Exclusive: Jim Harbaugh Responds to Mark Dantonio's "Open Letter"

The following is in response to Mark Dantonio's "open letter" satire piece from The Game 730 AM in Lansing. This is also satire and is not meant to be taken seriously. This does not reflect the opinions of Jim Harbaugh, Michigan Football, the Maize n Brew staff, etc.

Maize n Brew has done it again, pulling another exclusive from Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh, who has responded to Mark Dantonio's open letter to the media. Here is what coach had to say:

To Mark and the rest of MSU Nation:

I have nothing but great respect for what the Spartans have been able to accomplish since you arrived in East Lansing. You are, without question, the big kid on the block right now in our great state and a worthy opponent for us on Saturday afternoon.

I am sorry that you feel slighted by the media. They have a way of twisting words and feeding storylines. Trust me, I am fully aware. I have no interest in giving those merit. The "hype," whatever that is, I'm not sure, surrounding my football team that has been created comes from the work we put in during the week that manifests itself on the field on Saturday's, not hyperbole from those outside of Schembechler Hall.

If you choose to play the disrespect card, that is fine. It has worked out well for your Spartans over the years. Just know this: I'm not interested in talking about the past.When you compare one team to the next, someone gets diminished. I'm not worried about this week over any other and I certainly will not be preparing my team any differently.

Regardless of what you do, what you say or how you prepare, my team will be ready to play on Saturday and is looking forward to good, healthy competition in a game that is a great showcase of the sport we both love in the state of Michigan.

The Wolverines will not be looking to make any grand statement on Saturday. We aren't trying to "close the gap" in our excellent rivalry. We aren't trying to diminish anything your program has done and will continue to do.

We aren't looking ahead to anything. We have much work to do and just keep trying to get better every time we step out there.

We will, however, be ready to play and look forward to the great challenge that lies ahead of us. I look forward to a clean week of preparation and hosting the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday afternoon.

I spoke about it in my opening press conference. We don't do rebuilds here. Michigan is greatness, and we have a lot of work to still do, but we plan on taking our state back on Saturday. That's not disrespect. That's the goal of competition. We want to win. We prepare to win. And we plan to win. Anything less is unacceptable.

Yours Truly in Football,

Jim Harbaugh