Jim Harbaugh Makes Michigan Offensive Lineman Live With His 81 Year Old Grandma In Ann Arbor After DUI Arrest

Ann Arbor — This has the makings of a reality television show, but the reality is, this is the happiest Graham Glasgow has been at Michigan.

And he’s living with his 81-year-old grandmother, Carmella, in an apartment in downtown Ann Arbor.

…The roots of this living arrangement lie in the off-field trouble that Glasgow, a fifth-year senior starting center, had become entwined. He was arrested on March 15, 2014 for drunken driving and three months later pleaded to a misdemeanor driving while visibly impaired. A year to the date of the initial arrest, a random test revealed he had violated probation by drinking. Probation was extended six months.

“It was around St. Pattie’s weekend,” Glasgow said. “I just made a bad decision again.”

But this time, the bad decision was made on new coach Jim Harbaugh’s watch. The previous year under then-coach Brady Hoke, Glasgow was suspended for a portion of spring football and the season opener. Glasgow didn’t know what to think.

Harbaugh phoned Glasgow’s father, Steve, and they discussed options. The first plan was to have Glasgow move back into the dorms, but a fifth-year senior moving into South Quad with freshmen didn’t seem like the right solution.

Enter a 5-foot-1 1/2 grandmother, called “the little Italian” in some circles.

“I’m an 81-year-old co-ed,” she said laughing. “I’m the only old lady on the elevator in the building. But this is a win-win for everybody. You know what I’m getting out of this? I see a lot of kids trying to find their way. They don’t know how they fit in yet. These are kids and, really, do we all know how we fit in yet?

…

Jim Harbaugh just refuses to do anything normal. I actually think he may be allergic to it. I think his body has a negative reaction to following social and coaching norms and doing something that might be considered “standard.” Milk in your cereal for breakfast? Nope, Gatorade. Different outfit for the day? Nope, same pair of discount khakis. Observe practice from the sidelines? Nope, put on full pads and get in the huddle. Go to a bistro to sample the local cuisine while on vacation in France? Nope, eat a Big Mac. Casually toss out a first pitch lob at a baseball game and wave to the crowd? Nope, toe the rubber, go full windup and throw a 99 mph heater.

So what can you really expect when one of his senior offensive linemen gets popped for DUI then follows it up by violating his probation? A stern lecture and a suspension from the team? Psh, that’s common coach type shit. That’s Brady Hoke shit. Nope let’s make him move in with his 81 year old grandmother in the middle of Ann Arbor and have them go to the gym together for morning workouts and watch Dancing With The Stars by night.

“At night I made him watch ‘Dancing with the Stars’,” said Carmella, whose husband has been in town for the last week. “He’d say, ‘No, no, no, I’m not going to watch Dancing with the Stars,’ and then if he’d miss a show he’d ask, ‘Who got knocked off?’”

Love it. Really cool to see what his players think about him too – feel like the focus is on what a nutjob psychopath the guy is all the time, and you don’t really get a good glimpse at how much his team loves him.

“(Harbaugh) brought me in the office and that’s when I understood the severity and thought, ‘Uh-oh, something bad could happen,’ ” Glasgow said. “I’m happy things worked out the way they did. Instead of just giving me a whole bunch of punishment, he took a different approach than Coach Hoke would have. There would have been punishment and he would have threatened status.

“But Coach Harbaugh helped me outside of football and found me a different living arrangement where I wouldn’t make bad mistakes. I thought he was going to be really, really harsh. I heard he had a reputation of being, not hard on guys, but very stern and strict, and he ended up being very understanding, which I really appreciated. I love Coach Harbaugh. I know there’s no leeway. I have to do it his way. It’s cut and dry.”

“Some people might have thought what I said was terrible, but I meant it — I think we’re heading in the right direction,” Glasgow said. “I’d have to say part of (being upbeat) is the atmosphere of campus and the overall attitude of the team. There’s a lot of optimism. It’s the overall feeling and attitude our coaches give us. Last year, we would be getting ripped after losses and ripped even after we’d win. I’m sort of used to the yelling. There was a lot of yelling. These coaches are positive and focus on how we can improve.

“I’m very thankful Coach Harbaugh became our coach after Coach Hoke was fired. It was terrible how it worked out for Coach Hoke, but it worked out for us. This has been a great experience. This has been amazing. This year has just been more fun than past years.”