John U. Bacon, a lecturer in U-M’s history department and Michigan Today’s sportswriter, won the 2009 Golden Apple Award, given by U-M students for great teaching. In this excerpt from his “ideal last lecture” he describes a lesson learned from—and does a spot-on impersonation of—coach Schembechler.

In 1989, Michigan’s men’s basketball team made an improbable run through the NCAA tournament, winning the national title in a heartstopper against Seton Hall.

The Wolverines’ female gymnasts rank among the country’s best. How do they keep their edge…and what does hockey have to do with it?

Tom Harmon may have been the best college football player ever. His single-handed destruction of Ohio State is the stuff of gridiron legend. But his exploits as a pilot during World War Two made him a hero not just in a game, but in life.

The spread offense isn’t the only thing that’s changed in football. So have the words.