staffer Connor Stalions allegedly spearheading an advanced scouting mission to provide players and coaches opponent hand signals and other play calls.
“I mean, they just work. They just want to find some work, do some work. Something could be in their personal life, something could be in the game of football or school – some kind of stressor or whatever. You just go to work,” Harbaugh said Monday. Find some work, create some work for you to do. It clears the mind, it cleanses the soul. And a lot of times you get the clarity you need. Not every time, but a lot of the time you get the clarity you need and bang, that’s where we go from here. And then you have the benefit – you have the benefit of the work that you did. And that’s always been my personal philosophy. And I see our players doing the same thing.”
Harbaugh wouldn’t get into whether he cares about the respect or appreciation of opposing coaches after reports of a group call with Big Ten officials last week imploring the conference to act on perceived violations by Michigan.
“I appreciate your question on that, respect it and know that you have to ask that. I’ve stated my position clearly and just not in a position to discuss it now,” he said.
Penn State head coach James Franklin said Monday he will steer players toward the game on the field and executing their own scheme. As for what he thinks of the Michigan plot to videotape coaches sending in signals and plays, and allegedly buying tickets to film coaches in person, Franklin wasn’t interested in sharing his thoughts.
“I know these questions are going to come this week. I’m gonna focus on the things that we can control,” Franklin said. “We always have to have a plan. I think I’ve already kind of covered this and talked about this in terms of what we do and how we communicate to our players and how we communicate to our team during games. But I’m going to leave it at that because less is more.”
–Field Level Media