Harbaugh told top 247 signee of plan to entertain NFL options.
Per Sam Webb.https://twitter.com/samwebb77/status/1479276052237201413?s=21
Start up coaching tracker.
January 6th, 2022 at 9:26 PM ^
Lane Kiffin on line one!
January 6th, 2022 at 9:32 PM ^
*counterstrike
January 7th, 2022 at 8:29 AM ^
If I wanted any insight on Harbaugh, I'd have to give up Counterstrike and start up an account with Spasim.
January 6th, 2022 at 11:17 PM ^
He seems a lot more mature, Kiffin 2.0 seems alright. I’ve always been intrigued how much Jeff Brohm gets out of his players also. The list is pretty short, I really have no clue who would be a suitable replacement that isn’t already locked up.
January 6th, 2022 at 11:58 PM ^
No coach is locked up
January 7th, 2022 at 5:15 AM ^
Deon on line 2
January 7th, 2022 at 8:53 AM ^
Heard a rumor that Brady Hoke just placed a huge order of walking shoes on Nike.com Interesting!!!!
January 7th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
Lane Kiffin will bring a modern offense and a plan to utilize NIL to acquire top recruits.
January 7th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
With a penis-shaped head to complete the picture.
January 6th, 2022 at 9:26 PM ^
Did not see that coming…
January 6th, 2022 at 11:35 PM ^
I’m still shaking my head at those who believed Harbaugh didn’t care what he was paid because he would happily coach for free. This proud, ultra competitive man was forced into a humiliating public choice: take a pay cut or leave town forever perceived as a failure at the place he loved and where he starred as a player. There was no way he was ever going to forget that and no way he wasn’t going return things to where he thinks they should be first chance he got. I’m not saying he’s necessarily leaving, but he’s definitely going to get paid by someone, and it’s probably more about respect than the money itself. I don’t blame him one bit.
January 7th, 2022 at 12:03 AM ^
Per every report that has been put out by anyone in the know, money is about the last reason on the list of why he's intrigued by the NFL. What a bizarre comment given the insider takes on the matter.
January 7th, 2022 at 1:44 AM ^
The pay cut Michigan publicly forced on Harbaugh reduced him to being the third lowest paid coach in the conference.
https://rutgerswire.usatoday.com/lists/big-ten-football-coach-salaries-2021-season/
Do you seriously think he was fine with that? Would you have been? Sure, there are other reasons a return to the NFL might intrigue him, but what’s bizarre is not being able to understand human nature and the sports world well enough to know that money equals respect, and everyone enjoys both. I said this would happen when the season ended and when I did, I got naive responses citing his “coach for free” comment. Well here we are.
January 7th, 2022 at 8:07 AM ^
Coming off the season he had, combined with his record against OSU - YES he should have been fine with that!
January 7th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
Nobody knows anything about Harbaugh or his contract. We didn’t know shit last year and we don’t know shit this year.
Sam is the unofficial voice of the AD and John U the unofficial voice of Harbaugh.
also, Harbaugh doesn’t have an agent, which is why we don’t know anything. There isn’t some agency leaking info. It’s literally just Warde and Harbaugh talking.
January 7th, 2022 at 1:24 AM ^
@ The Oracle 2
Yes, agreed absolutely. The public optics of his contract, the respect paid or withheld therein --- they matter.
Always.
January 7th, 2022 at 7:28 AM ^
Ditto. I love my job, but when my boss offered some knucklehead $50k/year more than me to do the same thing as me, it obviously didn’t sit right with me. That dude got a counter offer from his current employer and stayed there. Similar to college coaches who flirt with the NFL so the college pays them more to stay.
January 7th, 2022 at 10:02 AM ^
Counterpoint: I was recently offered more money to go to a job that had some question marks around it (not that it would have been bad, just a different institution and many unknowns that would only become clear from taking/doing the job). I took less money to stay at a job and place that I knew and loved.
Not saying money isn't a factor; it was for me. It just wasn't the biggest factor.
January 7th, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^
So MGoGrendel, what did you do? Did you ask for more, or did it feel ok because the knucklehead would no longer make more than you (because he wasn't hired at all)?
I totally get the way you felt. I would feel the same way. I'm asking only because this topic is of deep interest to me.
January 7th, 2022 at 8:31 AM ^
They matter to you. They’d matter to me. But we don’t know how much they matter to Harbaugh himself unless we’ve spoken with him directly (and even then we still might not know with certainty). We can speculate, but let’s not pretend we fans actually know how he feels.
January 8th, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Exactly. Thank you! People talking about respect or lack thereof do not know A SINGLE THING and are reacting from there own insecure position. My take, he was okay taking the pay cut, it wasnt an ego or pride hit. He felt a duty to do so considering the situation, (covid, previous season results, athletic dept hit) and I believe it is underscored by the fact he donated his incentives. He has made a ton of money, lives in Michigan where its very inexpensive and bottom line, not everyone is all about the dollar.
People say he's trying to leverage for a fat pay check, dude doesnt even have an agent, nobody is doing anything except the snake oil salesmen who need clickbait to line their pockets.
I believe he and Warde actually see value in this interest from the NFL, think about it, the National Championship game is Monday and a shit load of people are talking about Michigan, why not milk it for exposure? Tell recruits how great your coach is, every single year the NFL comes calling and he stays at Michigan, if he were leaving he'd have hired an agent.
Thats my take, I could be wrong but I just dont believe the bs propaganda. Look back before JH was hired at all the BS lies and propaganda Sam Web spread, this is no different.
January 7th, 2022 at 8:25 AM ^
He is going to get paid but the pay cut is a non issue. I have repeatedly said that the idea of a pay cut was actually brought up by Jim. Warde was under pressure to do something, including the financial effects of Covid and the large budget deficit. It was not forced upon Jim and Jim has never been bitter about it. Jim has always been interested in NFL and in an interview at the time of his hiring by James Hackett said that he can see himself going back to NFL someday.
January 6th, 2022 at 9:27 PM ^
If he told a recruit couldn’t that fit in nicely with the ‘leverage’ theory?
my take is he’s applying leverage, he wants to stay, but is a little bitter & resentful of the position he was put in. Even though he understood at the time, a competitive person is just gonna have that chip on his shoulder, and be like “there take that..”
When he said “this feels like a beginning” I can’t imagine he was even remotely thinking of leaving the program.
I just don’t buy it….
January 6th, 2022 at 9:37 PM ^
He left Stanford after a 12-1 season. He might feel that he has hit his ceiling here and wants to go back o the NFL.
January 6th, 2022 at 10:33 PM ^
Harbaugh is gone. As Michigan fans, we aren’t meant to have nice things. Of course he leaves after this season…the first season in 7 years he brings the results he was hired for. Sigh….bring on the suffering.
January 6th, 2022 at 9:55 PM ^
This theory fits my preferred narrative - for psychological reasons, I am going to believe this one until he leaves. Like XM, I think Harbaugh’s love for Michigan is deep and real. Also like XM, I am not a naive spring chicken.
January 6th, 2022 at 10:59 PM ^
This is a whole new level of sticking your head in the sand. You don’t tell a recruit this and hope it works itself back to the AD. He also doesn’t need to create leverage. He might stay, he might go, anyone saying things with confidence are just saying what they want
January 7th, 2022 at 11:30 AM ^
That was my first thought as well. Isn’t this obvious he said “hey I’m gonna purposefully leak a rumor about me leaving and play it up, don’t worry it’s all for show”
January 7th, 2022 at 2:32 PM ^
What a terrible fucking way to apply leverage. All this does is tank recruiting and create needless speculation and uncertainty around the program.
January 6th, 2022 at 9:27 PM ^
The tweet doesn't say much and the link embedded in the tweet is paywalled.
Could you share a summary of the secret information?
January 6th, 2022 at 9:30 PM ^
Sorry, I don’t have a 247 account. I did glean from The Victors(which stuff leaks all the time) that it was to Clemons that he said this too. He said it before he signed which is interesting. You’d think that would scare off a recruit, but it didn’t.
January 6th, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
Harbaugh was honest with recruit family he would entertain NFL. Also told them he would love to keep Gatis, but he'll be a head coach in next few years. Recruit family appreciated honesty compared to other coaches and realized you commit to school not a coach.
January 6th, 2022 at 10:24 PM ^
This seems reasonable. If he's telling a recruit that's not signed something like this, it's not because he has an NFL deal. It's because he was asked a question and he isn't lying. *I* would certainly appreciate that sort of honesty.
I mean, I'd rather him say "no way, I'm at Michigan for life," but when he got hired I figured he might not be here for life (same with Juwan) and the idea that he wouldn't automatically close the door to NFL offers is... not horrible. We think he probably listened for feelers last year, after all, and at the time guys like me thought it would be good for him to go that way (good thing he didn't!).
Still, this is also an "iron-is-hot" moment, so I wouldn't rule out serious interest. I don't think his salary has anything to do with it either way.
January 7th, 2022 at 12:06 AM ^
Context is also extremely important.
If someone asks you about "leaving for the NFL?" You can easily use the word "entertain" to mean, "yeah I'll let them talk to me!" in a fun and dismissive way (it can even be deployed to impress the recruit , implying, 'Yes, I'm a pretty big deal--I'm tight with NFL execs, I can talk to them for you after 3 years of you playing for Michigan', etc., and, you can use the word "entertain" to mean "Yes, I will see what they offer, and if the situtation is right, and they offer a boatload that can secure my future, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and say I'd never take it" (after all, it's not like the NIL isn't going to wildly change the landscape over the next 3-5 years, and who knows what that looks like).
"Entertain" is a completely ambiguous term. I mean, If I had told my wife's family that I'm going to "entertain" the idea of marrying her, depending on my tone, their reactions could run the gamut from laughing at my teasing her, to showing me the door asap lol.
I'm not presuming to predict the future in any way with Harbaugh, I'm simply reminding people of the ambiguity of decontextualized transcribed speech, the slow-cfb-news cycle's need to produce "content" as their money-making scheme at ANY cost (UM is Top-5 largest/media-savvy fanbases--very lucrative demographic to cater to), and finally the relative incitement to discourse day-in/day-out that is modern living.
January 7th, 2022 at 2:00 AM ^
I'll be honest: It's not that he's being honest with recruits before signing day that raises my eyebrows. On its own, that can mean anything.
It's how seriously guys like John Bacon and Sam Webb are taking this.
January 7th, 2022 at 2:27 AM ^
That is the best way to put things as they are currently; specifically when Bacon and Webb have concerns. Bacon to my knowledge has nothing to gain from his feeling, where as Sam has a subscription model (he seems to genuinely care about the future of the program however.)
"My opinion is" Harbaugh is at a career crossroads so to speak. I truly believe he wants to be at Michigan. However the climate with NIL cooperation with the university makes him feel as if his hands are tied to improve the football program and the athletes he cares about. I think his mission is to improve this area for the young men he EDUCATES in their field of WORK. This also allows Coach Harbaugh to have a very competitive team against the best football schools in the nation.
If he can't get the university on the same page then he may have wondering eyes. Just my opinion.
January 7th, 2022 at 5:10 AM ^
100% my take too.
If the university is perceived as “falling behind” on things like NIL, the transfer portal, etc. then it’ll face what Notre Dame did and see a good coach leave.
While skeptics of the “leverage” hypotheses, I’m hopeful the possibility of what might be an embarrassing departure of JH motivates the school to take a hard look at these competitive balance issues.
January 7th, 2022 at 7:11 AM ^
"While skeptics of the “leverage” hypotheses, I’m hopeful the possibility of what might be an embarrassing departure of JH motivates the school to take a hard look at these competitive balance issues."
I think, if the school suffers such an 'embarrassing' departure, that it will back off the competitive balance issues and re-focus itself on 'student-athletes'. If Harbaugh can't get the school to up its NIL game, no coach will.
Is Warde Manuel up to the task? Is he a good enough administrator and force of personality to bring Michigan into modern competition? I don't know, this whole thing is making me nervous.
January 7th, 2022 at 5:46 AM ^
Wondering eyes? Idk if it’s an autocorrect thing, but that’s like the fifth time I’ve seen that on the blog this season.
January 7th, 2022 at 7:08 AM ^
I bet “wondering eyes” is more a talk-to-text thing.
Sometimes I think it takes longer to post doing that than cell phone typing with my fat fingers.
January 7th, 2022 at 6:01 AM ^
Exactly. And I guarantee it has everything to do with this right here:
January 7th, 2022 at 9:39 AM ^
This, in my eyes, is the root of what's happening. Texas A&M just pulled in an all time class (better than Bama's best, I think?) based on NIL payments. We just got whomped by a Georgia team who Harbaugh has experience losing recruits to (via pre-NIL shenanigans like whatever they offered the massive OL we wanted). He's a competitor, he just proved he can beat Ohio State and win the B1G despite not having Ohio State-levels of talent across the board.
Now he likely wants the AD to commit serious money to the program so we can compete with the top dogs, or else, what is left for Jim to do? He loves challenges, so now his sights are probably on winning a CFP game, which can't happen unless we're pulling in top 5 talent year in and year out, which requires more support from the AD. Otherwise, he dips to the NFL where there's more parity.
That's my view of the situation.
January 7th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
I have no idea what Harbaugh's view is. But I would not blame him for making this an issue.
For years we have been frustrated by the imbalance, but the fact that Michigan refused to brazenly break rules other institutions were willing to break has always been a part of the program's identity.
This is no longer an issue of having to follow rules others aren't following. What is happening is now completely legal, and Michigan has a huge alumni base with a massive economic infrastructure, and declining to "keep up with the Joneses" in legal methods of attracting talent would be nothing other than a deliberate choice to be non-competitive.
And whomever would be responsible for that choice would rapidly be held in contempt. If rumors are true, it's not Harbaugh. I'm inclined to think that Warde would be sympathetic, but it might not even be his call. We'll have to see.
January 7th, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
via pre-NIL shenanigans like whatever they offered the massive OL we wanted
Isaiah Wilson. And the rumor was that it was $300k.
January 7th, 2022 at 1:14 PM ^
Yeah stephen, my alarm is way in the red due to JB and SW. Listening to them, and looking at Sam's facial expressions when he talks about it, does NOT give me the warm fuzzies. But then again, to finish our recruiting like we did in the first signing period, gives me hope that it actually is all leverage.
January 7th, 2022 at 10:41 AM ^
This is just another case of Harbaugh being Ted Lasso.
January 6th, 2022 at 9:27 PM ^
Wouldn't one 'entertain' pretty much every offer they receive?
January 6th, 2022 at 9:29 PM ^
Hell yes, but I sure wouldn’t tell a recruit that.
January 6th, 2022 at 10:07 PM ^
Be like George Costanza. Walk up to a girl and hit her with "I'm bald, unemployed and live with my parents."
January 6th, 2022 at 10:12 PM ^
I think he would be crazy not to listen to any offer thrown his way. Doesn’t mean he’s leaving or that UM won’t up the ante to him if he gets another offer. I just don’t see him leaving He loves UM and was oh so close this year. I think he would like nothing better then to win an NC at UM and then retire and probably have something named after him when he does retire