ball stripped by Eric Jenkins and the Mean Green recovered at

This story appears in ESPN The Magazines College Football Preview issue. Subscribe today!?Out there?...? snip?...?Jim is a really big deal?...?snip snipIn here, in this chair, hes still a big deal?...?snip snip snip?...?we just dont treat him like one ... we treat him like Jim.snipBill Stolberg is talking, snipping, smiling, just as he has for the past four decades, holding court in the flatiron-shaped building at the crossroads of the University of Michigan campus. Hes talking about Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh, whose haircut is crafted within this very Barbicide-anointed shrine, the State Street Barber Shop.He just comes in and sits right there, says Stolberg, pointing to the window seat. I dont know when hes coming. I dont make a big deal out of it when he does. He reads the newspaper, and we talk about anything but football?...?unless, of course, he wants to talk football. But I dont think thats why he comes here. He comes here to just feel like a regular guy for a few minutes. There arent many places in this town where he can do that.There arent many places in any college town where a headliner football coach can do that. Players come and go. The coach is the biggest star, and everywhere he goes, hes on the job. Every grocery run includes free recruiting tips from dads picking up milk. The oil-change tech has suggestions on how to defend the spread. Every sandwich comes with a side of Coach, can we take a selfie? And so it is that big-time coaches face the eternal search for an oasis, be it on a lake, in a corner booth, under a car, anyplace theyll be mostly left alone -- even if said refuge is covered in hair clippings. Heres your exclusive tour of the nations coaching hideouts.Can you hear him now? No? Good. North Carolina coach Larry Fedora finds a cloak of invisibility beneath his beloved 64 Corvette. Its a funny thing. When Im working on my Vette, my cellphone doesnt seem to work all that great, he says.Walking in a briar patchWhen he arrived at Washington State in 2011, Mike Leach took up walking to and from the office, usually even in winter. The trek takes him 40-55 minutes, including a 10-15 minute hike through a field of garbanzo beans that leaves his socks covered in burrs. Its also good exercise, Leach once noted: Two birds, one stone.Dead turkeys dont offer game plansFlorida States Jimbo Fisher wanders into the woods of southern Georgia to hunt turkeys. Says Fisher: I have yet to have a turkey tell me what I should do to stop Deshaun Watson.A 3-iron and a bucket of ballsFor Bob Stoops, entering his 18th season at Oklahoma, sanctuary is the far end of the university golf course driving range. In the offseason, he might sneak in nine holes before anyone notices the most famous Sooner is going for the green in two. You have to go somewhere other than the film room, and you have to go somewhere where there basically isnt a football to be found.No one got between the Bear and his ham steakAt the Waysider in Tuscaloosa, Alabamas Paul Bear Bryant ate the same breakfast-ham steak and eggs-at the same table nearly every weekday morning. Back then, people wouldnt bother him. Today, 33 years after his death, people still sit in that two-seat corner table topped by the coachs bust.Take a seat at the Table of Truth Another OU legend, Barry Switzer, found peace at the Table of Truth at Othellos Italian restaurant in Norman. The eaterys owner is said to have established the table that, legend has it, will shake if you tell a lie while sitting there.The purifying waters of Lake BurtonAlabamas Nick Saban hides at Lake Burton in the northeast corner of Georgia, tooling around on his pontoon boat with wife Terry. Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss, who also has a place there, says Saban just shows up at my place on his Jet Ski. The six-time national champion explains: I have two normals. I have football normal, and I have lake normal.Overtime on relaxingFrank Beamer, just retired from Virginia Tech, says he could never relax when he was coaching so hes working overtime on relaxing now. He was reacting to a recently tweeted photo of himself, from a parody account, being pampered in a salon with the caption: [That feeling when] you give the exact same press conference for 28 years and then go get a pedicure and milkshake.Losing himself in books Now-retired legend Steve Spurrier, widely known as the most competitive coach-golfer, is also a ravenous reader who kept a huge library at home and the office, half football, half non-football.Mack Brown: the Jason Bourne of dining ESPN analyst Mack Brown found himself under constant attention during his 16 years at Texas. Eating out? Impossible. There were places in Austin that would take care of us and get us a back room, but by halfway through the meal word was out and people were lining up to ask for photos once we were done. When dinners became largely take-home, arriving at home usually meant a fan or two waiting in the driveway.Hiding in plain sightSeattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he had no such problems while leading USC from 2001 to 09. I have no idea how those guys in the South do it, Carroll says. When I was in LA, we could lose a game and I could go to dinner that night and no one would say a word. They were looking for George Clooney or someone from Friends. In Tuscaloosa or Austin, youre George Clooney or the guy from Friends.Or ... just blending inFirst-year Miami coach Mark Richt, who just spent 15 seasons burning like an ant under the magnifying glass of Athens, Georgia, says he has long found solace by retreating into normal life. Richt confesses: Theres a lot of comfort in having other parents just treat you like another dad at the ballfield.A-OK with just a VCR Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, a hard-core NASCAR fan, still has a VHS tape library of races he recorded in the 1990s. When he wants to relax, he pops in a tape from a favorite race-especially those won by Jeff Gordon.Remember me?Lake Burton, Sabans refuge, also was a hangout for longtime Georgia coach Vince Dooley. He still goes today, at age 83, but no longer has to hide. You know, a funny thing happens when you havent been coaching for a while, he says. All those places you used to go and it felt like such a hassle when everyone would bother you ... now you catch yourself going to those places and looking around, wondering, Hey, does anybody in here realize who I am?And therein lies the secret about the coaching spotlight they so?long to escape. Deep down, they dig it. Teemu Selanne Jersey Large . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Cheap Ducks Jerseys . Jay Feely kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime, and the Cardinals edged the Tennessee Titans 37-34 in overtime after blowing a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter. http://www.customducksjersey.com/ . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Custom Teemu Selanne Jersey . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Custom Ducks Jersey China . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. "We won that game because of Tony Parkers aggressiveness," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "His juice; his aggression all night long. WEST POINT, N.Y. -- North Texas coach Seth Littrell seemed a little worn out at the end of the game, and it was understandable. The Mean Green had beaten Army for the first time in five tries and he had repeatedly jumped and spun around on the sidelines amidst a flurry of turnovers by the Black Knights.Facing the second-rated defense in the nation, Jeffrey Wilson rushed for 160 yards and three touchdowns and North Texas beat Army 35-18 on a wet, raw Saturday at Michie Stadium.We ended up getting seven turnovers, and thats key, Littrell said. Defensive guys did a great job of making those opportunities count. I was a bonehead in the first half, to be honest. We should have run the ball more.Fresh from a bye week, North Texas (4-3) rallied in the second half behind Wilson, who was coming off a career-high 188-yard performance two weeks ago against Marshall. Wilson scored on a 41-yard run and 1-yard plunge in the third quarter as the Mean Green stunned the Black Knights.Without a doubt, theres no other answer, simply our O-line, Wilson said. They came out today with fire in their eyes and I could see if from the jump. We knew we wasnt going to start off fast, but we know that if we keep on picking away and picking away and picking away that well eventually do what we came to do. And thats exactly what happened.Army (4-3) entered the game ranked second against the run, allowing just 99 yards per game.Wilson, held to seven yards rushing on two carries in the first half, staked the Mean Green to a 21-10 lead early in the third when he slithered through the left side of the defensive line and raced untouched for 41 yards and a touchdown. He had 153 yards on 13 carries in the second.The Black Knights seemed ready to counter right back, but quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled a snap on fourth-and-inches at midfield and the Mean Green took possession.Its hard to score when you dont have the ball, Army coach Jeff Monken said. To give the ball back to them is agonizing. Those plays kill drives, kill the momentum.Moments later, Army defeensive back Elijah Riley was poised to make an interception but slipped down as he turned to catch the ball.dddddddddddd That left Willie Robinson all alone for a 26-yard catch and Wilsons 1-yard run boosted the lead to 28-10 midway through the third.They did a good job defensively against our offense in the first half, Littrell said. What they do against the run game has been impressive, so I probably was trying to get the back end going a little bit. We had some stuff we missed early. The way our offensive line came off the ball and Jeffrey ran the ball, that was the difference.North Texas sealed the victory on a turnover. Army was driving at midfield early in the fourth, but after a long gain on the first reception of his career that had caught the North Texas defense off-guard, tight end Dalton Mendenhall had the ball stripped by Eric Jenkins and the Mean Green recovered at its own 12-yard line.Army finished with 302 yards rushing, 53 yards below its nation-leading average. Bradshaw led with 90 yards on 24 carries.Monken had a simple explanation for the loss.We got whipped in every phase, he said. I dont know if theres much more to say.THE TAKEAWAY:ARMY: If the Black Knights can control the turnovers, they still can contend to play in the postseason. Army cant afford to make those mistakes to have a chance to win, with the likes of Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Air Force and Navy still on the schedule.NORTH TEXAS: With a freshman quarterback at the helm and a solid running game, the Mean Green can be a contender in Conference USA. When Wilson is on, they win. In the teams first three victories, he averaged 142.7 rushing yards, just 44.3 in the losses.UP NEXT:Army: Travels to play Wake Forest of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday.North Texas: Plays at Texas-San Antonio on Saturday.---AP College Football Website: www.collegefootball.ap.org---Follow Kekis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Greek1947 ' ' '