Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh takes inspiration any way he can get it. It can be from watching football or from, uh, watching more football. He is a football guy, through and through. If he has a chance to do something innovative or different, he will take a chance and utilize it. There is no greater example of that than his human centipede formation he used against Wisconsin. But where exactly did the idea come from to use the formation?
Harbaugh explained where it came during his weekly radio show, via coachingsearch.com.
“I can’t take credit for that one. That was [son and UM tight ends coach] Jay Harbaugh. He was pouring over high school tape and saw a high school team in Colorado that used that. We can’t take credit for it. If any credit, I give it to Jay for spotting it, being diligent going through the tape. We said, ‘That looks good.’
“We had fun practicing it. We had fun putting it in and putting it in the game. It might have a future.”
I do like that Harbaugh didn’t take credit for it. It would have been fantastic if he tried to say he invented it, and it would add another layer to his crazy guy mystique, but having the truth here is obviously better.
The formation sees players line up in an ultimate power-I before dispersing into their normal, legal positions pre-snap in an attempt to hide their formation. They seem to have borrowed it from Chatfield High School in Littleton, Colorado, where Michigan tight end Dalton Keene played. Chatfield coach Bret McGatlin spoke to CHSSANow (the website of the Colorado High School Activities Association) about the formation’s origins, which go back to his dad, Don McGatlin:
Reached on Tuesday afternoon, McGatlin said Chatfield calls the play their Speed Line, and it’s part of their Psycho offense. The Chargers typically it run a few times a game, depending on the situation.
It originated from McGatlin’s father, Don McGatlin, the legendary former coach at Green Mountain. Don McGatlin and Green Mountain ran it “every play,” Bret McGatlin said, during the 1999 season when they won the Class 4A state title.
“It was just something he created on his own. He’s always thinking outside-the-box,” Bret McGatlin said. “He is hilarious to watch. My dad is the most animated coach you’ll ever find. My dad and I are very similar but we’re so different. I actually learned a lot from coach (Andy) Lowry and Columbine, and I have a tendency to be very focused on fundamentals. My dad’s just always thinking these crazy thoughts. That’s what nice about him and I working together.
“I mean, just this morning,” McGatlin said, “he called me, and he goes, ‘I was up at 4 a.m., and I has this idea …'”
Chatfield is known for its fast-paced spread offense, which Bret McGatlin specializes in and is a leading proponent of in Colorado. Psycho is actually a separate offense Chatfield runs and is designed to not allow the defense to make pre-play adjustments.
“What Michigan was trying to do and what we try to do is we line up so quick that it makes it difficult for anybody for adjust to it,” McGatlin said. “Our goal is to line up in less than three seconds. You really catch teams off guard. We run maybe two-to-three different formations out of it. It really is crazy.”
Here’s a photo of Chatfield using the formation this year next to one of Michigan’s, from Weston Kieschnick:
New to who @CoachMcGat? #GoBlue #Chatfieldftball Shout out @JayHarbaugh @UMichFootball @DaltonKeene18 pic.twitter.com/IHbqhe5v4S
— Weston Kieschnick (@Wes_Kieschnick) October 2, 2016
While it has to be awesome to be recognized at such a level, it also has to be somewhat frustrating to now be known as the guy who came up with the formation given some of the connotations that have popped up around it. You don’t want to be the human centipede formation guy, forever, right?
