are going to have any chance of winning at Michigan

This story appears in ESPN The Magazines College Football Preview issue. Subscribe today!?Out there?...? snip?...?Jim is a really big deal?...?snip snipIn here, in this chair, hes still a big deal?...?snip snip snip?...?we just dont treat him like one ... we treat him like Jim.snipBill Stolberg is talking, snipping, smiling, just as he has for the past four decades, holding court in the flatiron-shaped building at the crossroads of the University of Michigan campus. Hes talking about Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh, whose haircut is crafted within this very Barbicide-anointed shrine, the State Street Barber Shop.He just comes in and sits right there, says Stolberg, pointing to the window seat. I dont know when hes coming. I dont make a big deal out of it when he does. He reads the newspaper, and we talk about anything but football?...?unless, of course, he wants to talk football. But I dont think thats why he comes here. He comes here to just feel like a regular guy for a few minutes. There arent many places in this town where he can do that.There arent many places in any college town where a headliner football coach can do that. Players come and go. The coach is the biggest star, and everywhere he goes, hes on the job. Every grocery run includes free recruiting tips from dads picking up milk. The oil-change tech has suggestions on how to defend the spread. Every sandwich comes with a side of Coach, can we take a selfie? And so it is that big-time coaches face the eternal search for an oasis, be it on a lake, in a corner booth, under a car, anyplace theyll be mostly left alone -- even if said refuge is covered in hair clippings. Heres your exclusive tour of the nations coaching hideouts.Can you hear him now? No? Good. North Carolina coach Larry Fedora finds a cloak of invisibility beneath his beloved 64 Corvette. Its a funny thing. When Im working on my Vette, my cellphone doesnt seem to work all that great, he says.Walking in a briar patchWhen he arrived at Washington State in 2011, Mike Leach took up walking to and from the office, usually even in winter. The trek takes him 40-55 minutes, including a 10-15 minute hike through a field of garbanzo beans that leaves his socks covered in burrs. Its also good exercise, Leach once noted: Two birds, one stone.Dead turkeys dont offer game plansFlorida States Jimbo Fisher wanders into the woods of southern Georgia to hunt turkeys. Says Fisher: I have yet to have a turkey tell me what I should do to stop Deshaun Watson.A 3-iron and a bucket of ballsFor Bob Stoops, entering his 18th season at Oklahoma, sanctuary is the far end of the university golf course driving range. In the offseason, he might sneak in nine holes before anyone notices the most famous Sooner is going for the green in two. You have to go somewhere other than the film room, and you have to go somewhere where there basically isnt a football to be found.No one got between the Bear and his ham steakAt the Waysider in Tuscaloosa, Alabamas Paul Bear Bryant ate the same breakfast-ham steak and eggs-at the same table nearly every weekday morning. Back then, people wouldnt bother him. Today, 33 years after his death, people still sit in that two-seat corner table topped by the coachs bust.Take a seat at the Table of Truth Another OU legend, Barry Switzer, found peace at the Table of Truth at Othellos Italian restaurant in Norman. The eaterys owner is said to have established the table that, legend has it, will shake if you tell a lie while sitting there.The purifying waters of Lake BurtonAlabamas Nick Saban hides at Lake Burton in the northeast corner of Georgia, tooling around on his pontoon boat with wife Terry. Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss, who also has a place there, says Saban just shows up at my place on his Jet Ski. The six-time national champion explains: I have two normals. I have football normal, and I have lake normal.Overtime on relaxingFrank Beamer, just retired from Virginia Tech, says he could never relax when he was coaching so hes working overtime on relaxing now. He was reacting to a recently tweeted photo of himself, from a parody account, being pampered in a salon with the caption: [That feeling when] you give the exact same press conference for 28 years and then go get a pedicure and milkshake.Losing himself in books Now-retired legend Steve Spurrier, widely known as the most competitive coach-golfer, is also a ravenous reader who kept a huge library at home and the office, half football, half non-football.Mack Brown: the Jason Bourne of dining ESPN analyst Mack Brown found himself under constant attention during his 16 years at Texas. Eating out? Impossible. There were places in Austin that would take care of us and get us a back room, but by halfway through the meal word was out and people were lining up to ask for photos once we were done. When dinners became largely take-home, arriving at home usually meant a fan or two waiting in the driveway.Hiding in plain sightSeattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he had no such problems while leading USC from 2001 to 09. I have no idea how those guys in the South do it, Carroll says. When I was in LA, we could lose a game and I could go to dinner that night and no one would say a word. They were looking for George Clooney or someone from Friends. In Tuscaloosa or Austin, youre George Clooney or the guy from Friends.Or ... just blending inFirst-year Miami coach Mark Richt, who just spent 15 seasons burning like an ant under the magnifying glass of Athens, Georgia, says he has long found solace by retreating into normal life. Richt confesses: Theres a lot of comfort in having other parents just treat you like another dad at the ballfield.A-OK with just a VCR Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, a hard-core NASCAR fan, still has a VHS tape library of races he recorded in the 1990s. When he wants to relax, he pops in a tape from a favorite race-especially those won by Jeff Gordon.Remember me?Lake Burton, Sabans refuge, also was a hangout for longtime Georgia coach Vince Dooley. He still goes today, at age 83, but no longer has to hide. You know, a funny thing happens when you havent been coaching for a while, he says. All those places you used to go and it felt like such a hassle when everyone would bother you ... now you catch yourself going to those places and looking around, wondering, Hey, does anybody in here realize who I am?And therein lies the secret about the coaching spotlight they so?long to escape. Deep down, they dig it. 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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan had momentum going in the wrong direction when Jim Harbaugh came back to the campus where he was a star quarterback.The Wolverines were 5-7 in 2014, the fourth and final season in which they won fewer games than the previous year under Brady Hoke. They fired Hoke and hired Harbaugh, moves that have been hailed for turning around the program.As No. 4 Michigan (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) prepared to host Indiana (5-5, 3-4) in its last home game for seniors, including tight end Jake Butt, and perhaps junior Jabrill Peppers, Harbaugh heaped praise on the players who will play in the Big House for the last time Saturday.This class has meant so much to me personally, to Michigan football, to all of us, Harbaugh said. The direction of the program was going a certain way almost like a locomotive. Its a lot to get it stopped, to get the momentum stopped. Its like stopping a freight train. Credit them for not only getting it stopped, but even getting it turned on the tracks and headed the other direction.The Wolverines cut ties with Hoke, who had a 31-20 record, but the players he recruited helped Harbaugh win 10 games last year. This year, theyre contending for their first conference championship since 2004 and perhaps the schools first national championship since 1997.Even though Iowa spoiled Michigans undefeated season last week with a 14-13 win, the Wolverines are three wins away -- against the Hoosiers, at No. 2 Ohio State and in the Big Ten title game -- from reaching their goals.We reminded ourselves and each other that what we set out for at the beginning of the season is still right in front of us, Butt said. Were going to learn from this loss and become tougher and better because of it. We control our own destiny. As long as we keep handling business, were not worried about what anyone else is doing. Weve just got to handle our own business and the rest will take care of itself.Here are some things to watch when the Wolverines host Indiana:UNDER CENTERMichigan may start John OKorn for the first time because quarterback Wilton Speight hurt his left shoulder lastt week against the Hawkeyes.dddddddddddd As late as Thursday morning, Harbaugh was refuting reports that Speight would be out for the rest of the season. OKorn started 16 games at Houston before transferring.CLOSE CALLThe Hoosiers havent won in the series since 1987 and are winless at Michigan Stadium since 1967, but they were in a position to beat the Wolverines last season. Indiana had the lead in the final minute before giving up a touchdown with 2 seconds left and losing 48-41 in two overtimes.Im sure they might have it in the back of their mind we kind of stole that game from them last year on their senior day, Butt said.TURNOVER TROUBLEIndiana has fumbled nine times in the last two weeks, losing seven. The rash of turnovers dropped them from No. 3 in the nation after eight games to No. 101 this week. If the Hoosiers are going to have any chance of winning at Michigan, they have to hold onto the football.STRIKING A BALANCE: Michigan is averaging 236.3 yards rushing and 231.5 yards passing this season.A lot of people talk about balance, Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. But those are pretty stout numbers both directions.DEFENSIVE DEMEANORThe Hoosiers couldnt stop anybody, including Michigan, on defense last season. New defensive coordinator Tom Allen has turned their defense around. Indiana is giving a much more reasonable 28.4 points per game and has only allowed three teams to top the 30-point mark. The Hoosiers have made the best improvement in yards allowed, giving up 392 yards this season, 117.5 fewer than they allowed last year.HOOSIER IN BLUEMichigan freshman Chris Evans, who is from Indianapolis, made the most of limited opportunities last week against the Hawkeyes. He had eight carries for 52 yards and none of his teammates with multiple carries averaged more than 2.8 yards per rushing attempt.---More AP college football at www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Larry Lage on Twitter at www.twitter.com/larrylage ' ' '