mtzlblk

January 12th, 2023 at 3:20 PM ^

Hmm.......call me skeptical.

A cryptic Twitter post from someone who a few days ago posted a slam on Warde  for not going in with him on whatever NIL scheme he was pitching.....clearly from a person trying to cash in on his M connections in some manner.......can still taste the sour grapes from that one. No details or specifics, just "Warde bad, my NIL best!"

Now today, same person posts an update on contract status with an oblique invitation to determine for yourself who is the main obstacle to keeping Harbaugh at M, along with an anonymous and slanted word doc write-up casting Warde as the villain/obstacle for keeping Jim and Santa the hero. 

Feels like a hit job to me, if you read through this with a less jaundiced view of Warde, he might just be doing what ADs do, making offer at level A, negotiating, talking with his boss/Santa, working out changes/compromising, making adjustments to the offer/contract and sending them for review as Offer B.  etc., until you get it inked. Sounds about like a normal course of contract negotiations/business to me. 

If Warde just gave the agent a blank check and didn't negotiate, there would be a whole different group heating tar and sharpening their pitchforks. 

I don't envy him his job. 

Joined: 01/20/2009

MGoPoints: 5019

MgoBlueprint

January 11th, 2023 at 9:52 PM ^

This has to be a joke. Not quite as many Gaga’s as the msu assault lawyer’s press release funny. 

I genuinely hope that this is not legit. 

‘I only flirted with them to make you realize how good you have it’

‘But they don’t want you.’

Joined: 12/15/2008

MGoPoints: 11575

East German Judge

January 11th, 2023 at 9:52 PM ^

From all the "leaks", Warde seems to be an obstacle here, don't know why and maybe I am wrong, but he does not see, to be moving this in the direction that Jim, Ono, and most fans want.

Joined: 10/05/2014

MGoPoints: 190483

crg

January 11th, 2023 at 9:53 PM ^

Says something to the effect of Harbaugh not interested in money as much as he is appreciation.

 

Fine - build the man a statue, name a building after him, and let him drive around campus on a golf cart.  Just put this to rest.

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75054

Blue@LSU

January 11th, 2023 at 9:53 PM ^

Three questions:

1. Does all of this dirty laundry have to be aired out in the open?

2. Why does Harbaugh want a lower buyout if he plans to stay at UM? I love coach and want him to stay for as long as he wants, but that doesn't sound like a fight you want to make if you want to stay at Michigan.

3. If any of this is true, what the fuck is Warde thinking?

Joined: 11/04/2016

MGoPoints: 80123

FrankMurphy

January 12th, 2023 at 1:56 AM ^

I hate Dave Brandon and all of the bullshit he wrought over the course of his disastrous tenure, but one thing I give him credit for is that he never held Stretchgate against Rich Rod. He made it clear that Stretchgate was not a factor in his decision to fire Rich Rod, even though he technically could have fired Rich Rod for cause and tried to get out of paying his buyout.

In light of that, if the reports that Warde is using the NCAA allegations against Harbaugh as leverage, then that's truly fucking shameful. Barring egregious conduct, no AD should ever side with the morally bankrupt NCAA against his own coaches in any way, shape, or form.

Joined: 08/19/2008

MGoPoints: 31971

M-GO-Beek

January 12th, 2023 at 9:09 AM ^

The buyout doesn't necessarily have to be used for Harbaugh to leave, but more over as future leverage.  With the new TV contracts coming, it would not surprise me if the top coaches are all getting $12-15mil/year very soon. If Jim is stuck at $9mil  (or worse) a higher buyout would make it more difficult to negotiate a higher contract, even if he has no intention of leaving. 

Joined: 02/03/2015

MGoPoints: 5638

charblue.

January 12th, 2023 at 10:27 AM ^

I think the buyout should be commensurate with his annual salary level or an equivalent of it. 

While I appreciate hearing about the pending contract talks, not really keen on knowing the lurid back and forth details --and personal positives and negatives. Apparently, there is disagreement. And they'll work it out. 

But I can imagine that Mr. Anson may have already rocked Manuel's boat on this. Which explains why he's not too keen on his 501 (c) 3 tax exempt NIL collective fund-raising organization proposal under the umbrella but not under direct control of Michigan Athletics. 

Part of that is the legal problem it might present given that Congress is working on a bill that would regulate how NIL orgs operate and run their business. A bipartisan bill was introduced in late September. I have no idea where it currently stands. 

Some research indicates that currently the NIL college market is now estimated a $750m to $1b with a value expectation it will rise to between $3b to $4b over time. According to ON3 ratings, Michigan currently has the 18th and 33rd highest valued NIL players in Blake Corum ($881k) and JJ McCarthy ($683k). The highest valued player is Arch Manning, who has yet to play a down but has a NIL value of $3.6m.  

At what point does this present an equity issue for players and coaches at the college level? Who knows? 

But, there is no question NIL impacts every aspect of college football recruiting, from luring top high school players to portal transfers. ON3 reported that Ohio State now has 40 athletes on its men's football and basketball rosters under NIL agreements. When they ushered in their most recent signing class, 6 players were introduced to OSU fans as part of their NIL deals with checks cut on site. 

I am not sure if that's what Mr. Anson had in mind with his NIL proposal, but that's where we are now. 

Joined: 05/25/2010

MGoPoints: 11405

FB Dive

January 11th, 2023 at 9:59 PM ^

I don't really know what to make of Anson. I know he's billed as Harbaugh's close friend, but I wouldn't ever publicly tweet about my close friends' private thought processes, especially knowing that thousands of people are very interested. And I would hope they wouldn't publicly tweet about my private thought processes either.

This leads me to think that either:

(1) Anson is not nearly as close to Harbaugh as people seem to think, and his tweets are just his worthless speculation, or

(2) Anson is basically speaking on behalf on Harbaugh and tweeting out what Harbaugh wants him to tweet out.

Joined: 08/03/2019

MGoPoints: 14486

Speed_in_Space

January 11th, 2023 at 11:12 PM ^

Have you ever seen Thirteen Days? 

In Thirteen Days, back channel negotiations are made between the Soviets and the US. Khrushchev turns to an old war buddy to do his back channel negotiations for him and represent the Soviets without technically being “official”. There’s a chance Anson is the guy Jim turns to try to influence opinion – his broker/back channel guy.
 

Although how the heck anyone green lighted leaking contract information without serious issues does make me question this, especially if Anson sort of just leaked who gave him the info. Sounds like a really quick way to get your source in trouble or canned.

Joined: 01/10/2022

MGoPoints: 3724

Njia

January 12th, 2023 at 9:21 AM ^

I love that movie and fully understand the point you're making. However, Harbaugh doesn't strike me as the guy who sends "signals" through a third-party into the world of social media. I don't know him personally, but from everything I've seen on the outside looking in, that's my impression.

Joined: 09/15/2009

MGoPoints: 35773

kehnonymous

January 12th, 2023 at 10:47 AM ^

That's a fair point, but I'd slightly push back with this scenario:

Yes, Harbaugh isn't a back-channel third-party guy... possibly to the extent that he gets an agent to do that stuff because he's self-aware enough to know that isn't really his lane.  Everything we've seen so far, seems to indicate that he has an agent this time around.  This feels kinda like when he knew he had to add new wrinkles to the offense, so he hired Josh Gattis (who is probably as popular with us as Harbaugh's agent right now, if we're being honest)

Joined: 11/25/2011

MGoPoints: 32995

ERdocLSA2004

January 12th, 2023 at 1:25 PM ^

No, he’s a troll.  He’s reposting some speculation and throwing in some of his own while claiming to be a close friend and insider.  He’s throwing shade at the university to make this look like the university is at fault which is currently without factual support.  He’s strategically doing this to shift the spotlight so Harbaugh doesn’t feel publicly pressured to sign a new agreement until his NFL options have been exhausted.  Harbaugh already has a guaranteed date to the prom(M). He hasn’t asked her yet because he heard this super hot chick(NFL) might be dumping her boyfriend and he’s thinking he may have a chance.

Joined: 01/08/2011

MGoPoints: 15958

chrisu

January 12th, 2023 at 11:44 AM ^

I've read the situation as Anson, based on his tweets, being more a PR guy for Harbaugh. Putting this contract situation on Warde via his tweets. He alludes to the source of the 247 post with some general identifiers, such that those in the know will know whom the source is. I don't follow the pay sites, but seems this stuff was floating around there, and Anson added it to what he was tweeting. That said, I can't imagine Harbaugh is oblivious to this taking place. I think there is truth to the desire for appreciation - this was noted in UM's pursuit of him to take over as coach. My feeling is the tweeting is to sway any negative public opinion away from him, and to Warde, more than contract leverage. Regardless, I just hope it is resolved quickly.

Joined: 12/27/2014

MGoPoints: 3240

Blue_Goose

January 11th, 2023 at 10:00 PM ^

This is exactly how I have been reading the situation. Don’t know if it is true.
 

The most curious is the buyout negotiation.  If Jim is so frustrated with all the recruiting challenges then he needs to agree to a high buyout to remove the flirting with the NFL negative recruiting issue.  Put a clause in the contract to automatically adjust up the numbers to make him and assistants the highest paid in the B1G if he wins the league and no less than third highest if he doesn’t.  He won’t need to flirt with his NFL mistress to get Warde to put out and we can recruit and be done with this crap. 
 

and yes, why in hell is this cut and pasted from some random dude’s untitled phone notes. And why in the actual fuck is he telling us about he and his families COVID status.  Doesn’t he know there are no politics allowed on this board?

I feel like I am in an alternate reality. This is so unbelievably bizarre 

Joined: 08/27/2017

MGoPoints: 2614

mjv

January 12th, 2023 at 8:40 AM ^

The buyout number is irrelevant to an NFL owner.  Coaches get fired after one year and have a ton of remaining contract value.  They are billioniares with football businesses that are worth billions.  $10M is little more than a rounding error for these folks.  The buyout number is only relevant to other college athletic departments.

Harbaugh will stay or go based on how he views his situation an Michigan -- and how he is treated.

If the above narrative is true -- the AD is using the NCAA charges against him, rescinded on the originally outlined contract terms, etc., it isn't a surprise that Harbaugh is considering his options.  And he will do this EVERYTIME that the AD treats him like an employee instead of a member of the family.  

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 3656

Rhino77

January 11th, 2023 at 10:06 PM ^

Question, does Jim have an agent now? The article states he does. He hasn’t in the past.

It was posted today that he made 10 million last year after winning the B1G. Where are they looking at, 12? 

Joined: 05/27/2011

MGoPoints: 14020