Michigan Football: Harbaugh Defends His Defense Of The Program

It got a bit uncomfortable when an Ohio reporter took it upon himself to represent Ohio State’s football program at Monday’s Big Ten Media Day session in Chicago, challenging Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh for his response to a comment by OSU A.D. Gene Smith.

Smith had mentioned that his program was in a “different place” and didn’t need to travel to Florida for spring practice like U-M did when it practiced at Bradenton IMG Academy for a week. Harbaugh responded with a tweet congratulating Smith for overcoming the tattoo scandal under former coach Jim Tressel.

Cleveland.com’s Doug Lesmerises spent a few minutes trying to figure out “why he makes things very personal.”

“I would put that in the category if someone shoots one over your bow, you shoot one back over their bow,” Harbaugh said. “Usually I subscribe to the ‘sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me’ philosophy. But when somebody talks about somebody you love or something you love or makes a personal attack, you have a right to shoot one over their bow. That’s the category I would put that in.”

Lesmerises wasn’t done, however. He said he’d seen Harbaugh at satellite camps and that he seemed like “two different guys” at times. He also asked if he’d apologized to Alabama head coach Nick Saban or Georgia’s Kirby Smart for responding to comments with tweets, as well, adding there was a different level in the reaction.

“We disagree. I thought it was the same intensity both ways,” Harbaugh said of his reaction to Smith. “If [an apology is] warranted, I will. I didn’t feel like it was that specific case.

“I don’t think there are any apologies necessary [to Saban or Smart]. You do the best job you possibly can … I have not made any apologies for those specific tweets. I did not think they were necessary.”

Lesmerises continues to push the subject before Harbaugh shut him down.

“You have your opinion. I appreciate it; you’ve given it,” he said. “Someone made a joke about us and our program, and we fired one back over their bow, and it was warranted. I still believe it was warranted, and I don’t think there’s an apology necessary.”

But he has apologized for things he’s said at times, he insisted.

As for the talk that he’s in the headlines all the time, most recently for making a rap song and video with artist Bailey:

“I’m really not, I’m not in the headlines all the time,” he said.

“Specifically … about the rap video. I said, ‘why not?’ My default answer is yes. That would be great. I had fun writing some of the lyrics, had some input in that. I was in the video. It was fun. The feedback has been great. I’ve gotten texts from people, people stopping and telling me it was good. We did not embarrass ourselves with that. It was a respectable song and video.”

All ‘cool people’ like it, he quipped.

“Some uptight people don't, but there are very few. That’s what I would say with that,” he said, noting he wrote the ‘Roughest team in the B.I.G. ‘ lyric.

“Only uptight white people that don’t like it,” he added with a laugh.