Statement from Coach Harbaugh

I'm probably for not playing, but this type of statement is why I love Coach H. 

I respect what Harbaugh is saying, but unless he's going to keep the players in a bubble in Schembechler Hall all year when 30k other students arrive, AND everything goes well at the other schools (Rutgers already shown that may be impossible), football wouldn't be safe.

Mark Sclissel is an epidemiologist.  His decision is trustworthy.

Sometimes Harbaugh gets too myopic. In this case we all know they want to play.

And I'd like to hug people and go to movies and have a party at our house.

For the vast majority of people in this country, a COVID test now takes about TEN DAYS to come back. People with symptoms are not getting tested because by the time they get in for a test and get the results, their 14 day quarantine is up.

So using massive amounts of testing supplies and capacity so kids (and worse, millionaires) can play games is, I believe, ethically wrong. No less wrong than cramming K-12 kids into schools.

We all have to stop and miss out now. There was a road that wasn't like this, and we're not on it. 200,000 selfish dipshits in Sturgis is a leading example of why. So because a tiny minority is mindlessly Karen-selfish, we all can't have nice things.

Sit down, Jim. Take a breath. You still get paid millions, unlike 99.999% of Americans, tens of millions of whom are getting paid $0 right now.

The bottom line is that less people will die if we stop sports for a few months. I'm willing to pay that very small price to save those people.

Irresponsible statement that is counter productive.  Harbaugh knows nothing about this, as a leader he should try to be part of the solution rather than undermining the experts who are making the decisions.

Thank you for taking the necessary precautions, Harbaugh. Thank you for taking it seriously. But you could have the strictest testing regulations in the country for your team and you’d still have zero control over how other teams test and what their numbers are. And when that team lines up across from yours, that virus don’t care about all the work you put in to ensure a safe environment for your players. Its going to slice through your team like a hot knife through butter.

In other words my friend, this has nothing to do with you. This has to do with external parties who ruined it for you, your team and everyone else in between.  So unless you plan on your team playing against itself 10x this year, this isn’t going to work. 

I think the other thing missing from Harbaugh's statement is the nature of football activities so far.  While only 8 positive tests since the return to campus is great, likely the only reason those 8 tests didn't mushroom is because of the limited nature of activities that allowed for cohorting and social distancing.  Eventually the team is going to have to start doing full team type training, contact drills, etc.  It seems extremely unlikely that a positive test isn't going to balloon into at least a few with real practice starting.  

I'm afraid all our team has really proven is that when a team is fairly well isolated and going through preseason training it can be done safely.  I'm not sure it really tells us much about when the team is going to mix with a student body and cross contaminate team wide and ultimately with an entire other team.

Kudos to Harbaugh. Unfortunately, it won't change anything.

Harbaugh's opinion should be meaningless, and in my opinion it borders on irresponsible. Obviously he has a right to any belief he wants, which is something that makes our country great, but he is a football coach with zero background in medicine, disease, healthcare, or any other medical field. His beliefs on the subject mean nothing. 

That said, I hope we can have football. However, it's not the end of the world if we don't. 

I think what I like most about Harbaugh is that he is genuine.....

glad he is our coach.... no commentary on my part on whether or not he is correct about having a season.

I will take Jim as our coach any day, flaws and all. He is real, his morals are real and his love of football is real.

(who knows if I'm right) but I think many people are interpreting the cancellation of college FB through the wrong lens of "net risk to players/coachs/public health". 

If we truly treated CFB as a business entity, like NFL, then yes, there may be a compelling argument to continue CFB (along Coach H's lines). When considering their livelihood's, personal development etc., CFB may be a net benefit to many players.

However, I suspect that the uni presidents truly did make the decision with the assumption that the CFB players are students first. 

And just like many universities have largely limited or cancelled student clinical shadowing; or lab internship opportunities; or other close contact non-revenue fall sports--the presidents may have thought that it was consistent to cancel another close contact extra-curricular like CFB. 

Some may argue that, in reality, CFB is quite different than any other student extra-curricular and is more like a business; and that amateurism is a fiction; but it is quite possible that uni presidents do indeed believe that their university is an academic institution first, CFB entity second. 

Wait a second, we had 11 Covid-19 positive tests in the football program and we still were practicing????  Is this for real?  That's absolutely criminal.

Love Jim, but this is magical thinking.  I had no doubt that UM would handle this situation as well as any university in the country under a “bubble” scenario.

Unfortunately, can we count on Nebraska, Rutgers, Iowa, OSU, etc to do the same?

And more immediately and significantly, what realistically happens if/when students return to campus?

UM is essentially the guy who followed protocol with masks and social distancing, but needs to hope all others will follow the same strict guidelines.  I think if this virus has proven anything, it’s that the selfish minority can ruin things for the rest of us. Once they are out of their training camp bubble cases will spike, it’s inevitable.

Unfortunately most schools aren’t like Michigan, especially in the South smh

Seems reckless. Some very bad remarks in that letter. 
 

brb gonna go against the school president and doctors because I don’t know anyone who has gotten it so we’re good. 

The Teddy Roosevelt quote is one of the greatest quotes ever. 

JH is right. Shutting down the season over a bad flu is foolish ...

First official statement from Coach Harbaugh without a "Go Blue"?

Harbaugh is spot on. It is likely this virus is here to stay. Find a way to go forward. Society will at least try and some will quit before even getting started. 

Harbaugh is right.  Play the season.  Let players opt out if they want to.  Enough of your sissy fear mongering, and that’s most of you on this board.

There's a reason why we don't let football coaches make health decisions.

This is what you would want your football coach to say. If the risks could feasibly be managed as his Instagram post implies there should be football.

The only way there can be any confidence any of those positive facts will hold into the fall is if Michigan allows its football players to remain in a football bubble. I think that they should. And should be compensated for taking the risk. Under any other circumstances it's unethical to have unpaid amateurs bail the University out of a $300 million hole. 

I hope many on here are emailing Harbaugh telling him he isn't following the science and that if you could down vote him, you would. 

Nice pre game speech

This guy is not voting Shy-din