Spring Tour: Jim Harbaugh (Michigan)

Ladies, gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the bust In Spring Tour. We've had a couple of the boys on, but right now we have the Krem de La Krem of the University of Michigan, the man that everybody wanted, including when I was here from two thousand and nine to thirteen, Coach Harblell.

Let's give it up for coach.

Yes, outstanding, outstanding. This this is obviously presented by the most durable, reliable vehicle on the market, one that you can get up and just go no, it's never going to break down on you, the Chevy Silverado.

Coach. Glad to have you on the show. Thank you so much for coming on.

Yeah, I have a Silverado, did you? Yeah?

It was probably pretty amazing, wasn't it. He was.

Yeah, I had two thousand and four all the way to have twenty fifteen or so, and then passed it down to one of my kids.

And that's probably still going to this day. It is question about it. It's a legacy vehicle. Chevy's are for legacy. It really is.

So last week we're so we're doing this spring tour. We went to Nebraska last week, Michigan this week. And then we're going to hit Tennessee at some point. But when we were at Nebraska, we were talking to Scott Frost and we brought up this idea, and I want to get your vibe, your thought.

Do you want to show them the clip? Well, before we do that, I'll bring up the clip. I'll run up the clip. You ask about the talk about the fight when we when.

We were when we were talking to Scott Frost, we asked him who would you lose to in a fight in the Bag ten?

And he kind of was, I don't know at first. Then he brought up you.

He said, if all the coaches in the Bay ten, if he had to fist fight him, he would probably have the hardest time with you, because how scrapy you are, high energy guy through the roof getting after you. Guys, Who do you think? Who do you think that fight would go between the two of them? Cool? How a fight would with me?

Yeah?

And Scott Frost, I would say, I mean, are you coming out on top of that?

I don't know if I could whip anybody. Uh uh, I'm sure all the coaches in Big ten are tough. Yeah, I would have to say, because I wouldn't concede. I mean, I haven't here's the deal. I haven't been in a street fight in about twenty years. So Scott Frost would definitely. He's a thicker dude.

Definitely, Yeah, he would. I mean I would.

I mean, if I weren't pick anybody, I mean, who would all come in? Scott Fross, Mel Yeah, Tucker.

Uh. Those would probably be my two favorites to go against or you might lose to.

You'd probably be that would be you know that you'd put it, yeah, be the most worrisome.

Yes, yeah, yeah, because you know you're not worried about Ryan Day. You know that's the type of guy. I mean, after what you guys.

Did do, I don't know if I could whip anybody.

Yeah, Now, you know what, I love it. Very political of you, and I love that. But the way you guys put it on Ohio State I had to be one of the greatest feelings for as a coach playing here, going through that, and of all the games you played, you've played in the super Bowl, you've done almost everything, that's got to be the best. One of the best feelings.

Yeah, none better. I can tell you that. Like like anything with a win. You know, they're like they're like your own children. You know, I got seven kids and you.

Love them all.

Yeah, you know you really do. Uh that's that's what every win feels like. But uh yeah, certainly none better than that that game with Ohio State here in the Big House.

You know, our team was they were they were.

Highly motivated, they played, uh played extremely well, executed great and was uh uh is everything was a dream you know kind of season and uh you know that game was that was the act.

It was, It was absolutely everything.

Speaking of rivalries, we're trying to get a little something going between the boys, and.

It sounds like it's halfway there. It's it's halfway there. Once you know it's halfway there.

I'm gonna show you a clip of Scott Frost talking about it. Taylor played in Michigan, I played in Nebraska. You guys OUs played obviously played. Do you guys play every year or is it you guys played two years in a row and then off two or do you know?

I do know?

They they've got this, They've got the Big Ten has had this scheduling system where where the East plays the West and everybody's gonna play each other.

The same lot of times.

Uh, but it's gonna take fifty six years to do it.

Tell me some good schedule. Yeah, it's it's, it's.

It's it's Uh yeah, it's it's. It's mind boggling.

But like we've played, Nebraska or Wisconsin has been our crossover game for like the last eight years, and now it's gonna becomes.

Uh, it's gonna become Nebraska is gonna be who we play the next eight years.

Oh, this is perfect.

Over fifty six years, everybody will play each other eight times.

Yeah, that's hilarious. Number one, but this is perfect for the situation we're talking about.

This is here.

You can hit watch again and listen to the clip.

Okay, watch watch again.

Okay, it's my voice close. Whoever wins, it's the battle of the bus. It's a giant gold.

Bus with long if you make the trophy.

And so once you give me your first initial reaction to the feeling of that, cool, I love that. It's a great start. I love the one word too. Is it a possibility?

Uh, well here's what I do. Yeah, absolutely, I mean you just I mean why not?

I mean, there's Nebraskas Michigan can do whatever you want, right, you guys make the.

Trophy and then then we played for it.

You know, it's like so.

There's no like loopuls if you with the NCAA or a Big ten.

When I was when I was a coach at the University of San Diego, our our main rival was Dayton, and uh, and we came up with the idea as a team, let's let's get let's get something to play for between us and Dayton. So we made a flag and it was half San Diego and half Dayton.

Yeah, you know, one was blue and white and the other was red and white.

And uh, we made this flag and then we took it to the game and we won. And then after the game I went up to the other coach and said, this flag we made back here we out of respect for the for your program and our program. We we wanted to have something to play for in this game. Now we want it this year, so we'll keep it. But you know, if you beat us, then you can have the flag and we'll we'll go back and forth.

And they were totally cool with it.

I don't think they were cool. They weren't cool till they won it.

Yes, and then they took.

Yeah, they weren't. Yeah, they I don't think they recognized it at all until they won it and then it was there was Yeah. So I would say this is perfect. Under that precedent, you could make a trophy and then whoever wins it takes that trouble.

Well you hoisted like you win your are you going to be proud? Like, let me see that bus trophy and hold it up.

Because if you think, if you think about it this way, the Brown Jug between Michigan and Minnesota, it's a great trophy. But like the backstory, we left a water water bottle there and then yeah, we left the water jug. Then we called like, hey, we need that back and you gotta win it if you want to get it, if you.

Want it, you gotta come. You gotta come win it.

Yeah, and so this is are we Uh.

We went to our lawyer, We went to our legal team, and we had something. We had something drawn up here. If you would want to just sign and say like you're down to do it, says I Jim Harball, agree to making Nebraska Michigan game the bust and Bowl.

Oh let's go.

This is listen, this might not mean a whole lot to you, but this is everything to us. It's electric. This is an electric factory happening right now. And standing I don't think you know what you get yourself into. You're gonna see a lot more of us.

And somebody in the building had mentioned maybe it was maybe some of the maybe it might have been the players.

Maybe they saw your show.

They say, hey, here, we're playing Nebraska for a trophy, uh next year, and said, I said.

Cool hip. It's a it's the first I've heard of it.

But now this kind of feels in.

My heart's warm and fuzzy right now, you know. And you saw your wife for the first time in her white dress. It's a Michigan guy, Nebraska guy. Yeah, you know together that was insane.

Yeah, what an atmosphere that that, uh, game day.

Experience and memorial was off the chain.

As the young people say, you know, uh, the music the third the thing they do between the third and the fourth.

Cour when the lights go off in the red lights.

Yeah, what's the song they play?

It's a Metallica song or heavy metal song.

It is tough.

But I know, I know, you know that, I know I should know that. I was in the momentary, joked that ye thunder, that's like the number one. When he looked at me and started saying, well the song, my heart started just beating.

I don't know right now, you were thinking about the true So it's kind of like when the Steelers.

That's awesome though, by the way, I think that's awesome. Yeah, let's do it really.

Yeah the eighty doesn't have to sign off on it.

Oh he might, but either way, we coaches are like, yeah, let's let's competely do.

Let's do it.

I meanding, yeah, these back here. Yes, hey guys, if you guys.

Comet rules.

Apologized, there's rules on that.

Huh.

You can't talk to everybody. You just want to make sure. That's making sure.

Yeah, one hundred percent. Speaking of rules, a lot of things have changed. The n I L deals have been have been a big transition to college football.

What what do you see Michigan doing? Because we had a couple of the offensive linman on. To be brutally honest, I'm a little disappointed because I was like, hey, what are your an ile deals? Like mister Spots, which is a fantastic place, keep an amazing guy. I love him to death. But at Nebraska, kids are making one hundred thousand dollars over there, and that's gonna I mean, Lincoln's not much to look at, but they, I mean, kids are gonna come for that six figure deal.

I don't know if he's allowed to talk too much about Oh yeah, I don't know if because you guys aren't allowed to really be a part.

Of No, we can't be a part of it. But kay fingerprints on it, which we don't. But I mean, i'll give you my my my take on it, which absolutely, I think it's a very good thing. I think players should be able to profit up for their name, image and likeness.

But I don't.

I don't want to lose what Michigan is, and that's that it's a transformational experience, not a transactional experience. But with the Ni NI L it can become transactional. So I'm not We're not going to recruit players and be promising them money to come here. But if you do, it's been proven, you come here and you play well, then your he starts selling. You start getting these deals.

So hundreds of thousands. That's six figures, right, and that's that experience. That's absolutely correct experience.

But that I mean, yeah, beats so that kind of like the transformational experience, uh, you know, can can become transactional if if you if you play good.

I think that's a good model.

I mean yeah, you would you ever want to be on a team where some guys just coming coming in and he's getting he's getting.

Money to come in like and hadn't done anything.

I lived that life right now in the NFL. It's kind of like what it is every day, right, yeah, it is. It is kind of crazy. The thing that is becoming more transactional in the college football world is this uh transfer portal. Because when I was playing, it was like if you transferred, you to sit out a year, it can't be in conference. There's all these crazy rules, and now it kind of seems like a free for all.

Yeah.

And the other side of the coin to me, why I was always for the transfer portal was because it didn't seem fair that of the thirty eight sports or forty sports that there are in college sports, there was only four at the time that you couldn't just freely transferred to another school if you wanted to, right, football, men's basketball, I think it was women's basketball, and the other was hockey.

Now I'm not one hundred.

Percent that those are the four, but all the rest of the sports, all the country club sports, all all other sports, they've always been able to transfer freely without having to sit out. So that's why I was four to man. Should I mean the rules should be really uniform for all the sports.

Right, And.

Yeah, I mean if just like if your if your son or daughter wasn't having a good experience someplace, I mean, they should have the ability to go to a to a school where they can't get that great college experience.

Yeah, with that stuff, I'm so sorry for cutting off. Well, I just wanted to finish the thought.

But my worry with all that stuff is, like, you know, a lot of times when the way like kids are growing up now, even like in our childhood, a little bit of the participation trophy thing when you go somewhere and you don't get that instant gratification like is there like kids are more bounded to get up and like, well I'm not getting what I want to leave. It's not necessarily a there's just ways to manipulate that process. It's not saying like I'm having a bad experience at

Now. I mean you bring up a good point. I mean, does it does it hurts?

Hurts the experience of working through a tough time, having some endurance, having some resilience.

I mean tough to argue that one.

Yeah, I think for overall though I think it, I think it's.

A good thing.

Does it make it hard?

Like knowing that the pivot it's kind of made with the transportal and then all the nil stuff happening that uh, that feel for taking on an extra gig to where it seems like you've got to recruit these kids all

Well, I mean, first of all, I try to try to be that in terms of recruiting, be the uh be the kind of coach, be the kind of place where uh underpromising and over delivering. Uh And yeah, so I try to try to deliver every day you know that they're here to make it, make it a transformational type of college experience for them.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Man, that is outstanding as far as like uh under promising, overdeliver.

I heard you're quite the recruiter. Now, I wasn't not the opportunity as bro and not have the.

Opportunity to get recruited by you. When you were at Stanford. You were recruiting a player and I don't know if you remember him, Craig Row. Yeah, he actually came to Michigan. Yeah, he came here and you came to my high school and they're like, hey, you gotta look at this kid. Taylor l Wand is kind of coming up and he looked at my transcript, and you know, it's.

Not going to work out there.

It's not gonna work out with the Stanford not work out at all. So but I've heard like you stay, you come over in cleats, you're staying over at houses, Like what what makes you want to recruit in such a unique way?

Uh?

Well, there was right. I mean some of the things get.

Us undred percent right. It's a fish story.

I never were not that I can ever remember, or no did I ever wear cleats to somebody's house. And I always take my shoes off when I when I come from.

Really that's important to know. That's important to know. Always we had you know who A J. Brown is? A J Brown wide receiver.

Here we went to old miss Okay, and I believe we might be wrong on who we could be wrong to be wrong.

He said that you didn't take your shoes off, and his mom got mad.

I always take.

That have been Isaiah will say you get to complete line. Is I take exception to that, okay, And I respect my mom and.

Dad would take exception to that. Yeah, yeah, that would be very offensive to the whole training.

That is one of your u Like, what is one of your unique recruiting pitches that you've swung and missed on?

Like, what's something you look back on you're like, all right, maybe.

I'll scrap that and then, you know, do something different, Like what's a recruiting store that didn't go your way?

Well when you're starting out.

As far as far as I mean again the pitch, I mean, I'm not like the there's probably a lot of people better in terms of the car salesman type of pitch or the h I'm pretty much I tell you what it is. I mean, it's the same thing my dad told me when I was in high school trying to decide what, you know, what's the best school here? My dad said, son, this is the ABC's of picking at college. A academics go where you can get the

That's going to be home? So uh easy.

ABC rememberable and you know, I found to be spot on, and that's been the same advice that I've I've given hundreds and thousands of kids, uh ash as in my role as a head coach.

Yeah, do you have a good Do you have a good recruiting story where something was just well, I'll give you an example. We had Bo Polini on He came on the bus back in Nashville, uh huh, and we were talking to him about recruiting scores and he told this recruiting story where he went. It was either in Florida, Texas.

There is no recollection. You haven't never had any kind of any kind of situation that hasn't been been been great. I mean it's it's always the same. I mean wherever you go, I mean you go and you got you got families that uh, you know, really care about their son and uh you know they're they're they're they want they.

Want what's best for their son, not watching porn.

Brain development, right, A tough deal.

Cerebellum, Yeah, you know, domine I want to say there's another.

One where they you know, you get into the thing I think. I mean one thing I think that always strikes me every time. It is uh, you know, go out and recruit wherever it is, I mean across the country. It's like football is really strong. I mean people really really love football. And uh and yeah, family and the families are strong. Souls are two things that always are super encouraging to me when I'm going out and hitting the recruiting trailer making home visits.

Yeah.

Well, being a guy that played at Michigan, and like I said before, when we first started this podcast, like when I got here, Rich Rodriguez was here and then Rich it wasn't going great. Everyone's like we gotta get horrible. That's the guy, the Michigan man. We got to get him, and then Brady Hope comes in and Brady at the end of Brady Hoasting.

You're like, harble, we got to get him.

So being a guy that played here, your experience like in college and then coming back here, like how much different was it for you to see, like, you know, thirty years later where you're at.

It's been great. I mean I've just always had a love love.

Relationship with Michigan. Always been extremely blessed and just have a lot of gratitude, attitude of gratitude for this place everything it's it's done for me personally and my family and just everything. You know how some people you probably know, you know, your own school Michigan or your own school in Nebraska. I mean they sometimes they had that love

Yeah, this place, you know I didn't do enough or didn't do sounds like me, that sounds like me. Absolutely no love it, you know what I mean.

And if there's yeah, stuff that you know didn't go your way or you weren't you know whatever I mean, it was.

That's that's life. Yeah, that's stuff, you know that.

But the things that I was taught here by my coach, Bo Schambeckler.

The legend, the legend.

Yeah, I mean they just priceless, Like I mean, nuggets of gold that I was able to receive, you know, when I was eighteen to twenty two years old.

So forever, forever, forever, thankful.

Shall we get into the I think it's time because I know we're at the twenty one mark now and we gotta go.

We got a couple of good ones. Ask absolutely.

So this last segment, oh dang, oh no, all the product last segment is brought to us by Duke Cannon, the official scent of Bustle with the.

Boys, and it's a phenomenal product. Huge deal. Hey did that dude take my cologne?

Oh? He did?

Who did the one? I was going to put the fist finger in it? Zenter, Oh bro it smells phenomenal. Get a whipp of this. So this aint says Bush, I got you hooking up. This is Bush. But give this thing a nice little smell, honest opinion on it.

This is a setup.

No genuine it's kind of nice, right, really nice. You didn't know what you smell with that with that bush local on the outside. Yeah, you never know what you're get.

Yeah.

Absolutely, I've always been a brute man myself.

But uh, rub your finger and that and smell that that's not a set.

Kind of like give that thing a little Yeah, that's nice. It tends to be in every locker room calls.

Are you guys the kind of show that gives the guests a little gift for coming on the show?

We were we plan on that. Here's the issue.

So we had the last to be radio shows back in the day we do that.

We had Trevor Or, Zach has yours. We had three. You were one main one on Cade was we didn't know if Zach and Trevor was coming.

On, but it would be great for tradition for you guys to bring back. That was a kid growing up in Michigan. Ernie Harwell used to do the Tigers games. Legendary George Kell and Ernie Ernie Harwy. They would always have somebody on either in the post game or the pregame interview, and I think the tagline was always thanks for coming on, you receive a pair of Floorsheim shoes, which we're kind of dress shoes.

Nice deal, bring that back. You doesn't have to be floor shym shoes. It could be could. I think that's a phenomenal idea. That's a great idea.

But she's saying like she's gonna get the whole line boxes, she's gonna You're obviously gonna get a pack.

You're gonna get one ship. It's really his good.

But this last segment and talking about locker room and everything like that. You've obviously been in the coaching game for over two decades, for over twenty years, but you were a player for fifteen seasons, bro Like you were there Walter Payton' rookie year.

You were coached by Mike Ditka.

You were a baller like me when I was a kid, and you got money and the books Fair came to your school and you bought those posters you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, you're Indianapolis Coast poster was hanging in my room. So you've played a lot of ball before you were a coach and all this madness, all

Night out, something that you just love to tell that.

You wouldn't normally tell in like a mainstream media show. Like so many, so many.

We can go one at a time.

We got time all yeah, I mean again, you've been in the game for over thirty years, bro, both player and coaching. But I can't say, like, I know you've been a meat peaker, right, Like we joke with all the players. Hey, hang on, we say with all the players like I'm the guy like that would go. We'll go around and practice during walk through. Hey, be honest, man, do you peek in the shower stuff like that, like busting balls with the guys? And I know you remember what that was like number one?

Where does it?

What were you meat peaker back back in your playing days? Come on, man, that's tough. That's a tough lie.

That is a tough lie.

We always because I would go around and I told like Sas Taylor, I beg you know, I bet you eighty percent of guys say they don't they don't peak in the shower.

But sometimes you just notice in general. Yeah, sometimes you just notice in general.

Right, But all that being said, we know you know what it's like to be one of the boys. I want you to take us back a nice little story that you can give. That's Jim Harball the football player.

Give us that.

Maybe, Dick, maybe a game you think back on your fuck I really wish I would have had that game back.

Maybe it's something with Dick guy.

I know he was a crazy I know he was like a crazy bastard. The well night I was coaching Walter Payton. You were with him for one year as a rookie when you got drafted first round. Congratulations, all right, that sparked something right there.

I love a you kept treading and then Life Preserver came out. Yes, that's outstanding.

So my first game ever, getting ready to play the Miami Dolphins preseason game.

It was actually the first.

Time they Joe Robbie Stadium had just gotten opened up. So first game at Joe Robbie Stadium and I'm sitting at my locker already had everything dressed ready to go, just waiting to go out for pregame, and uh, Walter Payton comes up task me on his shoulder and he goes, you nervous, And I said, no, first round pick played. I played at Michigan, you know, and then for one hundred worth, one hundred thousand people every week. He goes, well, I am. I get nervous before every game I play.

Like yeah, you know, and I was really nervous.

All the butterflies were doing cartwheels in my stomach and uh yeah. I took that piece of advice with me, uh the rest of my career and uh and it works. Me go hit somebody, you know, hit somebody right at your at your offensive live and the defense get tackled. I mean, get get that first hit, uh in a football game, and those those butterflies go.

I feel like kids sitting around a campfire.

That nerve that nerve and then you I need that first play because the worst part of it before a game. I'm sure you remember this playing was after warm ups, going back in the locker room before you go play. And then that point, for me, it's like, god, we just we just go play now, and Souse, you just want to get that first hitting, and as soon as you get the first hit, you're like all the nervousness of what could happen is out the window.

Yeah, crescendos.

I mean it's like, uh, you go back in after warm ups, Hey, you go to the bathroom, you do it, you know, you get your uniform, everything feeling good and comfortable, and you're kind of sitting there and then all of a sudden, I mean, the coach, every coach has ever ever coached football, right two minutes, calls everybody up and then you just come up and you just looking at each other, right, I mean staring, Yeah, like okay, this is it, trying to go to battle and uh yeah, that's then.

You run out and Butterflies get that first right down. National anthems goes on. You're trying to.

Be your patriotself and you're like, you just got to play exactly that's what.

That's the way you should be.

That's the way you should be.

I mean it should be.

That's the way you should go into a game.

I mean the uh like a thoroughbred racehorse when he when he when they try them out for that Bugler's call at the Kentucky Derby or whatever.

I mean, the ones that are winning. I mean you can see, you can see the heart.

Pounded, nostrils are flaring, eyes wide open, right, I mean they got a sweat going. I mean, this isn't like, uh, some horse that's taking people around in New York City, you know, pulling a cart.

You know they're there.

Yeah, yeah, that's what your ten.

But we're talking about it this morning, like you know, not naming anything, but talking about circle in a certain game. But it's just like yo, you just you got to get the fight started. Yeah, analogies just like you know, don't wait, like.

Go fu school.

Yeah, first one, the first one getting started. Bro, Like when you grow up and your parents talk to you about getting a fight. You never started, but you make sure you're finished it. To have a mentality like with football, is like you got to start it right away.

That's the only way to do it.

You go in there and you throw the first punch and then just keep swinging to you're exhausted.

You a little.

Uh my dad trained me, I'm gonna fight like you want to get the first.

What did you do with?

What do you like? Get you like? Hey, son, come down like push you.

A little bit.

Yeah, my grandfather was a boxer, uh said my professional boxer had about nine fights.

And uh, my dad could handle himself really well.

But uh yeah, he's Uh, you never want to if you're facing off a guy, you never want to you never want to be squared to him. You want to come in a slight, slight angle, and you want to always throw the first punch and you go for the tip of the nose. Why the tip of the nose, because that's the most sensitive part and will bleed.

It will first, it will bleed, you know.

You know, and uh and the easiest and a lot of people when they taste their own blood there sometimes their their will and their resolve. Well yeah, well lessen mightily. So hey, you're firing me up right now. Scott in trouble. I think he'd be got up. But he's a big dude, Like he's like a little more girthy, would.

You make you demonstrate and be like, all right, do you do it? He's angry to he's angry guy, Yeah, Scott, Yeah yeah.

He seemed calm, cool, collect But we went out to practice the next day and there was a fight or something that practice and.

Look at his eye, you know, looking at Yeah, hey, would you not a little crazy matter of fact?

Would you take when you saw the clip of your brother shaking Rabel's hand, they had a little disagreement.

Are you sitting there like, oh yeah, John, Hey, John, don't know brother guy.

Yeah, that's how he kind of gave him.

That was that was I was texting.

He's like, hey, throw the first punch, don't get the start out because he came in and John said something to him and Rabel kind of did this thing.

Didn't look.

Dog each other.

Over a thing that the Titans we've done forever. Is we're just going to goes down stomp in the middle field.

Happened to the Raves.

Everyone taking it, Oh.

No doubt they were. They were absolutely pissed. Hey, this has been awesome. It's that game too, No, not that one they did won a divisional game. Yeah, yeah, matter, but we won that game that we're talking about, the.

Divisional game, y'all, the one that mattered the most. Okay, I said, y'all, like it's you, guys. Man, he's always taken on you. You strike me as a guy that and we can be done whenever you want. We're kind of just mudding the water now. But you show me as a guy that's always got his mind on ball, like constantly focused on the prize at hand, which is

Yeah, we're just exactly.

Yeah, Yeah, it's been a pleasure.

Did you used to get after it as a player, like off the field at night?

No, you were like you were like.

Buttoned upball American quarterback, like you know, never got into some trouble. Like all you got to say is, oh, yeah, I used to get after and then that's it. I don't need a story. I'm just wondering, like.

Like a lifetime ago. Yeah for having us with this show.