Jim Harbaugh is perhaps the most polarizing individual in the college football world. While the media receives blame for "propping up" Harbaugh based on his wide-scale appeal, Michigan's head coach is also divisive among his peers in the profession and it is tough for some football coaches to hide their emotions and feelings when discussing Harbaugh and his work.
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This point was driven home again this week due to a video from ESPN, in which 13 head coaches were interviewed from around the country with the simple premise of a word association for Harbaugh. The full video can be found here, but Ace Anbender of MGoBlog put forth a couple of fantastic GIFs to encompass what transpired.
Florida head coach Jim McElwain, who was famously toppled (by a wide margin) by Harbaugh and Michigan in last season's Citrus Bowl, was basically speechless:
Then, Indiana's Kevin Wilson used "different" to describe Harbaugh while making... a face.
Somewhat amusingly, Ohio State's Urban Meyer provided the most inherently positive description of Harbaugh, calling his arch rival "excellent" and some of the coaches were generally upbeat about the question. Still, it was not difficult to decipher some deeply buried feelings about Harbaugh, and a handful of the coaches polled seemed to scrape for politically correct responses.
In addition to the coaches mentioned above, Florida State's Jimbo Fisher, Pittsburgh's Pat Narduzzi, Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Missouri's Barry Odom, Miami's Mark Richt, Louisville's Bobby Petrino (who has been in the news lately), Auburn's Gus Malzahn and North Carolina's Larry Fedora were prominently featured.
Jim Harbaugh isn't going to change anytime soon, and that sets up endless entertainment for people who enjoy the sport of college football.
