Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh talks to the media after the annual spring football game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Saturday, April 4, 2015. The practice which was open to the public who came to see the new look Michigan football under Harbaugh who returns to coach his alma mater. The Blue team beat the Maize team 7-0.
(Photo: Eric Seals)
Since Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh was hired Dec. 30, there has been an unprecedented level of interest and expectations in the program.
"I know I'm making a word up, but it's Hollywood-ified," U-M linebacker Joe Bolden said on a Big Ten conference call today. "It's, at times, very surreal, just being in the community, especially with coach Harbaugh coming in. A lot of people see him -- I use the comparison of Superman. The first three weeks, he was at a lot of basketball games and even helped some woman out of her car after a wreck on 94.
"I would say, surrounding the program, very Hollywood-ified."
But inside Schembechler Hall, it's a different approach, trying to mold the team in Harbaugh's image.
"Within the program, the intensity and the enthusiasm of going out every day and competing and not only competing on the field, it never stops," Bolden said. "Just being in meeting rooms and when we're working out and running and stuff, too, the competition and enthusiasm, it's in every aspect of this building right now."
The challenge is living up to the expectation that Harbaugh's magnetism will lead to victories.
"To me, the 2014 season is over, the 2015 season is beginning," Bolden said. "Nobody has won a game, nobody has lost a game. It's whoever gets their act together and really comes to play this fall and is ready to compete in every game, whether it's a very large game or the last game in November or the first game in September or late August. I have high expectations for this football team and I'm sure many people do.
"If we work hard and we get things done and really focus on what we need to get done and attack it with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind and with intensity, then I think it's as hard as you make it."
That "enthusiasm" phrase is a Harbaugh mantra.
As for the coach himself, outside expectations don't affect him.
"Fans have a constitutional right to expect success and have high expectations," Harbaugh said. "Players, coaches, staff, we all have high expectations, too. We have really high expectations for this week's workouts and continuing to get stronger, faster, better."
This post was edited on 4/17 10:09 AM by ArrowheadBlue
