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Michigan gets the daunting task of taking on Alabama in the VRBO Citrus Bowl come Jan. 1 in Orlando, and while the Wolverines have played in the game, and have also played head coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide in the past decade, this will be the first meeting between Saban and Jim Harbaugh — which is sure to draw a lot of attention.
Naturally, some of it will come because of both of their bombastic personalities, as both tend to garner national attention on a semi-weekly basis, as-is.
But also, there was this back in 2016, when Nick Saban spoke out about Harbaugh and the satellite camps he was running.
And because the poster child for satellite camps is Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh — who seems to be holding a camp in every state in the union every day of the upcoming month of June — of course his name came up.
“I’m not blaming Jim Harbaugh, I’m not saying anything about him,” Saban said, his quotes published over at Dr. Saturday. “I’m just saying it’s bad for college football. Jim Harbaugh can do whatever he wants to do. I’m not saying anything bad about him if he thinks that’s what’s best. There needs to be somebody that looks out for what’s best for the game, not what’s best for the Big Ten or what’s best for the SEC, or what’s best for Jim Harbaugh, but what’s best for the game of college football — the integrity of the game, the coaches, the players and the people that play it. That’s bigger than all of this.”
And naturally, Harbaugh, who was very active on Twitter back in those days, firing back at any rival coach who dared draw his ire — well — fired back.
"Amazing" to me- Alabama broke NCAA rules & now their HC is lecturing us on the possibility of rules being broken at camps. Truly "amazing."
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) June 1, 2016
But now that the two teams are facing off in less than a month, neither would take any of the bait.
Saban was asked simply of his impressions of Harbaugh and if he has any kind of relationship with him, and while he says he doesn’t, he does offer up some respect and admiration.
“I have a lot of respect for Jim,” Saban said. “I think he’s a great coach and has done a great job at Michigan. Done a great job every place he’s been prior to that. We have a lot of respect for the University of Michigan, their program and their tradition, and the job he’s done as a coach. I don’t know Jim Harbaugh all that well, but I do have a tremendous amount of respect for him.”
Conversely, Harbaugh was asked directly about the incident back in 2016, but he wouldn’t bite — just as he usually won’t in advance of a game.
Per usual, Harbaugh kept things quite congenial, especially not looking to rile the most decorated head coach in modern college football history.
“Good, professional and very cordial every time I’ve been around him,” Harbaugh said. “Which has been a few of the Heisman ceremonies and a basketball game pretty long time ago. Been a coach who’s admired the career and the job that he’s done.”
Of course, Harbaugh sees various challenges in facing Alabama, thus game planning has already started in earnest.
The VRBO Citrus Bowl will take place Jan. 1 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida at 1PM EST. The game will be nationally broadcast on ABC.
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