Saban vs. Harbaugh — A Vrbo Citrus Bowl battle of college football wits

This year’s Vrbo Citrus Bowl has a lot of juice.

Michigan (962 wins) and Alabama (915) rank first and fourth, respectively, as the winningest programs in college football history. They’ve met four times in bowl games, but the last matchup was 20 years ago, a 35-34 Michigan win in the 2000 Orange Bowl. And while the Crimson Tide are making their first bowl appearance outside the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2014, they’re still looking for their ninth straight 11-win season, the longest such streak in the AP poll era.

“Michigan is an iconic program with great tradition,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said this week. “I think if you would’ve said 50 years ago to your grandmother, ‘Is Michigan-Alabama a big game?’ They’d say, ‘Yeah, it’s a big game.’ So it’s a big game.”

But off the field, Saban and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh are two of the most visible coaches in the country. They’re lightning rods for different reasons. Saban is a fiery competitor who won’t hesitate to let you know where you stand. Harbaugh just does things a little differently.

Before Wednesday’s kickoff (1 p.m., ABC/ESPN App), let’s take a moment to remember a few highlights from the two coaches’ recent history that prove they’re two of the most interesting personalities in sports.

The Judge Judy appreciator logs on

Harbaugh has appeared on Judge Judy’s television court show as an audience member with his father, Jack. He has been vocal about his fondness for her and took to Twitter to congratulate her on a new contract extension and later, to support her nomination to the highest court in the country.

I urge President Obama to nominate to the Supreme Court the wise and competent, Judge Extraordinaire Judith Sheindlin.

— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) March 10, 2016

Quite the visual

You know you can pencil in a Saban rant for sometime early in the season or in mid-November when Alabama is playing a struggling non-Power 5 or FCS team. He’ll get it in his mind that everyone is overlooking the opponent, and he’ll explode. And no explosion was more jaw-dropping than the one in November 2015, before his team was set to play Charleston Southern. Saban was asked a rather innocuous question about Bucs quarterback Austin Brown, and he described Brown as a “really good player” who “does a really good job with his offense” before he went wildly off course. Saban told reporters that people take games like this for granted and just assume the younger guys will play. Then he harked back to a game a few years earlier against Georgia Southern and how poorly his NFL-laden defense played against the triple-option. “You all don’t remember the Georgia Southern game, do you? … They ran through our ass like s— through a tin horn, man, and we could not stop them.”

Speaking of unwanted visuals

Very early in Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan, he was asked about his first spring practice at Michigan and what he was expecting. Harbaugh replied by saying spring practice was like coming out of your mother’s womb, that you are now out in the chaos. While technically it is an apt comparison, it’s probably not the comparison people were looking for.

Harbaugh’s wild West

Remember back when satellite camps were a thing? Who can forget Harbaugh running around shirtless in Prattville, Alabama? Before regulation was imposed and the whole concept of far-flung camps generally fizzled out, it was the topic of college football as Harbaugh and his Michigan staff hit the road during the summer, brazenly parking themselves in the SEC’s backyard in an attempt to reach recruits. Saban was asked about it time and time again in the beginning, until he finally got animated during the SEC’s spring meetings in 2016. He tried to steer the conversation away from any one coach, saying, “I’m not blaming Jim Harbaugh. I’m not saying anything about him.” But Harbaugh was the face of satellite camps, and here was Saban exclaiming, “I’m just saying it’s bad for college football.” The roughly five-minute examination of the pitfalls of satellite camps included Saban pounding the podium at one point and lamenting all the unintended consequences of such recruiting events, calling them the “wild, wild West — at its best.” Not much later, Harbaugh fired back at Saban with this tweet.

“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

The in-home visits

Harbaugh hasn’t done anything too odd in recent years on the recruiting trail, but he came out swinging when he was hired. He made a ton of headlines when he decided to take recruiting rules as literally as possible. With in-home visits, Harbaugh realized his visit with a prospect didn’t end until he left, so he decided to spend the night at the homes of both defensive lineman Connor Murphy and kicker Quinn Nordin. He received a welcome from one of Nordin’s neighbors in the form of a sign reminding him of the Spartans’ win in the Michigan-Michigan State game.

No coach had ever benched his quarterback in the middle of a national championship. But Saban didn’t care that Jalen Hurts was 26-2 as a starter and had won SEC Offensive Player of the Year a season earlier. The passing game was failing in the title game under Hurts’ watch, his team was trailing 13-0 and Saban had to make a move. So he called on the left arm of true freshman Tua Tagovailoa, who hadn’t started a game or thrown a meaningful pass all season. And lo and behold, it worked. Tagovailoa became a star that night in Atlanta, leading a comeback for the ages against Georgia that culminated in a game-winning touchdown pass in overtime. Amid the celebration on the field, Saban said, “I’ve never been happier in my life.”

Rapper’s delight

Harbaugh has embraced his inner rapper, welcoming Migos on campus in Ann Arbor as well as Lil Wayne. He took the stage at a Lil Dicky concert in Ann Arbor and sang the national anthem. Harbaugh also made an appearance in a music video with rapper Bailey in the aptly named song, “Who’s Got It Better Than Us?”. The Michigan coach shouted out rapper G-Eazy while wearing one of the rapper’s hats and retweeted rapper Nicki Minaj, saying he agreed with Minaj that Michigan is their favorite place.

Added Saban-Harbaugh intrigue

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Nick Saban shares how Alabama is finding purpose in its non-playoff bowl game against Michigan.

Saban was unhappy with his then-assistant coach Josh Gattis before Harbaugh and Michigan even entered the picture. Following the end of the 2018 season, Gattis caught an earful from Saban when he broke the news to him that he was planning to become the offensive coordinator at Maryland. “I had just left a meeting with Nick Saban getting my butt chewed out for about 20 minutes telling him I was leaving and he was trying to keep me to stay,” Gattis said. “It did not go over well.” But, as he left his meeting with Saban, his phone rang. It was Harbaugh, who offered him the chance to be Michigan’s OC instead, which he accepted. An assistant leaving under unpleasant circumstances isn’t new. It happens every offseason. But that Gattis aired out a private conversation publicly, and on Harbaugh’s podcast no less, was another matter entirely. If Harbaugh was looking to stick it to Saban, he hit his target.