There's Only One Winner in Jim Harbaugh's Feud with the Media: Jim Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh has one goal and one goal only: to win as many games as possible for Michigan.

Pick a fight with the head coach and you might find yourself helping him accomplish his goal.

Harbaugh's latest adversary in his notoriously feud-filled career is a familiar one, with the media at large having found itself in the crosshairs of the Wolverines head man for the past few days. It started during a Monday night interview session with local reporters, when Harbaugh revealed two of his players had been suspended.

Which ones? Harbaugh wouldn't tell.

For how long? Interview over.

In the immediate aftermath, the interaction incited reactions from members of the media who felt it was Harbaugh's duty to answer such follow-ups. From there—like most things Harbaugh-related—it only got bigger.

Offering his opinion on the matter, CBS Sports Radio host Jim Rome questioned how long Harbaugh's reign in Ann Arbor would last.

"Anybody who thinks Harbaugh is wired to grow old in that job is kidding themselves. Enjoy it while it lasts," Rome said, per MLive.com's Nick Baumgardner. "This cat runs way too hot. If he can't get through an August press session, media session, when they're asking him about guys who can't get through a team photo, he's not going to last long."

Never one to take a shot and simply carry on, Harbaugh made sure not to let the moment pass. Taking to Twitter, the second-year Michigan coach recalled an infamous 1994 on-air incident between Rome and former Purdue quarterback Jim Everett:

In turn, Rome referenced Ohio State's 42-13 win over the Wolverines last November, but it was too late.

As far as Harbaugh is concerned, his mission had been accomplished.

Never mind who's right and who's wrong—that's never been what this or any of Harbaugh's many feuds have been about. For a program in need of some buzz when it hired its current head coach 20 months ago, Harbaugh has provided just that—although the former Wolverines quarterback wouldn't admit as much.

"I'm really not," Harbaugh insisted at Big Ten media days when asked how he always winds up in the spotlight. "I'm not in the headlines all the time."

It doesn't take much more than a Twitter account to tell you otherwise.

Whether it's been tweets directed at Tennessee's Butch Jones, Georgia coach Kirby Smart or Alabama's Nick Saban, Harbaugh hasn't been one to shy away from confrontation. Even Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith wound up the subject of a sharp-tongued Harbaugh tweet.

Asked why he has a tendency to make confrontations so personal, Harbaugh again downplayed the significance of his social-media use.

"I would put that in the category of if somebody shoots one over your bow, then you shoot one back over their bow," Harbaugh said specifically of his interaction with Smith. "Usually I subscribe to the 'sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me' philosophy and when somebody talks about somebody you love or something you love or makes a personal attack, then you have a right to shoot one back over their bow."

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But between rap video cameos and satellite camp controversies, there's no denying Harbaugh has found a home in the headlines, particularly in the offseason. Harbaugh's heavy-handed approach has already helped him land a top-five recruiting class in 2016 while transforming the mindset of his current roster, which now expects to compete for a national title in the coming year.

"It's definitely a culture shift. You can feel it with Coach Harbaugh. You can feel just what he's bringing to the program," said All-American cornerback Jourdan Lewis. "If you call that swagger, yeah, that's what he's bringing back."

The public Twitter responses—like the one directed at Rome on Wednesday—are all a part of that.

As far as the media's concerned, the clicks may come, but there's ultimately no way to win against a head coach who has a backing like Harbaugh does in Ann Arbor. It doesn't matter who's right or wrong, by going up against Harbaugh, all a media member can do is alienate one of college football's biggest fanbases, which will undoubtedly support him no matter what.

Last summer, Harbaugh avoided the media for the first three weeks of fall camp, claiming to be taking his program into a "submarine" for team-building purposes. For whatever reason, this year, he changed his mind. It took no longer than a week for Harbaugh to emerge from underwater and even less time than that for him to reclaim his familiar space in the spotlight.

After closing the lid upon re-entering his submarine, Harbaugh likely wondered why he ever came out in the first place.

Or given the stir he helped create and attention that followed, perhaps he wondered why he waited so long.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand. Recruiting and class ratings courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings.