It’s hard to know whether Nebraska and Big Ten fans should love or loathe Harbaugh, but he’s wormed his way under the SEC’s skin. That league has met its match. The SEC is trying to keep Harbaugh from holding a week of spring practice in Florida. The SEC and ACC are trying to keep the Big Ten — mostly Harbaugh — from running satellite camps in the South. The college football national media — always hungry for clickbait and page views — are trying to keep up with every last one of Harbaugh’s antics. Climbing trees. Sleeping over at kids’ houses.

The coach’s Twitter account has become a must-follow. His Twitter profile even lists a phone number. It’s his number, all right — one of many, I’m sure — even if the call, after a perfunctory message from “Coach Harbaugh,” goes to voicemail, which is full.

Harbaugh won at Stanford. He won in the NFL with the 49ers. He won 10 games at Michigan in year one. No surprise there, Big Ten Network analyst Gerry DiNardo said. A few of the other things, though, have been.

“Did I think he was going to climb a tree? No,” DiNardo said. “Did I think he was going to sleep at a prospect’s house? No. But I’m fine with it. Much like the rest of our business, the customer is always right. If it helps makes sales — if it helps persuade someone to come to your school — I’m fine with it. Some coaches don’t like it, some coaches do.”

“The more time that you can spend with them, whether it’s waking up, sleeping at their house and waking up, having breakfast, going to school, meeting the teachers, meeting the counselors, being immersed in the family, it’s so invaluable because when the youngsters come here then I’m so much more comfortable calling family members,” Harbaugh said. “They’re so much more comfortable calling me.”

Coaching rivals have noticed. Riley — who actually coached Harbaugh in the NFL for his final seasons — said he watched what Harbaugh was doing on the recruiting trail recently.

“I think that there is some stuff there that’s interesting and makes everybody think a little bit,” Riley said.

The spring practice in Florida is making people think. Michigan plans to hold it at IMG Academy, an athletic boarding school hoarding elite high school football players from all over the nation.

Harbaugh’s purpose in putting the camp at IMG is transparent. IMG has a lot of top prospects. All those prospects will know Michigan is on campus, and nothing will stop them from attending those practices. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey argued that Harbaugh’s decision robs Michigan players — or, you know, student-athletes — of a spring break to get away from the program.

But Harbaugh, during his signing day press conference, had a pre-emptive answer for that.

“Everybody’s going to get a spring break,” Harbaugh said. “There’s no youngster that can’t afford to fly somewhere (who) won’t be able to enjoy his spring break. What better way to be doing that than to be playing football? The other thing it’s going to allow us to do by practicing during our spring break is both weeks of finals, winter finals, are going to be no football. They’ll be discretionary weeks so guys can concentrate and focus on the finals. We’ll be outside, we’ll be in Florida, go to the beach.”

Pretty clever. Harbaugh plays on the inherent poverty of some of his players — some of them are too cash or credit poor, after all, to take the kinds of spring break trips many fans wrongly assume all college students take — and gives the team time off to concentrate on finals. It’s hard to argue that this trip is hurting any academic mission.

Mostly, it’s denying players a chance to chill and party on their own — an infringement on their personal freedom. Of course, Harbaugh’s preference for immersive education — all football, all the time — has never exactly been conducive to anyone’s liberty but his own.

Still, if that’s what it takes to catch Ohio State, Michigan may forge forward. And somehow, the rest of the Big Ten will have to keep up. According to 247Sports’ composite service, the Buckeyes signed 39 top-100 prospects in the last five recruiting classes. That’s more than the rest of the Big Ten combined. Nebraska signed one — incoming defensive back Lamar Jackson. OSU’s Urban Meyer is a recruiting juggernaut.