A look inside the wild and wacky world of Jim Harbaugh since taking over as the University of Michigan's head football coach:

Dec. 30: Introduced as Michigan's head football coach. He says: "It's a decision I basically made without a list, without a pros-and-cons approach, something that I've dreamed about -- felt it was time to live."

Jan. 3: A quick visit to Pittsburgh to watch his older brother, John, coach the Ravens coat and hat on the sideline.

Jan. 15: On the first day of live recruiting, under NCAA rules, Harbaugh visited metro Seattle (Jan. 27), Avon, Conn. (Jan. 28), and Macon County, Ga. (Jan. 29). During the live recruiting period, the staff worked to fill out the class, which had only six committed players when Harbaugh arrived. U-M signed 14.

Jan. 16: Speaks at the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association clinic in Lansing, primarily about protecting the public attack on the game of football (safety concerns), and tells his story about his first tackle in junior football, a kid named Ralph who weighed 50 pounds more than him.

Jan. 20: Officially announces son Jay Harbaugh hired as tight ends coach. In intro video, Jay Harbaugh tells the story of his dad using Gatorade with cereal when the family was out of milk. Starts a craze with Michigan fans trying it out.

Jan. 28: Meets with Detroit Cass Tech running back (and Ohio State commit) Mike Weber, hoping to sway the former U-M commit back to Michigan. But after anguishing, Weber stays with the Buckeyes.

Jan. 31: NewJersey.com reports surface that he has hired Chris Partridge, the Paramus (N.J.) Catholic coach who coached Wolverines Jabrill Peppers and Juwann Bushell-Beatty in high school, plus the coach of class of 2016 No.1 overall player Rashan Gary.

Feb. 4: National Signing Day. Introduces the class of 2015, including a number of players Harbaugh and his staff flipped from other schools: Nolan Ulizio from Connecticut, Grant Perry from Northwestern, Reuben Jones from Nebraska, Karan Higdon from Iowa, Keith Washington from California, and Zach Gentry from Texas.

Feb. 6: Gwendolyn Bush appears in U-M directory, hired by football program for a new position as director of player development. She is the mother of Wayne Lyons, a Stanford defensive back who would transfer to Michigan.

Feb. 7: After Ohio State's running backs coach leaves for an NFL job days after Weber signs with the Buckeyes and said he knew nothing about it, Harbaugh takes a jab tweet at OSU: "Thought of the day -- What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! -- Sir Walter Scott."

Feb. 24: First day of spring practice. Describes it as leaving the womb and: "We in football treat the first day of spring practice as the new year. It's like your birthday, New Year's, Thanksgiving -- you're thankful that you participated in football. It's like Christmas -- you have this gift. It's a family reunion -- all those things rolled into one. It's a happening. It's like the first day of school. You lay your clothes out the night before and pack your lunch box tight and head off to school."

March 3: Tweets response to Judge Judy's contract extension for her TV show: "Big Congrats to Judge Judy on signing her contract extension thru 2020 from a Devout Fan!"

March 3: Assists U-M associate athletic director Jim Minick at the scene of a car accident on I-94, helping pull a woman to safety. Tweets: "Proud of my friend Colonel Jim Minick today! he took charge calling on combat training I was just following his instructions."

March 6: Returned to be with his family in the Bay Area during week off from spring practice during U-M's spring break.

March 7: Congratulates Big Sean on the release of his album: "Congrats to our friend @BigSean on his first #1 album, Dark Sky Paradise -- A Winner all the way! #GoBlue."

March 7: Accepted Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin's invitation to attend spring training in Mesa, Ariz. Wore a uniform and coached first base.

March 13: John Harbaugh comes to speak at the U-M football coaches clinic, tells a story about his brother trying to drown him when they were wrestling as kids.

March 13: Announces that well-known Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward High School coach Rick Finotti will be his director of operations.

March 28: Despite being nearly three decades removed from his U-M graduation, was voted fourth as a write-in for Central Student Government president.

March 30: Tweets a photo of himself wearing a G-Eazy hat while sitting in bed: "S/O to @G_Eazy for representing THE BAY in Ann Arbor Sat night & thanks 4 my new hat! Much Appreciated! Means A Lot!"

April: Met with a number of U.S. Supreme Court justices in their Washington chambers and tried to convert Nebraska fan Clarence Thomas, according to the Wall Street Journal.

April 8: After U-M cancels an "American Sniper" showing out of sensitivity to a group of students who were offended by the movie's tone, he tweets: "Michigan Football will watch "American Sniper"! Proud of Chris Kyle & Proud to be an American & if that offends anybody then so be it!" That night, U-M reinstates the showing. He met with the offended students May 20.

April 20: HBO's "Real Sports" profile includes 49ers offensive lineman Alex Boone saying Harbaugh "wore out his welcome" in San Francisco and "might be clinically insane" and "he's crazy." Boone adds: "He does a great job of giving you that spark, that initial boom. But after a while, you just want to kick his ass."

Also on the show, Harbaugh reveals he became a "milk distributor" in the third grade at St. Francis elementary so that he could drink as much as possible to grow over 6 feet to be an NFL quarterback: "Whole milk. Not the candy-ass 2%. ... I finally got to 6-3."

April 21: Stanford coach David Shaw, twice a Harbaugh assistant, tells radio host Rich Eisen about his former boss' sanity: "I do not have a medical degree, I do not have a PhD in psychology or psychiatry. Jim is out there, Jim is who he is. There's no hiding it. Everybody's seen it; this is who he is. He drives people, he pushes people, he is the most competitive person on the planet. It's just who he is.

"He's going to rub some people the wrong way. He's going to find a way to win football games, because that's what he does. Some people are going to wear out (from him). Jim says that himself; he has a tendency to wear people out at times. You get the good with the bad. What you get from Jim is 100 miles an hour from Day 1."

April 24: Responding to SEC coaches complaining about his looming "Summer Swarm" satellite camps in their territory and across the country, Harbaugh answers by inviting every coach in the country to attend U-M's summer camp in Ann Arbor and help coach or as a guest speaker. Only two major college coaches accept the invite.

May 8: Associate athletic director for football Jim Minick, Harbaugh's right-hand man and oftentimes his driver, is arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. After the arrest becomes public May 13, Harbaugh announces Minick's suspension, which lasts until early June. In July, Minick received probation after pleading guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and admitting he refused a breath test.

May 11: After public records requests, U-M releases that the football program self-reported four secondary NCAA violations since Harbaugh took over. Two involved Lyons as his mother and assistant Mike Zordich spoke about him before he was enrolled or signed with the university.

The two others involved Harbaugh and his staff allowing a recruit to sit briefly in premium seating at a U-M hockey game and Harbaugh sending a signed helmet and jersey to a suicide prevention auction at a Toledo high school. Harbaugh answered the last one with a tweet: "Thought of day: "No good deed goes unpunished" Oscar Wilde."

May 11: Announces Lyons as a graduate school transfer, the third of the year, joining quarterback Jake Rudock (Iowa) and Aussie punter Blake O'Neill (Weber State).

May 14: Passes Ohio State coach Urban Meyer in Twitter followers -- 268,834 as of that day when Meyer was at 262,785. Now has more than 302,000.

May 15: Took his yearly mission trip to a Piura, Peru, Catholic parish 600 miles from Lima, helping with supplies and playing no-holds-barred, rugby-style game with a football.

June 4: Began "Summer Swarm" satellite camp tour of 10 camps in nine days at Indianapolis Bishop Chatard High School. Gets two commitments soon after, one minutes after pulling out of parking lot.

June 5: Made trip into SEC territory in Prattville, Ala., and takes shirt off to play "Peru ball" with the campers, which explodes the Internet. Speaks to local group that night, indicates he'll return. Gets linebacker commitment from there days later.

June 5: Announces Riki Ellison's Youth Impact Program will come to U-M, giving middle school kids in Detroit a two-week camp experience in Ann Arbor, with half the day learning and half the day working on football. When the camp kicks off on July 7, he rides bus from Detroit with the kids.

June 6: Completes the only double dip of the satellite camps, running two camps in two cities, one in the afternoon at former Stanford assistant Willie Taggart's school, the University of South Florida, and one at night at Miami Dolphins owner/U-M donor Stephen Ross' indoor facility, near Ft. Lauderdale, and eventually gets four commits from those camps.

June 7: Takes geographic detour for the largest group at a camp, for the Lauren's First and Goal charity in Easton, Pa. Later gets two New Jersey commitments in the same region.

June 8 (Houston), June 9 (Grand Prairie, Texas): Endures the blazing heat to make camp inroads in a relatively dry recruiting state for the Wolverines recently.

June 10: Returning to the state where he lived the previous 13 years, he and his staff conducted a satellite camp in Mission Viejo, Calif., entering Orange County. Got a commitment.

June 10: Hops down to Coronado Island, an hour and a half to the south, to give the Coronado High School commencement speech, following his son James, the class president.

June 11: He closed the out-of-state Swarm spell with his final camp, wearing his long sleeves and khakis, despite 90-degree temperatures in Fresno, telling local TV he wants to retire there, just three hours from Santa Clara.

June 12: Coming off a red eye with just a few hours sleep, he made his first sufficiently awkward public appearance with Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio at the Sound Mind Sound Body camp at Macomb Dakota High.

June 20: Responds after rapper Lil Wayne shows off the jersey U-M sent him at a local concert. "@LilTunechi -- Proud to be a fan of my man Lil Wayne. Hope you like the jersey as much as we like seeing you in it!"

June 29: Defensive lineman Ondre Pipkins tells espn.com that Harbaugh, other staff members and the medical staff pressured him to retire from football for health reasons before his senior year. Pipkins transfers to Texas Tech.

June 29: Arizona TV station airs the story of a local recruit who U-M is chasing, defensive end Connor Murphy. It's the same Murphy whom Harbaugh ended up babysitting for years earlier when there was a family hospital run while he was at the house recruiting Connor's older brother Trent. Harbaugh got Trent, who is now in the NFL.

June 30: Choosing a Mark (the Bird) Fidrych jersey over one with his name and number (4), he warms up in the dugout and throws a full windup for the ceremonial first pitch at the Tigers game at Comerica Park after regaling with stories of his first love, baseball.

July 1: Has an awkward interview on national radio with ESPN host Colin Cowherd. The host cuts him off saying the interview was "a clunker." Harbaugh later tweets he takes 50% of the responsibility for the clunker.

July 6: U-M announces it will switch apparel providers, going with Nike after months of bidding by Under Armour also. The deal is eventually revealed to be worth up to $169 million for Michigan. U-M interim athletic director Jim Hackett says Harbaugh asked about Nike on his second day on campus.

July 13: Went on first extended vacation with his wife, Sarah, in seven years to her choice of city, in this case Paris. Found a Bay Area child to toss the football with and, when visiting Normandy, found a former Ohio State captain and veteran.

July 22: Former tight end Keith Heitzman tells the Columbus Dispatch that Harbaugh made him and the other fifth-year seniors "try out" in the spring for their scholarships and place on the team. Harbaugh essentially confirms this later in the summer, saying the fifth year is not promised. Among the fifth-year players who also left after spring: cornerback Blake Countess, quarterback Russell Bellomy, and tailback Justice Hayes. Center Jack Miller retired from football one week into spring practice.

July 31: At his first Big Ten media meetings in Chicago, he opens by holding up a Mike Ditka jersey and closes with the biggest crowd of any coach.

Aug. 2: Harbaugh responds to a Nicki Minaj tweet that Michigan is her favorite place in the world by tweeting "I can't disagree ... I can only agree."

Aug. 6: At U-M media day, announces that the team will be going in a submarine and a bunker for camp, only emerging when Harbaugh felt it was time. He does no interviews for 21 days.

Aug. 7: Preseason camp begins for a program coming off a 5-7 season.

Aug. 14: Michael Jordan announces that U-M football will be the first Jumpman Jordan Brand team in a video, closing with "Go Blue." Harbaugh tweets a thank-you to Jordan, who had called Harbaugh to ensure/approve the deal with Nike before it was completed.

Aug. 15: The first report, from TheWolverine.com, of all-white uniforms for the road season opener at Utah. They mirror the 1974 road uniforms, from when Harbaugh was a coach's kid in his second season in Ann Arbor.

Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.

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