"Momma called, and when Momma calls, you just have to come running." - Paul "Bear" Bryant

"The Bear" had just finished his fourth season as the head coach at Texas A&M when he got the call to return to Alabama, his alma mater. The Crimson Tide had won only four games in the three years prior to his arrival, but Bryant didn't hesitate - 'Bama needed him, and he came home.

Bryant stayed from 1958 through 1982, racking up titles and coaching - almost literally - until he died, succumbing after suffering a heart attack only a month after his retirement.

Five-plus decades later, Momma's on the line again - this time though, she's calling from her cell, not a rotary, and from Ann Arbor. She's ringing San Francisco and Jim Harbaugh, former U-M quarterback and current 49ers head coach for the second time in four years, and while he didn't answer last time, the timing might not be better.

NFL types believe Harbaugh will remain in the League, some going so far as to say there's "no chance" he'll go back to college. Harbaugh isn't talking about anything other than his team, as those who know him well would tell you he would never. It's all about the task at hand and winning, which is what he's done at every level and what he'd do at Michigan.

Oakland is out there, they say. The New York Jets, too, will look into a possible trade scenario with the 49ers, who reportedly tried to send Harbaugh to Cleveland last year.

Contrary to what some have reported, Michigan will be a viable option. It's in his blood, ingrained by his father, Jack (a former U-M assistant) and his former coach, Bo Schembechler. Once, as a kid, he was caught with his feet up on Schembechler's desk while leaning back in the coach's chair.

"What do you think you're doing, young man?" Schembechler barked jokingly.

"Just getting used to it," the young Harbaugh responded with a grin, noting it would be his someday.

Whether it will or won't depends on him, but he'll consider it. He did during Michigan's last coaching search before opting for San Francisco, where his relationship with the 49ers continues to fall apart. It's irreparable at this point, and he'll have plenty of other NFL teams interested.

Right now it's all about timing and fit, but it's also about following his heart.

Four years ago we interviewed Harbaugh for a feature on the 1985 Michigan team that finished 10-1-1 and No. 2 nationally with Harbaugh under center. He was an up and comer with Stanford then, ready to embark on an outstanding last season with the Cardinal. When we contacted him and told him the story would be incomplete without his input, he was quick to respond.

Nothing unusual about that, of course. However, Harbaugh was in Peru at the time for his annual pilgrimage to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity. He climbed to the top of some mountain (we exaggerate, but you get it - the guy was calling from South America) and ripped off stories and memories like they'd happened a week earlier. He remembered specific games down to the play.

There was one memory, though, he recalled most fondly. It was the play below in Michigan's game against Duke in the 1970s when he was just a young kid and his dad was still a Schembechler assistant.

"That picture ran in the Ann Arbor News," he recalled. "I cut it out and put it in my locker at school for the entire year, and maybe the next year, too."

A few years later Harbaugh was Schembechler's quarterback, starting in 1984. The Wolverines beat No. 1 Miami, Fla., but Harbaugh broke his arm against Michigan State and was lost for the year. Schembechler later recalled visiting Harbaugh in the hospital after the 19-7 loss. He was leaving the room when Harbaugh, tears in his eyes, called him back in.

"Hey Bo?" he said. "Don't forget about me, okay?"

Schembechler, a bit choked up himself, responded, "Now Jim … how am I going to forget about you?"

He didn't, of course. Harbaugh was back the next year to lead the Wolverines to their special season.

Schembechler isn't around to say, 'hey Jim - don't forget about me, okay?' And he wouldn't anyway, according to some of his former players. He'd probably fly out to San Francisco, put his finger in Harbaugh's chest and tell to get his @#$ home.

So Momma will have to do, and she's got A.D. Jim Hackett on line one. Schembechler's chair has gone cold, but it's still there waiting - and while it might stun some if Harbaugh came home to warm it up, it wouldn't shock his Michigan brethren who know him well enough to know how much he still cares.

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