John Harbaugh on the report that Jim's family is urging him to take the Michigan job: "absolutely incorrect"

Submitted by FrankMurphy on

This is from a conference call with the media, so it's all over the Twitters.

John Harbaugh says report Jim Harbaugh's family is urging him to U of Michigan is "absolutely incorrect."

— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) December 24, 2014

EDIT: The full quote is on NFL.com (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000449127/article/john-harbaugh-family-not-influencing-jim-on-future). Interesting that he mentions Schefter by name.

"The report that says that his family is encouraging him to go to Michigan by Adam Schefter is absolutely incorrect," John Harbaugh said on a conference call with Cleveland media. "There's been no family that I know of that has given him any advice at all. That's a personal decision, that's his to make. And that's just absolutely false. I don't know where that came from, but it didn't come from the Harbaughs. My dad and I both said, don't tell us. If something gets out, we don't want the finger pointed at us. Leave us out of it and don't tell us what you're going to do."
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charblue.

December 24th, 2014 at 6:03 PM ^

for the right reasons. And so, because he is, you know this is absolutely happening. Enjoy your Christmas knowing we 've got a new commander on the sideline directing Michigan's football future and this guy is a chip off the old block. Cannot wait.

Joined: 05/25/2010

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Indonacious

December 24th, 2014 at 3:30 PM ^

Couldn't this just mean that John is saying that the family is not pressuring him into taking it and that any interest that Jim Harbaugh has in the job is his own, which like duh Harbaugh is a grown man. Also, what else is John really going to say...we are all forcing him to go back and coach his alma mater, but his heart is really with the raiders and that decade long rebuilding project...

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WolvinLA2

December 24th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

Exactly.  That's what I was thinking too.  If my brother was in that spot and a reporter asked me if I urged him to do one thing or another I would say, "No, I told him to do whatever he wants."  Is John supposed to say, "Yeah, he's doing it because my dad and I told him to."?

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CoachBP6

December 24th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

Up and down, up and down. I have become more optimistic about our chances over the weeks, but still seeing news on both sides gives me great deal of concern. The DJ Durkin thing is as good of news as you can have, but at same time there are still reporters saying there is no chance. I dont know what to believe.

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lastofthedogmen

December 24th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

The thread title indicates John said reports that the family wanted Jim to go to UM are incorrect. The quote says reports that they're urging him to take the job are incorrect. You can want someone to do something without urging them to do it.

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RakeFight

December 24th, 2014 at 3:51 PM ^

Another fine distinction lost in translation... "not encouraging him" does not exclude that JH's family will "be supportive of whatever decision he makes."

 

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stephenrjking

December 24th, 2014 at 3:51 PM ^

Since John is part of that family, doesn't any blanket statement that "family" is involved potentially include him? For all we know, he's just clarifying that he has no role in his brother's career decision. Or he's in "say nothing mode." Or anything. I don't read anything into this.

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Moonlight Graham

December 24th, 2014 at 3:58 PM ^

that Camp Harbaugh is asking everyone to be on radio silence/gag order or total denial until Jim finishes the season with the 49ers. He doesn't want to be seen as taking the job before the final game is complete. John is just playing the role. 

"Absolutely incorrect" is wording that slams the door on the kind of speculation Jim is trying to avoid. Something like "not necessarily" or going into semantics of how much influence the family has over Jim's decision, blah blah, would just leave things open-ended. 

I wonder if there was a follow-up question or if they reporters on the call just moved on? 

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WMUKirk

December 24th, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^

The more I see the word tampering on here the more I realize you guys have no clue what that actual rule is. It doesn't apply to coaches talking to their friends and giving advice. It's more for formal negotiations without a teams approval for players.

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