RobM_24

January 15th, 2024 at 7:18 PM ^

If a 2025 recruit from FL was informed that Harbaugh was leaving before anyone else was able to get the scoop, that'd be wild.

I'm just watching it play out in my mind. Harbaugh gets off the phone with the Chargers after accepting the offer. Looks at his assistant and says "get me Ewald on the line, ASAP" 

Joined: 01/27/2014

MGoPoints: 63577

schreibee

January 16th, 2024 at 4:05 AM ^

There has never been a single post about Ewald on any crootin site that didn't qualify "if Michigan can keep him from the southern schools"!

This has been the assumption literally since the day he committed. Still plenty of time for him to change his mind, but I honestly think it's a better investment to spend the NIL $ on the portal than HS kids.

That should be Michigan's focus, retain their own players, spend judiciously but generously on transfers.

Like Ewald in 2026!

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 21143

meeashagin

January 15th, 2024 at 8:06 PM ^

You know Georgia fans say they don't do pay 4 play either, see DR recruitment for an example. Their fans say they're Georgia so they don't have to do pay 4 play.

Jim Harbaugh interviewing with the Los Angeles Chargers is hurting us. The entire nation believe he's returning to the NFL 😔 not sure how that helps recruiting. 

I pray he returns soon enough with a new massive contract in place that makes both parties happy.

Joined: 03/25/2018

MGoPoints: 5056

stephenrjking

January 15th, 2024 at 8:11 PM ^

These takes were dumb every year before and they're worse now that Harbaugh's multiple off-season looks at the NFL (about which he is completely honest with his team and recruits) have damaged the team so much that they just won the national title. 

Here's my hot take: Harbaugh has more cred with recruits and guys on the team because they know he understands the desire to grow in their career and because he's a straight shooter. He's not a fake guy who talks about loyalty and then bolts; he tells them where he's at.

Harbaugh's NFL interest is good for the program. And his familiarity and association with it has yielded the three-year run we've just experienced. 

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143862

BornInA2

January 15th, 2024 at 8:17 PM ^

he's a straight shooter

The thing is, he's not. He wasn't straight with investigators about the lunch thing and he's twice said he'd stay as long as the school would have him. The school has made it abundantly clear for years that they want him to stay, and yet every off-season we endure his dalliances with the NFL.

I'm glad to have him as coach, but he definitely suffers from some integrity lapses.

Joined: 02/15/2014

MGoPoints: 12802

stephenrjking

January 16th, 2024 at 1:15 AM ^

BTW I happened on one of the late 2020 threads where Brian was ready for Harbaugh to go and that was the general board zeitgeist and I was right there on it myself, and you (1408) were fiercely advocating against axing Harbaugh, posting and debating multiple times, and your posts weren’t even just flame stuff. It was, with the retrospect that can now be offered, a remarkable act to perform on the board with almost zero popular support (there are a few who remained pro-Harbaugh, but most were quiet in those threads and I honestly don’t blame them) and maintain some semblance of rationality through all of it.

I was impressed reading it and felt I should mention it here. 

Joined: 03/15/2012

MGoPoints: 20143862

JonnyHintz

January 15th, 2024 at 8:30 PM ^

He wasn't straight with investigators about the lunch thing
 

Well you/we don’t know what was said. Pure hearsay to say he wasn’t straight with them. The rumor is that his answers were along the lines of “I don’t recall.” Which… yeah it’s safe to say he doesn’t remember a random lunch in a bar and who paid for it two years ago. 
 

he's twice said he'd stay as long as the school would have him. 
 

To be fair, he has still shot straight there. He hasn’t gone anywhere.

Joined: 01/11/2015

MGoPoints: 48345

DennisFranklinDaMan

January 15th, 2024 at 9:14 PM ^

I'm with you on rolling my eyes a bit at the deification of Harbaugh on here, but I don't think it's fair to criticize him for declaring his intention to stay. I always take that — from every coach — with a giant grain of salt. But they have to say it. You think saying, "there's a good chance I'll be gone soon" will help recruiting?

It's an unfortunate reality of the system we're stuck with, but ... expecting coaches to tell recruits that there's a good chance they'll be gone soon is completely unrealistic. I don't blame Harbaugh for any of that at all.

Joined: 01/23/2021

MGoPoints: 14418

Buy Bushwood

January 15th, 2024 at 9:56 PM ^

I just checked.  And it turns out that you don't know shit about what Harbaugh said or didn't say to the NCAA about 2 cheeseburgers.  If you don't think Harbaugh is a straight shooter compared to these other assholes, especially position coaches, who recruit someone and then the day after signing day they bail for another job, then you are an all-time fool.   

Joined: 10/24/2020

MGoPoints: 21653

Bluesince89

January 15th, 2024 at 8:48 PM ^

I mean, I'm not saying he's lying, but he did also say this:

Harbaugh told Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press he views winning the Super Bowl as the ultimate accomplishment in the sport of football and always wanted another shot at it after losing the Super Bowl as head coach of the 49ers.

“There was a tugging at me that I was once that close to a Super Bowl and I didn’t get it. Some NFL jobs came open. I was contacted by the Vikings. For better or for worse, it was something I wanted to explore. I went in thinking, ‘I’m gonna have 100 percent conviction on this, and if they [Minnesota] have 100 percent conviction on this, then it’s something I’m gonna do.”

But when the Vikings didn’t offer him the job, Harbaugh says he let Michigan know he won’t be looking for NFL jobs again.

“I called Warde [Manuel, the Michigan athletic director] and I asked him if he wanted me to be the head coach. And he said, ‘Yes, 100 percent.’ And I said, OK then. That’s what I want to do.’ And I told him, ‘Warde, this will not be a reoccurring theme every year. This was a one-time thing.”

Joined: 09/14/2008

MGoPoints: 14739

LDNfan

January 16th, 2024 at 3:14 AM ^

But somehow this is Warde's fault. I'm sure there is more Warde could do..but on the surface its not at all obvious that he hasn't done all he could to keep Jim as HC. And that goes all the way back to 2020 when many here and elsewhere wanted Jim gone. Besides, I'm sure Warde knows how important the FB program is to him keeping his job. 

Joined: 09/28/2014

MGoPoints: 10423

UP to LA

January 16th, 2024 at 12:28 PM ^

Sure, good players make money, and facilitating NIL money is definitely part of having good players. There's the question of where you try and direct scarce NIL funds, and Michigan seems to put a relative emphasis on retaining/attracting more proven players vs. bringing in prospects. It seems to be working!

Joined: 09/22/2018

MGoPoints: 2084

NewBlue7977

January 15th, 2024 at 8:39 PM ^

He interviewed two years ago and this year.  Other years NFL teams were not interested in interviewing him, but the rumors were always there to where Harbaugh never came out and squashed them immediately.  He has earned whatever choice he makes, but his NFL interest, along with the university's third tier level NIL program are reasons why Michigan is not lining up getting elite recruits. 

Joined: 04/25/2018

MGoPoints: 3342

stephenrjking

January 15th, 2024 at 10:49 PM ^

I honestly can’t believe people still rail with these takes after the three years we’ve had with Harbaugh’s personnel management and acquisition. Have you not seen what has happened with guys like Graham and Grant and Loveland? What the program has done with guys like Haskins and Sainristil? It’s not isolated data points anymore; the program that won the title is the program that Harbaugh has running the way he wants.

These takes would be like me calling for Harbaugh’s firing after 21 and 22 and suggesting that the program would be better off without him after this year: ludicrous. 

Joined: 03/15/2012

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