With his Michigan Wolverines (ranked eighth in the AP poll) on a bye this week, Jim Harbaugh has some time to himself. He’s apparently decided to use some of that to try out a different sport, taking a dive off a platform at a Michigan cannonball contest Saturday. And how does he dress for diving? Dress shirt and khakis, of course.
.@CoachJim4UM is a platform guy. Perfect form. #GOBLUE pic.twitter.com/uBZXGncavV
— Michigan Swimming & Diving (@umichswimdive) September 30, 2017
While the Michigan diving team may be praising the form here, though, CBS’ Tom Fornelli had some bones to pick with the way Harbaugh executed this can-opener:
Harbaugh does an excellent job of grabbing one knee and pulling the leg into his body. That’s a crucial part of any can opener dive. The rest of the dive needs a lot of work, but fortunately for Harbaugh, these are fixable mistakes. A little time in the film room and some extra reps will clear things up.
First of all, you need to get the running start, coach. You’re on the platform; you have all the space you need. You essentially just fell from it. A running start would have made a huge difference. Second, you need to extend that other leg. Holding the knee was good, but that other leg needs to be straight as an arrow. I see a bend in it. Not good.
Harbaugh himself said he needs to improve his form, though. You can check out another angle of his dive here:
This just happened at a cannonball contest. @CoachJim4UM not especially happy with his form, says he should've brought @O_Martin3 pic.twitter.com/walRb4uvey
— Jason Katz (@JasonKatz999) September 30, 2017
Perfect form or not, though, it was an entertaining moment at the least. And USA Diving was impressed:
Hey @CoachJim4UM. Let's talk #Tokyo2020 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
— USA Diving (@USADiving) September 30, 2017
It’s refreshing to see that Harbaugh attacks diving the same way he does everything else; in khakis, and with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
[CBS]