The Michigan football team is just a couple days away from beginning their season against East Carolina football. The Wolverines are currently ranked #2 in the country and things are looking good for Michigan heading into the season opener. However, one slight issue is that head coach Jim Harbaugh won’t be on the sidelines against the Pirates. Harbaugh is facing a three game, self-imposed suspension, and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will be handling the head coaching duties in game one. Having Harbaugh gone for the first three games certainly isn’t something that the Wolverines wanted, but they’re confident that they will be just fine.

“I would liken it to this. First of all, the culture here is A+,” Michigan football linebackers coach Chris Partridge said, according to an article from bluebyninety.com. “When you walk into this building when I came back, it is an A-plus culture. When I was here the first time, it was kind of just still developing. We weren’t there yet. Jim’s culture was developing in who he is, and now it’s like it embodies who he is.”

Culture is huge in college football, and it’s especially been big for the Wolverines in the past two seasons. After Michigan went 2-4 in the shortened 2020 season, Jim Harbaugh hit a reset on the program. He brought in a ton of new personnel on the staff and completely flipped the culture. Michigan has looked completely different ever since.

“If you ask a kid, a baby, 4, 5 years old, ‘well, are you more like mom or more like dad?’ You don’t really know,” Partridge continued. “Until now, all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘You’re dad.’ That’s what this team is. They’re Jim. They embody him. Hard-working, blue-collar, and consistent, they play with no fear. They know he has their back, and they have his back. That’s what you feel when you come in here.”

That type of culture is something that can help in any situation, and certainly one like this where the Wolverines need to have their head coach’s back, and they do. Because of that, Michigan isn’t concerned with the absence of Harbaugh.

“There’s no worry,” Partridge said. “Jim Harbaugh doesn’t have any worry. These guys are going to play like their hair’s on fire for him, for sure, come out and come out on fire, play hard. They’re going to do exactly what they need to do, exactly what he expects them to do.”