A detail about the Harbaugh contract negotiations
January 24th, 2024 at 10:14 PM ^
Yep. Fire Warde. Ridiculous.
Even if Jim was gone and wanted to chase his NFL dreams anyways, there's no excuse to have let him walk out to NFL interviews without the contract that he wanted and would have at least kept UM open as a more realistic option before the last hour.
Total failure by Warde Manuel, again.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:17 PM ^
might not be warde, or not just warde. guessing there are a number of names on the list of folks who screwed this up. regents. attorneys. admin folks. probably not santa, but i suspect all the rest.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:19 PM ^
I love it how we give Santa blanket immunity from any short-comings. Must be all of the bribes from our childhoods.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:21 PM ^
well, he did give me a BB gun once.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:29 PM ^
Did you shoot your eye out?
January 24th, 2024 at 10:41 PM ^
its possible that some neighbors had some spot lights 'burn out', kind of all at once. maybe. by accident. just a coincidence.
January 25th, 2024 at 5:29 AM ^
What is a basketball gun
January 25th, 2024 at 6:58 AM ^
Red Ryder.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:25 PM ^
To your point, this sounds more like lawyers and probably regents.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:34 PM ^
Regents, lawyers, etc, etc.
Warde has proven time again that he has not the spine nor the character to lead the AD.
He is a pencil pushing, desk jockey - not the bold, forward thinking leader needed at the position. His job is to push the regents and lawyers - to lead, persuade and devise a path.
This is about more than just Harbaugh's contract.
The basketball program is a disaster. The NIL program is unstructured and lagging.
What exactly does this guy get paid to do?
January 25th, 2024 at 1:14 AM ^
Yep. You can't grow a forehead like that without plenty of nutricion.
January 25th, 2024 at 11:59 AM ^
Not just the forehead.
January 24th, 2024 at 11:09 PM ^
He is a pencil pushing, desk jockey - not the bold, forward thinking leader needed at the position.
i have terrible news for you with regard to whom universities prefer to hire for administrative roles
January 24th, 2024 at 11:11 PM ^
WHOEVER it was knew that Jim would sign if they met the demands, waited until he was too far along with the Chargers to agree to them, and then offered them to make it APPEAR that it was all about the Lombardi.
Look at the Warde/Ono tweets. Jim was open with them the whole time. They knew when he was committed to finishing the deal with the Chargers and ONLY THEN did they "give in." So they get to come off smelling like daisies.
B.S. They had the opportunity to show the love. They didn't. We lost him. That's how it went down.
And whoever did it probably did it BECAUSE they wanted him gone.
The program will be fine, but I'm extremely disgusted. And I'm even moderately disgusted with the Warde defenders. That's next-level gullible. At least Warde knows what he's doing, and it works...
January 25th, 2024 at 3:47 AM ^
Right Ono too clearly wanted Harbaugh out. Michigan is and always has been cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap.
They'd much rather go 8-4 with a coach that's not under investigation and cost a 3rd of what Harbaugh does.
The basketball program is the worst in the B1G because of cheap cheap cheap cheap. What disgusting is Michigan has the fans brainwashed into supporting cheap cheap cheap cheap.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:05 AM ^
Agree…..Warde was the main person that blew it! Plain and simple. Neg me all you want but I believe Harbaugh would have stayed if they agreed to his terms earlier.
January 24th, 2024 at 11:14 PM ^
Wouldn't it be fantastic if Warde could override everyone? He can't. I don't care how strong of a leader he is. If you have a job like he does, you can't survive by strong arming everyone. He works for a state institution, not a private company.
January 24th, 2024 at 11:53 PM ^
Strong leadership builds consensus in times of crisis and moves swiftly to remove barriers.
Lawyers are employees that offer advice but not decisions.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:43 AM ^
Lawyers are employees that offer advice but not decisions.
People who run things with this attitude get to do what they want, but it's a pretty big risk...
January 25th, 2024 at 3:39 PM ^
Lawyers are risk averse.
Understanding the risks and making calculated decisions doesn’t necessarily mean they are big risks.
January 25th, 2024 at 12:47 AM ^
He is a pencil pushing, desk jockey - not the bold, forward thinking leader needed at the position
That was the last full-time guy and he was a colossal disaster. People have the memories of a gold fish apparently...
January 25th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^
I was all in on Juwan, and so was everyone else. Don’t blame him for that hire at all. NIL failure is a different story. Warde can rectify this situation if he gets Minter and Herbert to stay.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:36 PM ^
i can tell you it's comprised of a sea of spineless skim milk drinkers. the names matter not, only the damage they have done.
January 25th, 2024 at 12:07 AM ^
Just from the timing of the leaks, it sure seems like people at Michigan slow-played this hoping Harbaugh would leave while they tried to make it look like they did everything they could. Probably safe to say it wasn't just Warde, but maybe the Burger-gate suspension really was the sign of a rift.
January 26th, 2024 at 1:38 AM ^
Exactly. And if they couldn’t get it right for Harbaugh, they never will. Being a Michigan fan is way more miserable than it should be because 95% of the things that tick us off are 100% controllable.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:53 PM ^
You are so right! Warde should have made sure the contract guaranteed Jim he could win the Super Bowl while coaching at Michigan. What the hell was Warde thinking not making that kind of commitment?!?!? Fire everyone in the AD over this. Throw in Santa and all the Regents as well. Hell, shut the whole University down over such a gross show of incompetence from the AD!!!
January 24th, 2024 at 11:01 PM ^
Except that the new information here is that there literally was more that the University could agree to in order to retain Jim, and they simply choose not to act on it until it was too late in the process with another institution that more properly recognized his worth.
If Jim wants to leave because he wants a Super Bowl ring, that’s fine. But if it comes out you’re playing chicken on contract clauses and give way too late after he’s already made up his mind to go elsewhere, it’s pretty clear it’s not simply the Super Bowl ring at issue anymore.
And yes, that is absolutely a terminable offense for an AD and/or any University counsel to the extent they were unwilling to authorize this concession previously.
January 25th, 2024 at 12:01 PM ^
Harbaugh wanted to go to the NFL, and ALL of this is just a Harbaugh PR job to make it looks like he was dealing with Michigan in good faith. He never was. Michigan was always the back up girlfriend - they were two years ago, they were last year, and they are now.
January 24th, 2024 at 11:03 PM ^
I know this may be hard to understand, but two things can be true...
1) Jim Harbaugh wanted to leave to the NFL and there was nothing UM could have done to keep him.
2) The AD, Warde Manuel, is incompetent and, in this particular case, did not offer the necessary and deserved contract up front, before Jim left Ann Arbor to talk with NFL teams.
Warde being an incompetent desk jockey and Jim Harbaugh preferring the NFL are not mutually exclusive.
January 24th, 2024 at 11:10 PM ^
It's been reported repeatedly that Jim needed to feel loved, and that he wanted the immunity clause. Warde let him twist in the wind publicly all season with the suspensions, never once I believe, giving a press conference to defend Jim's character. Aka, didn't feel the love. Then the AD screwed around for months with his contract up until right at the end. Just give the greatest coach we've ever had the immunity clause and be done with it. If we eat some contract money because of a show cause, we've got plenty. Goodness knows it isn't going to NIL.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:07 AM ^
YES! Very straight forward! Leaders need to constantly re-recruit their best employees in order to retain them! Jim is not a hard study and Warde failed horribly in this regard. I also think there is something to the fact that Jim kept Warde somewhat distanced from the program. I suspect Warde will be breaking down film with Moore on the regular.....
January 25th, 2024 at 11:41 AM ^
It's easy to forget the things which don't fit the false narrative.
Statement from athletic director Warde Manuel on Friday’s Big Ten Decision:
“I want to make it clear at the outset of this statement that no one at the University of Michigan is happy to hear of the allegations and preliminary evidence that has come forth about in-person scouting and sign stealing by a member of our football program. No one. We, like every institution in this country, preach and educate all of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff, to adhere to rules and ask questions if something is unclear.
“However, no one here, and no one at other universities around this country, wants to be convicted and penalized without due process of a complete investigation and with significant harm to our student-athletes. This is a fundamental principle of our justice, NCAA and, until yesterday, our conference systems. Sadly, that is not what happened yesterday.
“Yesterday, under the guise of the NCAA Rule regarding Head Coach Responsibility the Big Ten decided to penalize Coach Harbaugh without knowing all the facts, and I find that completely unethical, insulting to a well-established process within the NCAA, and an assault on the rights of everyone (especially in the Big Ten) to be judged by a fair and complete investigation. Not liking someone or another university or believing without any evidence that they knew or saying someone should have known without an investigation is not grounds to remove someone from their position before the NCAA process has reached a conclusion through a full NCAA investigative process.
“All of the Head Coaches in the Big Ten (some who have been accused of actively participating in the trading of signals of opponents) and my Big Ten AD colleagues can rejoice today that someone was “held accountable,” but they should be worried about the new standard of judgment (without complete investigation) that has been unleashed in this conference.
“You may have removed him from our sidelines today, but Jim Harbaugh is our head football coach. We look forward to defending Jim’s right to coach our football team at the hearing on Friday. He has instilled his pride, passion, and the team’s belief in themselves to achieve greatness. I will continue to support Jim throughout this process, my coaches and staff, and especially our student-athletes as we continue to play this game and fight to win for Michigan and all who love us.”
January 25th, 2024 at 5:48 PM ^
Has anyone stopped to think that maybe it was the same way with the Chargers? It's possible they weren't willing to give Jim everything he wanted. Then heard UM caved and then gave into his demands.
I really think deep down Jim wanted one more kick at the can to win the superbowl and he was looking for any reason to leave UM and go to the NFL. He has found it and I wish him luck. He had a very good coaching staff working with him at UM that are just as responsible for the success of the team as him. UM will move on and be just fine as there are many coaches who can lead them to success. This day was going to come someday and it just so happen to get here sooner then I think most of us wanted. People thought we would never survive Bo retiring but we moved ahead as we will now. Thanks Coach Jim, good luck and I look forward to seeing what Coach Moore does with this team now
January 24th, 2024 at 10:15 PM ^
Damn you Warde.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:15 PM ^
Then, Bye. I once told a girl I wanted to break up because she was left-handed. There were loads of other reasons, but that's what I told her.
January 25th, 2024 at 7:05 AM ^
She couldn’t use the right occasionally?
January 24th, 2024 at 10:16 PM ^
Fire Warde.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:16 PM ^
Fire Warde asap. How in the world could Michigan choose him over Harbaugh?? He’s a fat piece of shit who chased away every good coach we have had.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:17 PM ^
This shouldn’t surprise anyone here.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:17 PM ^
This whole scenario has a stench of agent lingo to make Michigan take some blame rather than Harbaugh leaving. Lets be honest he would’ve left if he got an NFL offer in the last few years.
This is the best outcome for all parties. Now we move into the future.
Good luck w the Chargers Jim. Please give the Chiefs a run for the money.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
Am I the only one who doesn’t like Bacon? He was assuring us earlier that Harbaugh was coming back to UM and not seriously considering the NFL jobs. Fake insider.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:23 PM ^
Bacon is a lot more likeable when you realize he has absolutely no inside information. He's just a fan like the rest of us, with a bigger platform.
January 24th, 2024 at 10:37 PM ^
Remember Bacon was at UM at the same time as Harbaugh - part of the reason he was so tuned in during the hiring in 2014 is because he had a lot of contacts in that era’s alumni circle. A lot of his stuff comes from that side of the equation
Bacon:Harbaugh::Sam Webb:Ath. Dept.
we’ll probably never know what happened during the negotiations, but it’s probably somewhere in the middle of what each was saying. Ultimately I think the biggest pull was the chance to win a Super Bowl with Justin Herbert. There’s a reason the Chargers were the only team seriously rumored wire to wire.
January 24th, 2024 at 11:14 PM ^
He isn't winning ANYTHING with that organization. He should have picked someone else.
January 24th, 2024 at 11:23 PM ^
I mean, it didn’t seem like anyone else wanted him… maybe Atlanta?
January 24th, 2024 at 10:53 PM ^
He was assuring us earlier that Harbaugh was coming back to UM and not seriously considering the NFL jobs.
Doesn't this confirm Bacon's timeline that Jim was negotiating with the intent to come back to Michigan, and only started considering NFL jobs after Michigan would not meet his contract demands?
January 25th, 2024 at 7:10 AM ^
Nope, Jim wanted to get to the NFL. He tried hard in the last 3 years and only go one serious offer which is the Vikings which was pulled at the last minute.
January 25th, 2024 at 11:04 AM ^
I like JUB. But he hasn't covered himself in glory with this Harbaugh stuff. I'll take my Bacon with a grain of salt.
January 25th, 2024 at 12:04 PM ^
JUB is a completely useless rumor monger who carries water for Harbaugh - but for some reason even though he is less accurate than folks who know nothing, he gets treated like he knows something around here instead of getting banned... because he wrote some inaccurate and poorly edited books about Michigan.