Wojo on Harbaugh: "This is what you signed up for"

The only thing Harbaugh needs to do, is tell these lower ranked players, that the offers are only commit-able under certain circumstances.

With improved communication at the beginning of the recruiting process, Michigan can move past these two issues and never look back.

Harbaugh is such a huge money maker for the media outlets. If these incidents continue happening, this could become a bigger annoyance than we would like.

I hope Harbaugh offers up an explanation on signing day so that we may at least know another side to these claims.

To all the haters across the country...JH isn't your Baugh...he's HAR-BAUGH!!

The opponent trolls always hated what they perceived as the "holier than thou"attitude of Michigan.  They have loved watching our teams limp along.  Here's to giving them the worst of both.

It reminds me of the heady days of Yost and Heston, when the world trembled at the sound of our rockets.  Now they will tremble again, at the sound of our silence.  The order is: engage the Harbaugh.

yeah...

at the end of the day, I'll take him.

Ultimately, are we going to judge Harbaugh based on his recruitment-followthrough percentage or his win percentage?

I want us to be Michigan.  I think JH can pull in quality kids who are damn good football players.  I believe his staff can develop those players into teams that can consistently compete for Big 10 championships and occasionally for national championships.  I also believe he can and will do so his way, not someone else's, and I trust (and hope) that his methods will prove to be entirely above board. 

that Wheatley was pissed off at supposed recruiting disorganization and that some HS coach down south said our recruiting efforts were disorganized, and I asked Webb directly about those rumors. He's heard nothing whatsoever about the Wheatley thing, and stated that the vast majority of responses from the HS coaches during the satellite camps was that they were very well organized, as were our overall recruiting efforts.

Sounds like it's the typical message board bunk that only has legs when there's other criticism already happening.

Frankly, this is Harbaugh.  He is 100% committed, and he plays every advantage the rules allow.  (Insert laser tag story here, or the "substitution with intent to deceive."

I 99% love that about him, and it's given the team an intensity that's good for them and that from what I hear, the kids love.  

I'd personally prefer that we tell the Swensons and the Weavers of the world that it's not going to work out in late November or early December instead of mid-January, but:

1) Is it legal to hold on to the kids until we're sure there's someone better.  Yes

2) Will the kids land on their feet.  Yes.

3) Will UM take a reputational hit that's worse than what we gain by telling kids late?  I don't know.

4) Is Harbaugh likely to leave any legal advantage on the table?  No.

You know what this whole Michigan "sanctimonius vs. not-sanctimonius" debate kind of reminds me of?  Old Money/Bluebloods wringing their hands when their huge fortune is dwindling.  This is just my opinion, but bear with me in the analogy:

I see family fortunes going through a few different phases:

1. At some point "Old Money" was new money.  It was usually a vast fortune built with blood, sweat and tears.  Perhaps ethically, perhaps a bit unethically, but always through grit, hard work, and a willingness to get hands dirty.  Definitely innovative and making waves to upset the current establishment.
2. Once that fortune is built, often the family goes into conservation/preservation phase.  They strive to become the new (or a part of the old) establishment.  The financial decisions get much more conservative, and rather than growth, the primary focus is maintenance and reputation-building.  If a fortune was built on a heretofore garish or rough-hewn foundation, in this phase the family starts to round out the rough spots.  They spend a ton of energy trying to legitimize the industry in which they made their fortune.  Kids of self-made hardscrable millionaires get tutored and placed into Ivy League schools, vast fortunes are spent on charitable efforts in the community to burnish the reputation, etc.  Back in the 19th and ealy 20th centuries, American industrial tycoons would marry off their kids into British aristocracy in a symbiotic relationship wherein the Americans traded money for class and the Brits got a cash infusion into heretofore threadbare yet "honorable" families (i.e. the Brits were in Phase 3 as discusssed below and needed to get back to Phase 2).  In effect, Phase 2 is about laundering the "New Money" into "Old Money".  Hopefully Phase 2 lasts a long time and a proper balance between good financial stewardship and cultural prominance is struck.  But we all know nothing lasts forever.
3. At some point if the family isn't attentive to also growing the wealth and adapting with the times, the fortune is squandered (or at least slowly dwindles) over a period of time. The mannerisms and the repuation of the "Old Money" veneer that the family worked so hard to achieve in Step 2 remain, but the stewards of the family aren't doing the things to make sure that the financial foundation is still there--mostly because they have some odd mix of guilt or denial (about how the fortune was made originally), and entitlement.  Instead of deflating the ego a bit and getting back to basics by trimming the overhead budget to stabalize finances, the family illogically spends the same amount as before in an event to "keep up appearances."  After all, they worked so hard to achieve Phase 2, and if you "let them see you sweat" you risk being seen as regressing back into Phase 1. Perhaps the people in Phase 2 or Phase 3 are so far removed from Phase 1 that they don't even know what it was REALLY like back in the day when XYZ founder of the family fortune actually built the wealth over that first 50 year stint.

I think as a Blue Blood of college football program, Michgan is in this cycle.  I don't know to what extent we were cutting corners and being unethical in Phase 1.  Maybe we just were squeaky clean but hard working & were able to build our fortune due to the lack of other rival schools at the time.  Maybe we weren't, I don't know.  Others can attest to how Yost, Bo, etc. ran the program better than me.  But I know for a fact that they were not taking anything for granted and had a blue collar/workman like attitude and killer instinct to get it done.  

I think at some point along the line we were coasting along in Phase 2 for a few decades which is the ideal IF you can maintain it.  The problem is always striking that tricky balance between adapting with the times, maintaining an ethical standard, but also never getting too entitled to feel like you don't have to adapt with the times.  I think we were clearly trending into Phase 3--how deeply we were going into Phase 3 is up for debate-but clearly our effort hire RR, then Hoke, then Harbaugh was an acknowedgement that something HAD to be done, otherwise the status quo would sink us into Phase 3 to the point of program bankruptcy.  RR was probably an extreme over-reaction and it didn't work.  Hoke was an effort to get "back to basics" but the man simply wasn't up to the task RE: player development and the Xs & O's.  Harbaugh is our 3rd shot at trying to to inject some of Phase 1 to help pull us back into Phase 2 from Phase 3.

So in effect, in order to preserve Phase 2 and remain a proud "family," paradoxically it's also necessary to some extent to not "regress" (as the snobs would put it), but to "get back to basics" and dip a bit into Phase 1 in order to shore up the foundation of the program (i.e. winning).  To some extent it HAS to happen, otherwise Phase 3 is inevitable.  Brian mentioned the "pearl clutching" group of the Michigan fan base the other day.  In my mind, this is the group that is used to Phase 2 but don't want to acknowedge the sometimes dirty part of Phase 1 that got them there in the first place.  

Again, the issue of course is balance.  I'm not arguing for any unethical or illegal behavior whatsoever.  But if the pearl-clutchers want to AFFORD their pearls over the long-haul, they need to come to grips with the fact that at some point the program needs to roll their sleeves up, adapt with the times, and put in the hard work that becomes the winning foundation of the program.

Great post JoJo #24. I think your dead on the money. 

Its gonna be a little strange sometimes. Its not going to always look and feel like we are use to it looking and feeling. Thats Jim Harbaugh. He's a rock-star who will always be in the spotlight, which is good for players because they dont have to. BUT HE WONT CHEAT!!! 

Agree. it's part of the deal. takes some adjusting.

from a talent standpoint, but with UM character kids.  That might be tough to balance.  What isn't hard to understand is this isn't Bo, Bear and Woody's recruiting landscape.  Kids want to get all the attention and "be no.1" wherever they go.  You have to cater to them to a point.  The main thing is, this is a business and the coaches are paid crazy money to WIN.  Yeah, the administration wants to "keep it clean", but there is a nod and a wink in the process.  As the OP said, to keep up with Saban and Meyer you have to do it differently.  I have no issues with Harbaugh or his way of doing things.  If we want to compete for National championships, there will be some pain and uncomfortable times along the way.  No one of the kids have been harmed and they will end up on their feet.  Get on the bus or get out of the way.

well i disagree with Wojo that there's no easy fixes. If this is really the byproduct of offering sophomores and juniors (and even younger), the CBAA could pass a simple rule - no recruiting before senior year And before someone points out that 'Saint Nick' would just send messengers with large bags of cash, it could also investigate and enforce its rules for a change, put double agents to use, whatever