Clinkscale to Chargers, per Freep (don’t murder me due to source)
February 10th, 2024 at 12:20 PM ^
It is "The University AT Buffalo." Why? Because it is part of the SUNY system. It is super annoying. Maybe they should trademark the "AT."
February 10th, 2024 at 12:27 PM ^
Also just given the popularity of the Ravens tree right not. And you have a number of NFL DCs (including Minter) from that tree now who could be head coaches in the near future and will want someone who knows the system.
February 11th, 2024 at 2:03 AM ^
Clink and Elston probably believe that time spent in the NFL as a position coach improves your chances of elevating your career to DC or higher, in college or the even the NFL. Look no further than Mike MacDonald and Jesse Minter for examples. Both were former position coaches in the NFL prior to getting DC jobs. MacDonald was a DB and LB position coach with the Ravens before his DC gig at Michigan. Minter was a DB position coach with the Ravens before his DC gig at Vandy.
There is precedent.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^
Harbaugh offered a lot of his staff to join him. Michigan is too cheap to compete for any of them. Why be mad at Harbaugh and not Michigan?
February 10th, 2024 at 10:21 AM ^
This is pretty clearly not a money thing.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:30 AM ^
College football coaching is way harder right now so if you want good coaches is definitely going to be about the money
February 10th, 2024 at 12:28 PM ^
I think the point is we were offering both Clinkscale and Elston plenty of money.
February 11th, 2024 at 9:04 AM ^
It's very apparent that we did not. If they prefer the NFL or working with Harbaugh then it costs more money to keep them from doing those things.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:36 AM ^
Then it's clearly a desire to coach in the NFL along side Harbaugh thing...can't blame anyone.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:38 AM ^
If that's true why did he tell his players two days ago he was coming back?
February 10th, 2024 at 10:37 AM ^
You summed up everything with 2 words.
1 - They were Harbaugh's staff, not Michigan's
2 - Compete, I think that once the dust settles Harbaugh will be the gift that keeps giving except when it comes to competition. His default mode is to compete. I'm not sure his mother would be safe.
Moore has to build his staff. On the plus side, he doesn't have to sell his staff by showing them the nail that Yost hung his jacket on.
One of the best universities in the world
One of the best cities in the US
World Class facilities
Coming off a Natiional Championship win
If Michigan can't attract coaches the problem has nothing to do with J. J. Harbaugh.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
They were Harbaugh's staff and not Michigan's? So Harbaugh was the kind of mercenary we accuse Ohio State of having? A guy connected to the university only through a paycheck? If so, then he's doing exactly what would be expected. But I was under the impression that he loved Michigan and had a deeper connection than that.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:12 AM ^
Your impression was 100% wrong.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:30 AM ^
Apparently.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:48 AM ^
On the plus side, Harbaugh isn't as vindictive as I am. If Warde had publicly shamed me the way he did Harbaugh, after I won the championship I'd have waited until the last minute, taken the entire staff, then tracked down the nail Yost hung his jacket from and taken that too.
Harbaugh left everyone's choice for HC and the AD who has done such a fine job that he is probably going to be extended. They are both well compensated, time to get to work.
Harbaugh's job is winning for the Chargers. He is going to attack that with his usual enthusiasm. He is going to compete with Michigan for the coaches he wants, not extend charity.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:57 AM ^
So you think a guy who grew up with Michigan football, played at Michigan, and brought a National Championship to Michigan doesn’t love Michigan? I’m pretty sure his connection to and love for Michigan football runs deeper than yours. The NFL is football at the highest level. It’s also pure football, without having to worry about players going classes or kissing teenagers’ asses during now never ending recruiting. Harbaugh is rewarding the hard work and success of coaches from the staff he assembled by offering them jobs at the highest level. Michigan doesn’t own those coaches and Harbaugh shouldn’t be required to forego offering those opportunities to men who have earned them to throw some charity Michigan’s way. Moore wanted the top job and got it. Building a staff is part of the job. He needs to sink or swim on his own. Hopefully, he agrees and isn’t looking at himself as the victim you seem to think he is.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:14 PM ^
With all due respect, you actually don't know how Harbaugh feels about Michigan or Michigan football. Maybe he's not capable of having the same kind of loyalty-based connection that others have. Is that wrong or bad? No. But many saw Harbaugh as way more than just the coach of the team, and maybe that was wishful thinking.
February 10th, 2024 at 2:57 PM ^
"Maybe he's not capable of having the same kind of loyalty-based connection that others have. Is that wrong or bad?"
Yes.
It is a definite failing of being a good human being.
February 10th, 2024 at 3:39 PM ^
If the speculation is correct and he's on the spectrum, then I would argue he is, as they call it now, neurodivergent. His emotions function differently than those who are neurotypical. Can't fault him for that.
February 10th, 2024 at 2:55 PM ^
"So you think a guy who grew up with Michigan football, played at Michigan, and brought a National Championship to Michigan doesn’t love Michigan?"
Correct.
Harbaugh loves Harbaugh, and competition... the end.
If it helps him with Chargers, he'd happily destroy the university.
February 10th, 2024 at 3:21 PM ^
There is always turnover on college coaching staffs, especially when the Head Coach leaves. Assistants are almost always looking to move up. If Harbaugh “destroyed” Michigan by taking some of the assistants he hired with him, what does that say about Michigan? And if Moore had made a different choice for DC, he could’ve kept Elston and/or Clinkscale. That was Moore’s decision.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:37 PM ^
A cult leader “loves” his flock as long as they serve his immediate interest. It’s not “love” like a normal person would think of it.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:42 AM ^
Because it’s not a money thing. Take money out of the equation for a moment.
College football is a 365 day a year job. Imagine being a coach and in addition to your on-field coaching duties, you’re spending a significant amount of your time texting, calling, and emailing 16-17 year old kids, their coaches, and their parents. You’re constantly spending your “free” time on the road. Either visiting prospects, working camps, or watching high school games.
Now, what if you were offered a job with equal pay where you have to do NONE of that extra stuff, and you’re solely expected to coach your position? You don’t have to recruit your roster, the GM does that. Not to mention being a defensive backs coach in the NFL being more prestigious and leading to better future career opportunities than holding the same position in college.
It’s a scenario every college coach would gladly take. Especially with the way NIL and the transfer portal have created the need to re-recruit your own roster every year in addition to high schoolers and transfers.
It’s silly to sit there and say it’s because “Michigan is cheap.” The fact is, the NFL is simply a better job than holding the same position at Michigan, or any college for that matter.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:25 PM ^
Yup. Your ‘hourly pay’ and work life balance are way better in the NFL and these guys clearly don’t mind working for Jim. It sucks but its like saying “I cant believe Bill took a job making $75k a year at 40 hours a week when I was offering him $80k to work 80 hours a week”. It stops being about money at some point, especially when you’re as rich as these guys
February 11th, 2024 at 9:07 AM ^
"It's not a money thing, college is a much harder job"
Guess what that means? You have to pay them more money to get them to stay...
February 10th, 2024 at 3:32 PM ^
NFL >>>> CFB. Less hours and don't have to deal with recruiting, transfer portal and NIL. Pretty simple
February 10th, 2024 at 10:15 AM ^
Not defending him, but it’s pretty easy to understand that he wants the best staff he can assemble
February 10th, 2024 at 10:21 AM ^
People keep saying this... It seems hard to believe that the best position coaches in all of football are mostly gathered on one single college team.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:41 AM ^
Sure but football is a relationship based business. Guys are hired based off their network. Harbaugh isn’t posting these jobs publicly and conducting a nationwide search.
Harbaugh also isn’t the easiest guy to work with so I think he puts a premium on guys he knows he can work with.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:46 AM ^
He’s assembling a staff of people he is familiar with, are familiar with the culture he’s implementing, and are familiar with the systems he is implementing.
The “best” position coaches aren’t necessarily the “right” position coaches.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:12 AM ^
Exactly. What are the chances of all the best coaches being on one team???? I mean if that actually DID happen I’d expect that team to go undefeated.
(Checks notes)
Nevermind.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:27 AM ^
I get the joke, but hopefully it was self evident from my phrasing that I would assume a well connected coach like Harbaugh would be able to find plenty of NFL caliber coaches around the NFL who are more qualified than guys whom we were told were college lifers and wouldn't be a good fit in the NFL anyway.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:31 AM ^
It's an ego thing. Harbaugh did the same thing when he moved from Stanford to San Francisco. He has his guys, and he believes his guys are better than all the other guys.
He knows what he wants, and he won't stop until he gets it. That's what makes him an elite coach.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:21 AM ^
It seems to suggest that Harbaugh doesn't have many admirers among NFL coaches if the only coaches he can attract are on the Michigan staff.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:26 PM ^
Or Jim has a staff he really liked working with and wants to retain as much of them as he can. Plus- yes Jim has been out of the league for 10 years and he is surely less connected in the pro circles now
February 10th, 2024 at 12:37 PM ^
This. There are reasons those people werent already coaching in the NFL.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:30 AM ^
I understand that, but I'm questioning whether or not he loves this University as much as he says he does. This gutting indicates he doesn't give a shit what happens to the program now that he's gone
February 10th, 2024 at 10:48 AM ^
It’s not his job to make sure Michigan/Moore continue to succeed. It IS his job to make sure the Chargers succeed.
He’s not gutting Michigan for shits and giggles, he’s putting together what he believes is the best staff to win with the Chargers.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:16 AM ^
He doesn't have to put us first anymore. But we also don't have to defend him anymore, either. It works both ways.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:43 PM ^
"It works both ways."
Bingo.
When he was hired at Stanford, he positioned himself as somebody whose first love was always Stanford—this is what he said at his introductory press conference in Palo Alto:
"I used to stare down at that field as I was stenciling those numbers," Harbaugh told reporters, athletes and others who crowded into the Arrillaga Family Sports Center's Kissick Auditorium. "I so very badly wanted to go to Stanford and play for the Cardinal. … This was my number-one choice all along."
Jim Harbaugh's #1 priority has always been where Jim Harbaugh works (it's part of the reason he's an outstanding coach), but he knows what to say to people to get them to believe they'll always be #1 in his heart. He's very canny at marketing himself.
February 10th, 2024 at 1:06 PM ^
Pretty cynical take, no? Harbaugh is a complicated man. When you're as insanely competitive as he is, it must eclipse your entire perception and vocabulary. I think he can say those things and mean them honestly and at the same time truly not be beholden to anyone other than himself and his family. He's strange, we're lucky he came to Michigan at all. He made us functional. Time for us to see if we can maintain it.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:43 PM ^
Where a lot of the tension comes from is, yeah you’re right, from a spiritually bankrupt perspective. There is nothing more moral or right than enriching equity holders. Jim’s job is to make his team’s owners the most money now. That’s true.
But the tension comes from a contradiction in things he said before. Things like love, brotherhood, loyalty - these values transcend petty profit motive. And we as fans are now seeing how empty those words are when he used them. That is the betrayal. It’s not his job to ensure Moore succeeds, but he is setting the man up for failure unnecessarily. It stings. People are feeling this.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:48 PM ^
Jim's job is to win football games for the Chargers. If they had a losing record but made the owner more money, the owner might like it but Jim wouldn't. His mind doesn't work like that and never has.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:33 AM ^
Why would he? He played there, he graduated from there, he coached them to a title there. I think his future days and ways of giving back to the university can be of his own choosing.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:18 AM ^
It's as if Harbaugh actually liked working with these guys and had success doing it?
February 10th, 2024 at 10:23 AM ^
We should expect Harbaugh to go 100% toward what he thinks will win wherever he is today. When that was here, he went 100% for Michigan, and now it's 0% for Michigan. If we thought Harbaugh would do anything to benefit the program after leaving, that was just a mistake. He's not working against Michigan now, he just finds Michigan irrelevant to the success of the Chargers and at the same time doesn't have any feelings about it. Expecting Harbaugh to function based on feelings, even about Michigan, is misguided.
So hate him if you choose to, but there is no point. Michigan has to stand up and make its program without Harbaugh, and I would suggest we've been very passive in doing so. Sherrone and Warde have the responsibility to maintain and build the program, they both need to do it with a similar sense of urgency that Harbaugh clearly has, and had when he was here.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:30 AM ^
To be fair, he wasn’t even 100% for Michigan when he was here, since he interviewed with the NFL multiple times, knowing it makes recruiting tougher on his staff. Sure, we got over the hump this year, but he probably could have stocked the cupboard even deeper if he didn’t have the wandering eye.
Harbaugh is 100% for himself. It is what it is, and if you can align his self-interest with your interests, he can do great things for you. But we shouldn’t have expected loyalty.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:41 AM ^
Yeah - I don’t know how much of the foot dragging is the posted for 7 days thing, but it sure feels like we are not moving with the cache of being the reigning national champions. It’s almost like we hired a young guy with no experience as a head coach and expect him to be able to completely rebuild a championship level staff quickly and effectively.
This has become not a Bo-Mo-Lloyd transition with coaching staff and culture intact. Moore is now rebuilding.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:19 PM ^
Bo retired and became the AD.
Mo was fired and retired from football.
Lloyd retired from football.
None of these are remotely similar to a head coach leaving for the NFL after winning a NC.
February 10th, 2024 at 6:16 PM ^
Yes, which is why I said it’s not that.
Not a transition where the staff and culture remain intact (which is what it has been advertised as by promoting Moore).