A detail about the Harbaugh contract negotiations

Warde has risked the whole program on the hope that Moore works out. He needs to be fired because his last hire in Howard has been awful, and hockey seems to have taken a step back too.

If MSU and OSU fans could spell schadenfreude, they would really enjoy posting snippets of these threads.

But, doesn't that mean he would have ALSO been in the final stages of discussions with Michigan? He was going to go no matter what. If he wanted to stay, he would have. We called his bluff, and he went all in.

And that's OK.  Good Luck Coach, and Thank you.

Jim was gone regardless. We’ll never know the details, good or bad, and it’s not worth caring at this point. Just accept it and move on. 

I have a lot of questions. If he was offered what he wanted at the 11th hour, why wouldn’t he take it ? Why would Jimmy have taken the Michigan deal two weeks ago, but not today? 

At the same time: why didn’t Michigan make him a bear hug offer two weeks ago? 

Don't buy this bullshit. Too late for what? He hadn't signed anything. He wanted to stay at Michigan, he could've stayed at Michigan. He didn't, and he left. Time to move on and stop blaming those who are still here. Good luck in the NFL, we have bigger fish to fry

All the people that were defending Warde in the Warde thread a few hours ago saying it wasn't AT ALL his fault... feel free to just sit this one out eh?

So Harbaugh got everything he was asking for from Michigan and still decided to go to the NFL and Bacon is framing it as a Michigan problem? If Harbaugh wanted to be at Michigan, and got everything he wanted from them, then why didn't he accept the contract? Sounds like the deal with the Chargers wasn't done so clearly the decision was on him. No one is at fault here. Harbaugh left because he wanted to go back to the NFL. End of story. 

Sorry - not buying this BS whatsoever. If JH wanted some kind of tolerance for burgergate and signgate, I believe he could have gotten it. Problem was he wanted some kind of blanket immunity for FUTURE issues brought by a vindictive NCAA and B1G. That's too much power.

Will always love the guy for 40-3 and a NC but time for him to realize the politics of NFL are >>> than whatever Warde has over him

Well, that's an interesting bit of information for any future coaching candidate to know. Also? Warde & Co. might want to rethink their various negotiating points and the timing of same.

We'll never know if granting those provisions much earlier would have kept JH here - his heart might have been dead set on chasing The Ring to match his brother's ‐ but not playing hardball with JH might have produced a different outcome.

JUB seems like a good guy but him signal boosting Harbaugh's attorney CYA'ing his client's decision to not return to UM is so stupid.  If Harbaugh wanted to be at UM he'd be at UM; last-minute negotiations or not the idea the school that sued its own league to protect you from sanctions, has paid you handsomely and offered you the biggest contract in CFB history, allowed you to hire anyone you wanted including absolute dipshits like Schemmy, and basically stayed out of your way didn't show you enough "love" because they didn't immediately agree to every demand you made is assinine.

I wish Harbaugh the best in LAC but fucking save me quoting his attorney saying some bullshit as the objective truth around this situation.

Get over it .. it is over … it wasn’t our decision it was what Harbaugh wanted like it or whine about it forever… and Bacon is hardly someone who I would trust totally with insider news !!! 

Just tell us the specific contract language at issue and which side took what position and when before I pass judgment on who was unreasonable.

We know this is and always was on Warde!  Waiting until the 11th hour, yeah we know!  He had two years to get this done!  
 

Warde welcomed the NCAA in the ad, met with Stapleton…. 
 

Harbaugh’s friend posted the cryptic tweet of toxicity in the athletic department, later called out a poster about Warde cutting his pay in half when a post tried to insinuate tension was Harbaughs fault…. 
 

100% this is on Warde Manuel!  

Well, if true this seals the "fire Ward" deal for me. This is the arrogance of UM, yes the school is bigger than one man, but only one coach can take 3-4 star talent and coach them to defeat 4-5 star talent 3 years in a row. A couple years ago the Braintrust on this site said we should settle for 9-10 win seasons. Time to prepare for it yet again. While OSU is spending $15 million plus on their players, the people in charge of negotiating JH contract thought they were negotiators and were going to do what? Save some money, prepare to look professional. Second thought,  just keep Ward, the school just proved they are fine with 9 wins

Now how can we blame Lloyd for this?

I don't have enough truthful information to have an informed opinion.  I suspect that most of what we've heard is lawyer/agent posturing, but bottom line is that Harbaugh wanted to try the NFL again.  We're all entitled to our opinions on what went down or didn't, but I suspect most of those will be litmus tests that reveal what we already felt.  

Regardless, if Marty McFly came up to you in the summer 2015 with an ipad full of MGo game columns for all our games from @Utah to vs Washington would you have signed up for that, after recovering from the shock of Keith Jackon's passing?  I would've, and so would all of you.  Again, don't weep that it's over, rejoice that it happened.

Malpractice 

 If true, wow, potentially an epic miscalculation imho. Then again, agree with the points made here previously that we do not really know the contract language that created the suggested "impasse".  

Honestly, all this does is confirm JUB is in the “carrying water for the Harbaugh camp” crowd. 

These were always tough asks. Combined with the “no buyout until NFL hiring season is over” clause, it’s clear Michigan was always the backup plan. 

If he wanted to be at Michigan we wouldn’t be commenting on this post. 
 

Wish him nothing but the best. I’ll be rooting for him 

1. Santa was in the negotiations. Will you fire him as well?

2. Warde represents the university and rightly held the line on immunity.

Honestly, I'm kind of mad Warde gave in and offered full immunity (if that's what Bacon is saying), much than I am that he held out on it. We could have had a coach we were paying the most in the country - over 12 million - who couldn't coach because of a crazy NCAA show cause. As much as I wanted Harbaugh that wouldn't have been good for anyone. 

If he's talking about the delayed buyout, than we could have had Harbaugh sign a new contract and then leave a few weeks later - also terrible and we'd be much more bitter than we are now. 

I had convinced myself Harbaugh leaving was because he simply had a NFL itch he had to scratch so there was no point playing the blame game.  If we find out we could have kept him and decided to dick around until the 11th hour it is going to sting.

Honestly after his dalliance with the league the last three offseasons, I'm not convinced he wouldn't have left anyway. Its not like him going back to the NFL all of a sudden just occurred to him in the last couple months. 

Did Warde and Co. make it any easier to try and get him back? No. But if Harbaugh wants a Super Bowl ring, and he does, there's literally nothing Michigan can do to effectively counter-offer that. 

this is reprehensible. It was in front of them for months and they wouldn’t move on it. Can’t wait to see how they spin it to the fans.

At the end of the day the Chargers offered an opportunity that Michigan could never match.

With that said, Michigan should’ve put their absolute best foot forward to begin with instead of this 11th hour nonsense.  

The entire administrative end of UM messed this up from the beginning.  Jim Harbaugh doesn't need Michigan to be great.  Michigan does need Jim Harbaugh for it's football program to be great. There are a few coaches, both pro and college, that deserve what they ask for in regards to contract stipulations.  Protection from the NCAA, which we all know is a outdated and criminal organization, is one of many protections that should have been granted.  He asked for a 3 person panel.  Give it to him.  Warde doesn't have the clout or experience to be the only one responsible for firing a legend.  Harbaugh is different and should have been treated differently.  

I'd expect a large drop off from the last three years and back to 9-4 with the occasional 10-3 seasons.  It could get worse.  Warde has proven he's an average and lazy AD.  He wasn't the best candidate available when he was hired.  Politics and DEI were heavily involved.  He didn't hire Harbaugh so he's been riding Harbaugh's coat tails with football.  This will be his second big time hire.  He didn't get the basketball hire right.  That program is a tire fire.  Softball was a disaster.  No disrespect to Bonnie Tholl, but she wasn't even close to being the best hire.  Warde didn't interview anybody.  He took the easy political route. 

Football will be his biggest hire and he's going to take the easy political route.  I really love Moore as OC and eventual head coach (someplace like EMU, FAU, Ball St), but it doesn't mean that he's the best candidate for the Michigan job.  There are a lot of good young head coaches out there that should be interviewed.  Michigan isn't a place where you should start learning to be a head coach.  Michigan is a place that should reward a deserving young or middle age head coach who's put in years of work, has extensive head coaching experience, and has a proven track record of winning.  Warde is taking the easy route.  I would argue the political and DEI route.  I can see the interim tag on him for this year, but not handed the job.  Again, I love Moore as OC but doesn't meet the criteria that we all know should be met to be the head football coach at Michigan.  

I know a lot of you will argue with me and even call me names.  This is the reality of our culture and world we live in today.  Take an honest look and ask yourself, why did Harbaugh leave?  I'm certain he has NFL aspirations, but he loves Michigan.  If he would have been offered the protections he stays and finishes his career at Michigan and we are all happy.  But the administration is playing politics.  A few idiots will make the rest of us suffer.  They basically ran him out of town.  For as much as he's done for Michigan, they didn't give him in return what he deserved, which is protection and guarantees.  

Everyone that is choosing to believe Warde and Ono could have gotten Jim to stay conveniently ignores that one of Jim's contract demands was that the buyout doesn't increase until after this year's NFL coaching search cycle is over