John U. Bacon weighs in on Harbaugh's comments about players' mental health and transferring
I'm late to this due to vacation with limited internet, but feel compelled to weigh in based on my research over the years. Jim Harbaugh's comment about players using mental health as a dodge to transfer and play immediately at another school were unfortunate and unhelpful. 1/13
In part because they eclipsed his bigger point, which is advocating for one "free" transfer for all players without having to explain or disclose mental health issues - a big help -- and Michigan football's pioneering work on the mental health of its athletes.
More than two decades ago the University of Michigan created the first Depression Center in North America. Its founder, Dr. John Greden, became the founding chair of the National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC), which number more than two dozen today.
(Full disclosure: Dr. Greden also endorsed my book with ESPN's John Saunders, "Playing Hurt: My Journey from Despair to Hope," about mental health. Mental Health American, founded in 1909, named the book the nation's best on mental health in 2017. I have studied this subject.)
In 2014, U-M's Depression Center, School of Public Health, and the athletic department created a new position for Will Heininger, a former starting defensive lineman, to serve as the liaison and reach-out coordinator for the Depression Center and the athletic department.
When Heininger spoke before Michigan's 30-some varsity head coaches, a friend who worked for the Depression Center told me at the time that Harbaugh sat in the front row, took diligent notes, and asked the most questions. He has been one of game'
About the same time, former All-Big Ten punter Will Hagerup talked to me about his experience for my book ENDZONE (2015). After failing three drug tests (two for marijuana, one for Adderall), he was kicked off the team, but decided to stay in school and start counseling.
Hagerup availed himself of the resources readily available to athletes (and former athletes) including the department's Greg Harden (featured on "60 Minutes"), and the campus counseling services. Will turned himself around, and a year later returned to punt one more season.
As he told me, "We’re on the cutting edge at Michigan, with one of the nation’s first and best depression centers. One of our old teammates, Will Heiniger, has become a spokesman there. It’s not flashy stuff, but it’s really, really important stuff... (cont'd)
(Hagerup's quote cont'd) "...It’s important that your university cares about that stuff. I’m proud to say I’m from a place that does care.”
For my upcoming book, "OVERTIME: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football," (out Sept. 3) I interviewed U-M athletic director Warde Manuel, who told me,
"No one ever talks about it, but we currently have 20 former student-athletes on medical scholarship, including mental health. The NCAA doesn’t require it, the Big Ten doesn’t require it, a lot of schools don’t do it. But we think it’s the right thing to do." (cont'd)
In short, anyone who claims Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan football program, Michigan's athletic department, or the University of Michigan does not care about their players' mental health does not have the slightest idea what he's talking about. The exact opposite is the truth.
.As the final word (from me) on the subject of Jim Harbaugh, football players, and mental health, I believe his statement here speaks for itself. I have not seen any other coaches advocate for this right for student-athletes, and many fight against this.
— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) July 22, 2019
Can't wait for the season to start so that people don't have to invent stories from off-hand Harbaugh comments.
Perhaps stating to the media that people with mental health problems are faking it is an "off hand comment" that the speaker might reconsider in future "off hand" comments. Or maybe people with mental health issues and their made up problems should fuck off ?
Or maybe in this one particular incident, he was relaying his perspective on what that player was doing(especially if that player was NOT availing himself of the abundant resources listed above) and it got blown out of proportion.
Not everything needs to be blown up to 11.
Right - apologize and move on. Easy stuff. And it wasn't about any particular player according to the collective opinion here.
If it wasn't about any particular player then no apology is needed.
Or maybe he's pointing out the obvious - that depression is a lot easier to fake than, say, a broken leg. And if it becomes an automatic ticket to not sitting out a year, people absolutely will take advantage.
Which isn't any sort of slight to the many people who deal with their very real depression. At the end of answering that question he basically said the same thing - that he wasn't intending to minimize the impact real depression has on people who really suffer from it.
Cheers.
As stated above, Harbaugh's heart was in the right place but his statement was poorly articulated. Given the sensitive nature of the subject, he left himself open to the virtue fascists prevalent in the media and on the internet.
"Send 'em back to where they came from," so to speak?
The only thing worse than ignorance is ignorance married to arrogance.
Another thread about this.
Great.
Another post of yours that everyone can neg.
GREAT!
How long before this Maizenesque jackwagon gets sent to La Paz? I say it happens by August 2.
He's already been at it for a while. However, he seems to have reached "critical Maizen" recently so now he can't stop himself from spewing bullshit nonstop.
I think Aug. 2 is an ambitious target, but I like the "can do" spirit.
On edit: Maizen has gone from +13 to -105 over the afternoon, so maybe Aug. 2 isn't so unreasonable.
Interesting - thanks for sharing!
BTW, Will Hagerup is one of the few things that Dave Brandon handled well. He allowed Will to stay in Ann Arbor, but certainly didn't give him a free ride to getting back on the team. I will give Brandon credit for handling that situation very well.
He was punished severely for smoking and using adderal. Punishment far exceeded the crime.
Who cares? He knew the rules, they were clearly stated to him by multiple people, multiple times, and through two other strikes where the punishment was more fitting. His season long suspension was a third strike - for which he received direct warning from Brandon not to swing at the third pitch.
Your whining about excessive punishment falls on deaf ears.
Says everybody in East Lansing...
Harbaugh cares about kids who play football. Not just kids who play football at Michigan. This whole thing is all bullshit. I hope Hudson gets whatever help he needs, but Harbaugh/Michigan aren't the bad guy here.
the ozone was pulling the holier than thou about this. suddenly they have a saint in ryan day at head coach.
Give it time.
to be clear day could be a great stand up guy.
just ironic and nauseating for the osu website to be totally missing the greater context and forgetting about urban already.
For sure. Day, unless I missed something, isn't a proven scumbag. I'm sure OSU fans are just happy to have the moral high ground provided by a blank slate.
The need to win at OSU is huge though. If Day can't do it clean, he will get dirty too. They all seem to.
Or he will be gone, like John Cooper, who won plenty but just couldn’t seem to beat Michigan.
Bacon is better as a side, with eggs and rye toast..... a strong cup of java
Well damn. Bacon with the assist.
more like a hard slap to the back of the head to the moronic nephew
But I was told be Darren Rovell that nobody came to listen to him talk about mental health (while at other places it was mandatory so you know they paid attention) and, thus, UM doesn't care about the mental health of its athletes.
Anyway, this is a non-story that was blown up because Harbaugh didn't make his point clear + it wasn't probably the best place to make said point + it's fucking Big 10 Media Day and the next-largest talking point to emerge was Pat Fitzgerald doesn't like people on phones when he's eating out with his wife. So it's a whole lotta nothing.
I was skimming and did a double take at the end of your run on sentence, lol.
Same. Carry on.
?Conjunction junction, what's your function??
That’s how you get Eaton out.
I have no doubts Michigan has the right things in place for mental health. I have no doubt Harbaugh cares about his players mental health but Jim was dumb with his answer. He could of just talked about players getting a one time transfer because it’s the right thing. The moment he brings up mental health and people lying he went way wrong. Jim can not determine if someone is telling the truth or not on that because he isn’t a licensed professional. Kids lie about anything to not sit so why single mental health out? Just not a good look from him in a time with suicide with kids where it is at.
With that that said the staff did not do a good job vetting James Hudson before he was offered a scholarship. The writing was on the wall with that kid at Central Catholic. A ton of obstacles to overcome with a lot created by himself. Others out of his control.
The reasons he singled it out is because
1. Depression is easy to claim without medical certification - hell, everyone suffers from depression (though not clinical depression), and
2. Claiming mental illness as a means of getting a transfer waiver could come back to haunt the student-athlete later. Good luck getting a high-level clearance with that on your record, for instance, especially if you've never received professional treatment.
Now, Harbaugh was dumb to make that his example, IMO, because of the very recent case of Hudson and the potential for dimwits to focus on the trees and not the forest. But I don't think that Harbaugh particularly cares about making sure the media spins things his way. He just used the first thing that came to mind, dumb though that was. And the way he is dumb is part of what makes him such a great coach. Not so much a great spokesman for his goal of getting a free transfer, though.
It is stunning that the message that Jim Harbaugh was delivering can be so utterly missed and misused-as the second sentence of the OP so clearly does. Coach Harbaugh's point had nothing to do with a kid using mental health as a dodge to transfer and play immediately...NOTHING! Sure, he could have stated his point differently and more clearly but what he said has nothing to do with the character of the "player".
But that's bacon's point - Harbaugh too often makes the story about his asides, and not his message. That's just the way Harbaugh is, though, and there's no getting around it.
JUB drops the mike. BOOM!
These constant brain farts in interviews and media events are concerning. Imagine what he says in the locker room.
Your constant concern trolling isn't so much concerning, just annoying.
Just making an observation. OK to disagree with me, but why is this trolling?
You literally used the word concern in a post meant to annoy all that read it. Pretty self explanatory.
They are only concerning to those who focus on trees, not forests. Harbaugh is who he is, and you have to take the Harbaugh with the Harbaugh.
Seems like a lot of pr for his books.
Bacon nailed it (per usual). Especially the first and second tweets. It seems like Harbaugh is a great advocate of mental health and his support for not making transfers sit out a year supports that. However, his comments about players "faking" depression undermine his own causes.
It's a shame because his sentiment is in the right place. Ultimately, it's more his fault than the media's, although you would hope his original sentiment gets attention, since it's an important one.
If you haven’t notice Jim has trouble getting out of his own way
JH did not use the clearest verbiage when he caused the media stir. But anyone with half a brain understood what he really meant.
Right. I feel like Harbaugh didn't state things very clearly. It is BS that in order to get a free transfer, kids have to have a reason. This kind of rule DOES make it so that claiming depression (real or not) or something else gives you a better chance of success, which doesn't seem like a good system.
I think Harbaugh's intentions were ok, but there is almost no way to say it without looking like you are accusing kids of faking depression, which is going to be perceived as a negative. Harbaugh is sometimes blunt, much like when he pointed out that Michigan gets all high and mighty about academics but then shepherds many of their athletes through easier programs in order to keep them eligible.
Probably it would have been better for him to talk about this in much more general terms and not specifically mention depression. The sentiment would still have been there--there is a definite benefit to a kid to make up a reason he/she had to transfer, and things shouldn't be that way.
Wow, we lost a good punter for a year over weed and adderall? Imagine reading that 5-10-20 years from now.
BANG YOUR HEAD!! MENTAL HEALTH WILL DRIVE YOU MAD!!
March 26th, 2020 at 10:41 PM ^
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