Michigan head basketball coach John Beilein joined Jim and Jack Harbaugh on this week's 'Attack Each day' podcast to discuss a number of topics, including his recovery from double bypass surgery.
We have the highlights below:
Jim Harbaugh, on being a grandfather:
“My son’s wife recently gave birth to Jacob Alexander Harbaugh, and I have to be honest — I had just been rolling along with it and knew it was coming, but can’t tell you how neat of a feeling it is knowing there will be Harbaughs for another generation.
"Selfishly, I thought about myself a little bit and the entertainment I’ll have with another boy to watch. I’ll be able to teach him how to ride a bike, climb a tree and hit a baseball.”
Jim Harbaugh, on Saturday's win over Maryland:
“Players made plays in that game. I thought [junior quarterback] Shea [Patterson] was the biggest catalyst on the entire team. [Fifth-year senior defensive end] Chase [Winovich] is playing like an animal, and [redshirt junior tight end Zach] Gentry had a great game.
"[Junior tight end] Sean McKeon may be blocking better than anyone on the entire team — he’s blocking ends, linebackers, safeties and whoever else he’s assigned to.
"[Junior linebacker] Devin Bush had a tremendous game again, and did a great job getting our defense lined up, along with [junior safety] Josh Metellus.”
Jim Harbaugh, on what he's seen from Wisconsin so far:
“They don’t beat themselves. Their quarterback [redshirt junior Alex Hornibrook] and running back [sophomore Jonathan Taylor] are tremendous players, and they have two great safeties [fifth-year senior D'Cota Dixon and redshirt freshman Scott Nelson].
"Up front, they’re big on both lines and so well-coached.”
John Beilein's health:
“I feel great. I coached for three hours yesterday, and [my wife] Kathleen thinks I’m pushing it too much, and maybe I am. I can delegate more now, and that will be one of the benefits of this.
"I’m letting others do more, and it’s working out fine. When you're a high school coach, you rely on yourself so much, but I'm learning that delegating to others is good."
John Beilein, on how his condition was discovered:
“I wanted more than a regular physical, and actually almost missed my stress test because I had to go recruiting. I left to catch a plane, and came back afterward and my doctor reminded me to get the stress test.
"They told me soon after they found blockage near my heart, and next thing I know I’m on the operating table at 5:30 in the morning.”
John Beilein:
“Through 1,200 games, I can’t remember one moment of levity during a game. I have a Catholic prayer book I read before games and it gives me peace. I look for little quotes, and figure out what the team needs to hear at that moment
"I always want to go out in front of them with plenty of confidence, even though sometimes I may not feel it beforehand. But I hope I exude it.
"I had parents who were raised during the Great Depression and always expecting something bad to happen. They grew up with such tragedy, and it's important to think about.”
John Beilein, on the adversity his parents faced:
“My mother grew up with 13 in her family. She had four cousins and they all enlisted in the war after Pearl Harbor. Two of her first cousins were killed in action, and one was found still alive a while later in Burma — they thought he had been dead for a year and a half.
"My mother’s aunt said she could always feel he was still alive, and one day he came walking through the door.
"Events like that made that generation so tough. We all try and protect our children from adversity, but some of it is good and you just have to embrace it.”
Jack Harbaugh:
“The thing that got to me the most from our trip to Normandy were the gravestones that read ‘Known only to God.’
"Parents and grandparents who went over there having lost someone were left with those."
John Beilein, on what led him to Luke Yaklich:
“We’re all copycats in coaching, and when I saw Jim get Don Brown a few years ago, I started looking at the best defensive field goal percentage teams in the country, and who had been coaching them.
"Luke Yaklich has been incredible for us. He and Don Brown are making us look like really good coaches.
"We chart all the players' defensive performances in practice, and [junior point guard] Zavier [Simpson] has allowed his man to take only about six shots so far, post-Spain.”
John Beilein:
"We had Wisconsin beat in 2013 at Madison, and it would've been the first time we'd ever won there. Timmy Hardaway hit a three with 2.5 seconds left to put us up three, and we called a timeout — we had a foul to give, and it was like, 'we're going to win this game.'
"We were trying to foul, but instead they threw up a half court shot and it goes in, and they beat us in overtime — I thought it was the end of the world. You grow from adversity though.
"Later that year, we went to the Final Four and faced the same play against both Syracuse and Kansas in the NCAA Tournament, and we defended it better and won both games."
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