Morning Drinking: Approved Comment Count

Brian

Both Adam Rittenberg of ESPN via Chris Mortensen and perpetual bearer of hate news Michael Rosenberg are reporting that if Harbaugh does not take an NFL job he will not leave Stanford:

Brandon's seemingly obvious move with Michigan football -- to fire coach Rich Rodriguez and hire Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh -- appears to be off the board. Colleague Chris Mortensen reports that Harbaugh is more likely to remain at Stanford or take an NFL job than return to his alma mater.

Because of course he is. Rosenberg is even more direct:

Jim Harbaugh is highly unlikely to accept the Michigan football coaching job if it becomes available, a person with direct knowledge of Harbaugh's thinking told the Free Press.

Harbaugh plans to decide this week whether he wants to take a job in the NFL. If he stays in college coaching, he has decided he will stay at Stanford, where he has built a potential powerhouse. It would take an extreme change of heart for Harbaugh to end up in Ann Arbor, according to the person, who did not want to be identified because Rich Rodriguez is still U-M's coach.

Hopefully that's as accurate as the rest of his reporting about the Michigan program but with a second confirming source it looks grim. Somehow Michigan has managed to screw this up, too. If the athletic department had a two-inch putt lined up they would whack it into a communications satellite. Seriously, what the hell, Harbaugh?

Comments

Webber's Pimp

January 4th, 2011 at 12:10 PM ^

The joke is on us. This situation has been brought upon by Dave Brandon who has botched this process from start to finish. He has created an air of uncertainty and instability surrounding our program and has managed to hamstring our coaching staff and their recruiting effortsin the process. Now it looks like the favorite son is going to turn us down. Bravo Dave Brandon!! I don't think anybody could have done a better job screwing this program up...

los

January 4th, 2011 at 12:19 PM ^

You have no idea what you're talking about. He said he was going to evaluate the program after the season and he did. What? He didn't bend to the will of fans and media? Boo-hoo.

Harbaugh not coming has nothing to do with that. If you want someone to blame, blame our crazy, uninformed fan base that acts like piranhas, criticize without mercy and predict future occurrences as if they knew what the hell is going on.

If anything, be mad at Harbaugh for not coming, not Brandon, who has handled things professionaly and has kept quite (as he should). I guarantee you Brandon has more managerial and administrative experience and expertise than you do. If we get to keep Rod I'll be laughing my ass off at all the psycho fans that bend over just so Harbaugh could do them right in the ass. Now all the haters will have to cheer for the same man they've been trying to get rid of. Ha...Ha...Ha...

Repent, and thou shall be saved...

M-Dog

January 4th, 2011 at 1:10 PM ^

"I am going to evaluate the program after the season" and that he is sticking to it come hell or high water is somehow a noble thing is lunacy.

He needs to be flexible and track to reality, just like every CEO has to.

Having your coach publicly twist in the wind for six weeks during peak recruting season, especially when we have serious talent gaps to fill, is proving a disaster. 

If we wind up needing to keep RR around, look what we will have done to ourselves.  The atmosphere with RR will be poison, we will have chased off key recruits, and we will have perpetuated the percieved environment of general instability.

A mid-tier bowl game was not the key deciding factor here.  If DB knew RR was not the answer after OSU, then he needed to move forward accordingly.  If he knew that RR should be brought back, he should have announced that then and there.

    

S.G. Rice

January 4th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^

If I could change jobs for the day today I'd love to work at ESPN being in charge of rounding up people to give idiotic opinions as to what Jim Harbaugh is going to do.

Co-Worker:  "Hey Glen, I just got Dick Vitale on the air, top that sucker!"

Me:  "Okay, wait for it, wait for it ... I got Cal Ripken going on in five"

Co-Worker:  "Criss Angel, bitch!"

Me:   "If I can get Oprah to return my call you're done.  Pack your bags, son"

TheTeamx3

January 4th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^

i can't imagine how much worse the general fan base's attitude towards Rich Rod will be if we don't get JH. It seemed like he was a lock for the last few weeks and then after seeing us get blown up and Stanford rolling VT, people are going to be very unhappy if RR is still around next year. 

MGlobules

January 4th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^

what made anyone so sure Harbaugh wanted the job are feeling a little less like they've stuck their finger in the socket right now, if not much. Now all we need is for RichRod to ditch us. With the kind of animosity he faces if he stays. . . sunny Pittsburgh must look very good from Ann Arbor. Rita may be putting the tschotchkes into bubblewrap as we speak.  

I have a fake Yiddish word for such situations: Upgefuckt.  

MaizeAndBlueGlasses

January 4th, 2011 at 12:16 PM ^

The fan-base's caps-lock demand for "WE NEED ANSWERS NOW" only seems to be fueling the media inferno, making DB's decision harder? Shouldn't we step off the accelerator for a day or two until more JH info is available?

yahwrite

January 4th, 2011 at 12:20 PM ^

The headline story on freep is the one Brian referenced, and was posted on Jan 3rd and updated at 3:54 am today. This was written by Rosenberg.

A story hidden in the U-M section also written by Rosenberg and posted Jan 4 and updated at 8:07 am today says "

So I expect this to come down to San Francisco or Ann Arbor. My gut says he ends up at Michigan, but I don't know. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110104/COL22/101040445/1054/SPORTS/U-M-needs-needs-big-pitch-to-lure-coveted-Harbaugh&template=fullarticle

So if these were written in the order they were updated is Rosenberg saying he doesn't trust his source in the story that is getting all of the attention?

Don't trust anything at this point.

mackbru

January 4th, 2011 at 1:58 PM ^

Yeah, I noticed that. Maybe the timing is misleading, due to posting or updates or somesuch. The latter column includes an an "update" link to the "it's not Michigan story." Which implies that the "no" story came after.

Otherwise, in the course of 24 hours, Rosie would have written "It's Michigan so don't believe the bullshit sources," then "sources say it's not Michigan," then "it's probably Michigan."

cfaller96

January 4th, 2011 at 12:29 PM ^

I'm not really sure how Harbaugh not coming to Michigan is some sort of screwup on Michigan's part.  Here's my speculation on what Dave Brandon's plans were:

Plan A:  fire RichRod, hire Harbaugh, build new harem/pimp crib.

Plan B:  "secretly" woo Harbaugh, fail, retain RichRod, buy new riot gear for A2 police.

Plan C (for Catastrophe):  fire RichRod, woo Harbaugh and fail, hire someone else, cross fingers & start drinking.

To me, it looks like all plans are still plausible.  Even if Harbaugh says no (preferably soon), then Plan B is still in effect.  The only problem that might occur is if Brandon officially fires RichRod before locking in Harbaugh (unlikely IME), in which case if Harbaugh says no then Plan C is put in place.

I'm not sure I see any failed 2 inch putt here.  Not one month ago we all accepted that it was either RichRod or Harbaugh (do I need to go find Brain's post on that?).  That still looks to be the case.

Calm down everyone (and especially you Brain).

BlueSteel

January 4th, 2011 at 12:32 PM ^

I'm not inclined to believe anything until I physically see DB say something or watch someone put a hat on.
<br>
<br>Until then, I retreat to the nap room beneath my desk, set an alarm and await the decision, Costanza style.

SWFlaBlue

January 4th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^

Everyone is acting as if this a complete re-do from the last coaching search.

IMO, that is not the case. In fact, I'm much more inclined to believe that DB has already got his coach and did so a couple weeks after the season ended.

Sometime later this week or early next, it will be announced and the meltdown will stop and we'll either have Harbaugh or Miles as our coach. End of story.

RLFMichigan

January 4th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^

Something tells me because of all the silence from the AD's office over the past couple weeks that a deal within someone(?) is already in place......maybe its just my gut or maybe "They" told me this or any number of my un-named sources.   Just saying.....and speculating.  

bryemye

January 4th, 2011 at 1:07 PM ^

What kills me is wondering whether DB giving RR some public support would have changed the level of focus and perhaps the performance, if not the result, of the atrocity that happened on Saturday. I have to imagine the uncertainy surrounding the program hurt preparation no matter how much you try to block it out.

mackbru

January 4th, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^

I'm literally on the bathroom floor, curled in a small ball, sucking my thumb and crying for my bonky. Like Glenn Close in The Big Chill (shower) and Fatal Attraction (light-switch), combined. Only uglier and scarier and sadder.

Buccaneer_9

January 4th, 2011 at 1:56 PM ^

I know this much...if Harbaugh is offered and declines the job that he so coveted a few years ago, he will never be the head coach at Michigan.

This is his last opportunity.

How many college coaches have gone to the NFL and set the world on fire?

mackbru

January 4th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^

Obviously, if RR gets his papers at today's meeting, that means DB already has his man. (It had better mean that -- otherwise DB is Bill Martin with better hair). It also means that DB had indeed been waiting on Harbaugh.