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Country Club mentally a thing of the past

ArrowheadBlue

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May 29, 2001
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CHICAGO -- Michigan's player contingent didn't arrive in Chicago this week to trash the past.

When Brady Hoke was let go last December, a large majority of the roster was crushed. They genuinely cared for their now former head coach, as he was the person who brought most all of them to campus.

But at the same time, they weren't blind.

Nothing was working. The team never found a way to win big games, and it began to find itself losing middle of the road games, too. More importantly: Guys weren't improving at an acceptable rate.

Was Michigan a soft football program under Hoke? Players weren't ready to go that far this week.

But they weren't really claiming much toughness either.

"I can remember a time on this team when a practice would run a little bit longer than we thought it would go, we'd start complaining," senior linebacker James Ross recalled Friday. "We didn't hold guys accountable the way we should've been."

A large part of Hoke's philosophy as a head coach was to put things on himself.

If a player missed a block, Hoke said it was his job to fix it. If the team lost, Hoke pointed inward. Someone dropped a pass? "I've got to coach better." Turnovers, missed tackles, missed assignments? Hoke generally tried his best to shield his players, putting the brunt on himself.

While Hoke certainly earned his fair share of the blame, the players weren't innocent either. They were the guys on the field, and they were the ones ultimately responsible for what happened on a Saturday afternoon or evening.

And throughout the process of the current Hoke-Jim Harbaugh transition, Ross says players have started to admit that to themselves. They've started to understand what it means to truly hold each other accountable day in and day out, and take control of their own attitude and work ethic.

Harbaugh basically refused to go into detail with regard to the overall culture change he's attempting to construct in Ann Arbor at the moment. But according to his players, it's simple.

He's teaching them how to be tough -- mentally, physically and everything in between.

"We started to feel it midway through spring practice. We're out there going through four hour practices. We're suffering. We're trying to do all the things we need to do, and then we're realizing there's not many teams in the country doing that -- if any," Ross says. "You start to get a type of confidence about yourself and some assurance that you're working as hard as you can, and maybe harder than anyone.

"And that's what it's about."

Those four-hour practices? Harbaugh turned those into a point of pride for the group. Players say, at first, there were guys on the roster who weren't thrilled with the idea of spending nearly every countable hour in spring on the field being pushed to the edge. They'd never gone through that before. Most teams don't do that.

But over time, Harbaugh began to single out players who never missed a minute. Harbaugh printed up T-shirts that read "I played 60 hours of Michigan football" for those who made it through all 15 four-hour practices. He also gave them perfect attendance certificates.

If you missed one day due to a groin pull, you didn't get a shirt. Had to leave the field 15 minutes early because you were too exhausted? No certificate.

"You couldn't miss a minute if you wanted one," senior linebacker Joe Bolden said.

Slowly, this all began to sink in. It didn't matter who you were, what type of recruiting ranking you boasted, if you were on Harbaugh's field for the full four hours -- sweating with everyone -- from start to finish, then you earned some respect.

And, with a coach like Harbaugh, respect is worth its weight in gold.

This philosophy carried over into the summer, players say. In past seasons, player-led workouts existed, but not like this.

The coaches can't be present with the team (save for a few NCAA-allowed hours) during the summer, and they can't force mandatory action. But the seniors can, and they did. If a player couldn't make a player-led workout, then he needed to alert a senior ahead of time -- and his excuse needed to be legit.

"In order to be successful, we had to change the things we did in the past," Ross says. "That's how it is."

Harbaugh entered the program and promised everyone a fresh slate. If he harps on the past, and Michigan's struggles throughout the last seven years, he's not admitting to it.

At the same time, though, players say he doesn't need to.

They've lived it. They were there when the team ended up with negative rushing yardage against Michigan State in 2013. They were there in 2014, for an embarrassment at Notre Dame, or clunker home showings against Utah, Minnesota and Maryland.

The seniors say they don't need any more reminders.

"I've had a bad taste in my mouth for the last couple of years," Bolden says with marked disappointment in his voice.

If there's a general consensus answer from ex-players who have played on Harbaugh-coached teams in the past, it'd be four simple words: "Get ready to work."

The stories of Harbaugh lining up for wind sprints and running hills with his team at San Diego are translating over in Ann Arbor. He's a bit older now, but it's not out of character for him to run through a conditioning drill with the team -- and push himself all the way through, as hard as he can, right to the end.

Players see that. "He's out there sweating with us," Ross says.

Michigan's developing football culture under Harbaugh, at the moment, is "more chippy" than it's been before. Harbaugh doesn't slow down, so no one around him gets to slow down. If a five-star and a walk-on are competing for a spot, they're treated the same until someone honestly wins the job.

On the outside looking in, some believed Michigan's program featured a bit of a "country club mentality." The group wasn't tough. Entitlement was an issue. If they were pushed too hard, they'd wilt.

At this point, no one's sure what the 2015 has in store for Michigan. But, if Harbaugh has his way -- come hell or high water -- no one's going to be able to call his team "soft" any more.

"I've definitely heard that a lot -- country club mentality," junior receiver Jehu Chesson says. "I still haven't wrapped my mind around exactly what that is, but what I'd say and how I'd describe it (is) there was a lot of complacency and in previous years there were a lot of expectations to just put on the helmet and win games.

"But in terms of how it's changing with coach Harbaugh, everybody is in a level playing field right now, everybody is going to compete, and you're going to earn your position. Point blank. Nothing is going to be handed to you.
 
The Country Club mentality was also a part of Loyd Carr's programs the last few years. I stated earlier in a prior post that this was now gone at Michigan-the arrogant entitlement attitude of "This is Michigan fer Godsakes" which was touted by the Hoke staff. Eactly what led them to 5-7 last year
 
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