Harbaugh comments on the 4 players who skipped the Peach Bowl
From Pardon My Take
“I think it hurts somebody’s actual legacy, too, just what they’re about,” Harbaugh said. "A competitor is going to compete. They’re going to go out there and compete. Everybody talks about it. They’re a competitor, I’m a competitor, ‘I’ll compete at everything. I’ll compete at golf or I’ll compete at Tiddlywinks.’ You hear people say that all the time, but then they don’t go actually play in a football game. To me, now you have a problem with who you are as a competitor and your legacy.
“I’m not demeaning anybody or saying I don’t respect anybody. Everybody’s got the right to make their own decision. You asked me what I think of it; that’s what I think of it.”
The whole interview is actually pretty good. Recommend it to everybody.
My take on what he said is that he doesn’t like it, wouldn’t do it himself, but understands people have to make their own decisions. To me this is a much more sensible take then what we get on this board.
Harbaughs public opinions have just a little more impact in the real world than posters opinions do on this board. Harbaugh being the head coach should probably try to bite his tongue a bit more about controversial topics even if his stance on the issue is sensible
Talk like this could hypothetically be used against him as an anti-player statement.
Or Harbaugh being a leader in the community should make sensible statements and not shy away from making them because of a hypothetical impact on recruiting.
Goddamn I love me some James P Joseph Jimmy Harbaugh
Good to hear him say it. Everyone has a right to make their own choices, but a team player plays for the team.
Devin Bush's legacy for me is stomping on MSU's field and standing tall as they tried their stupid azz walk through him.
Jim should stick to coaching and focus on winning the B1G and beating OSU.
I feel the same way when someone here says the bowl games are meaningless. Its like Ricky Fucking Bobby stopped being a joke and became a life coach.
Terrible title, the comments are about any player who skips a bowl game, he didn’t single out anybody specifically...
But what does Pete Finbaum think of what Harbaugh has to say?!
Bush and Gary got paid millions so it was a smart move sitting out. Harbaugh should be thankful these 2 guys came to Michigan in first place and become top NFL Draft picks as it lays track for more guys to follow that path - 5*s are looking for this path. Harbaugh making mistake by telling truth on this as it turns off the next super talent looking at Michigan. If Harbaugh got his team in the playoffs or in a Rose Bowl/big time bowl game, guys would not be sitting out.
Harbaugh gotta be careful here as he's been talking a lot this preseason.
Except that Bush and Gary were >99.999% likely to get paid millions of dollars if they had played as well.
Of course Harbaugh feels this way. He is the ultimate competitor. Also, love the fact that he tossed tiddlywinks in there (totally underrated game imo). He wasn't disparaging anyone's decision; he was simply stating the implications of it. Nobody can hold a player's decision to save their body for future monetary gains against them. At the same time, players who choose to sit out their last game have to realize that it is the last thing they will be remembered doing whilst donning the maize and blue... If that doesn't factor into a player's legacy, then I need a refresher on what constitutes a legacy. I will remember every Michigan player fondly, but players like Chase Winovich will always hold a special place in my heart, because they played til the last whistle.
Something tells me that If Jim had known how it was going to play out, Chase Winovich would have been one of the team captains versus one of the bowl sitters. Totally their decision to sit, but again if you are going to do something like that don't take on the role of being a captain or leader , watching your team mates going out and laying everything on the line for their university as you sit on the sidelines dreaming about your next stop.
You have to live harbs
Damn right
Good lord, just shut the fuck up and beat OSU already....
August 5th, 2019 at 10:57 PM ^
Spot on by JH. Guys that sit, there legacy is tarnished after that.
Fulfill your obligations to the school that gave you a sports scholarship as well.
Not one Osu player sat.
August 5th, 2019 at 11:20 PM ^
I believe Bush was hurt, as far as Gary I believe that was expected, and I really didn’t understand Higdon sitting out although I don’t think it really mattered. As soon as they lost the real game it didn’t matter who they played in the bowl game as it didn’t mean anything to them apparently by watching their play in that game. I agree with harbaugh but it’s just different times unless you are in a playoff game these kids are being told to sit out I would assume by third parties and watching every one else do it
The "different times" argument that people make is such a nebulous/vague and trite claim that is completely hollow. Are the fundamentals really that different from 10 years ago? 20 years ago - even 30? You still have young men playing a game they love while risking injury, many with lucrative NFL careers possible, many from hard socioeconomic backgrounds, and all done in college venues where they are supposed to be taking classes and the universities make money off the games. And yet - the kids played their games, including those that went pro.
The monetary amounts and publicity may have change, but the fundamental issues (good and bad) are all the same.
August 5th, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^
If a Mgoblog poster had said that last December, they were negged into oblivion.
August 6th, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^
It's still a bullshit argument regardless of who says it.
August 5th, 2019 at 11:47 PM ^
I hope Jim played all the preseason games in his NFL career.
August 6th, 2019 at 12:02 AM ^
Can we please get a shirt that says "I'll compete at Tiddlywinks"?
August 6th, 2019 at 12:27 AM ^
Harbaugh talks too much for a guy who cant win.
Players, out their own self interests, can decide not to play in bowl games. Coaches, fans like me (who care about bowl games), and players who want to win their bowl games -- out of their own self interests -- can prefer that players play in bowl games.
Both sides of that coin are allowed.
However, since all coaches prefer their players to play in bowl games, Harbaugh's answer to the question is about as surprising as answering "To me, it's blue" to the question "In your opinion, what color is the sky?"
Yes. I am speaking as a fan now but I can put myself in the shoes of another. I was a big Higdon fan. He gave everything. I understand that he is looking out for the financial interests of his family including daughter. I get it. I get it.
That being said, it bothers me that a kid would start the season and then not finish for individual reasons such as money, etc. I am on the record saying I don't want the kid to play. Finish what you started. If you can't make that commitment then work out elsewhere. All or nothing. No hard feelings if you leave after your sophomore or junior year. In fact, I can't stand one and done.
Maybe I am an old man who yells at people to get off his lawn but you are going to have a hard time convincing me that this new 'mindset' is ethical or appropriate. It's wrong, plain and simple.
August 6th, 2019 at 12:00 PM ^
You spend a lot of time in that first paragraph saying you get it, then immediately dismiss any reasons for Higdon's decision because you feel differently. You can't have it both ways.
Be the guy who stands on the lawn and yells at people. But the fact you wanted to preface everything with the "I'm not trying to be mean but..." line means you sorta recognize it is not fair for the players and the criticism does come across as misguided.
So let me see if I understand this logic. Some people are saying that these kids are exploited whereas management makes a lot of money hence they should look out for their interests.
Hmmm. Do coaches get to leave jobs mid year for x,y &z reason and if they do....they get heavily criticized. I don't like it when coaches do it. Two wrongs don't make a right.
They have the right to not play. But they don't have the right to not be criticized for it.
You don't get to make everybody else agree with you just because you take a particular stand on things. You want to say "I believe X is right and true," that's fine, but other people have just as much a right to say "I do not believe X is right and true." If you make a stand, expect somebody else to take a different stand, and live with it.
August 6th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
I don't think players particularly care how they're perceived. Harbaugh is the one in this clip saying one thing, seemingly realizing mid-sentence it sounds a little misguided, then tries to walk it back.
It's always coaches, who are affected by players not playing, who complain about it. And the reason they do is because their record is affected by wins and losses, not the players. So if anything, it's the coaches and other adults running the ship who stand to gain or lose the most here, and so of course they're biased to complain about it.
The people who run college football, the adults if you will, decided to turn it into a business. I don't know why people are so dismayed some of the kids decided to follow their example.
August 6th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^
The skipping the bowl game trend could become a huge problem if the don't find a way to significantly address player compensation. To me it seems that letting players profit off their own likeness is the perfect solution. It might even help keep players in the bowl if there are marketing tie ins, etc. It sucks that we even have to talk about such things, but the "good ol days" of the bowls being hugely important are long gone.
August 6th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
I think Harbaugh is right, but I also think it's completely justified for projected draft picks to skip a meaningless bowl game. Yes, it probably has some impact on their "legacy," but it's also difficult to demand that a 22-year-old risk millions of dollars just for the sake of intangible "legacy."
August 6th, 2019 at 11:55 AM ^
It's also a little rich because nobody is going to talk about Devin Bush not playing in a loss to Florida but people will point out that Harbaugh is 1-3 in bowl games or whatever it is. So it's more Harbaugh's legacy that is tarnished, for whatever that means.
August 6th, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^
I'm unsurprised Harbaugh would feel this way. I don't agree with him here because he's getting paid millions of dollars to coach in that game and his players aren't. I will say, I sort of wish he hadn't tried to step back with the "I'm not demeaning anyone" line. The fact he seemed to pussy-foot around his actual feelings reads, at least to me, that he knows it's hypocritical but doesn't care enough to actually reconsider his position; it's the classic "sorry I offended you" line of bullshit people trot out.
I would take it a step further and completely black list anyone that quits the team like this.
After that mess in Cbus last November the bowl game had very little appeal to many fans as well. Pretty hard to go on after that one.
Higdon hurt himself in the draft by not playing. He ended up as an undrafted free agent after the Senior Bowl. If you ask him now, I would bet he regrets not playing