JUB: Harbaugh wants the “Bear Hug”
Working from home this afternoon on a snowy day here in West Michigan, I tuned into The Finebaum Show and caught his short interview with JUB.
Nothing groundbreaking but here’s what I surmised:
From their discussion, it seems that Harbaugh wants to be “wanted” and took his job with SF because he and his family were sent personalized 49ers SWAG. According to JUB, that was enough to sway him to the NFL. This is the “bear hug” effect.
Additionally, he mentioned there is little-to-no connection between Warde Manuel and Harbaugh. That might be a major factor for his future decisions (uh, yeah!?)
Lastly, he cited the intangibles go Michigan’s way and the career/contract go the NFL’s way.
I don’t know, man…
January 9th, 2024 at 4:52 PM ^
Well if there isn't enough reason to give Jim a "Bear Hug" after winning a championship then there never will be one. He's compromised on contracts, made concessions, and did everything he was asked of to get them there.
He's done the pinnacle of what you could hope for as a fan by bringing an outright championship home
January 9th, 2024 at 4:58 PM ^
He should be treated like a conquering hero when he lands. Warde should be there, at the airport, if only for the athletes.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:09 PM ^
Warde is replaceable. Harbaugh much less so.
January 9th, 2024 at 8:59 PM ^
Warde should look at retaining Harbaugh as being a job dependent necessity.
January 9th, 2024 at 11:16 PM ^
Exactly....It appears that Santa needs to make a decision.
Hint: Who will cost less to replace? Who will the donors support?
January 9th, 2024 at 5:34 PM ^
Warde wasn't at the game? smh
January 9th, 2024 at 5:51 PM ^
He was - he walked by/shouted out to Sam Webb during the postgame show
January 9th, 2024 at 7:16 PM ^
He was there and he talked about how much he hopes jim stays. Saying the right things publicly.
January 10th, 2024 at 1:00 AM ^
He absolutely said the wrong thing! “I don’t want anyone to get mad if Jim decides to pursue other opportunities.” He’s a fucking idiot. “Nobody is going to get mad because we’re making Jim an offer such that it makes zero sense to do anything but stay at Michigan.” Fixed it for him.
January 9th, 2024 at 7:52 PM ^
January 9th, 2024 at 8:23 PM ^
He was on the stage for the ceremony.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:48 PM ^
Warde is likely on the plane with them, no?
January 9th, 2024 at 5:43 PM ^
No matter the relationship Warde has with JH. Right now his biggest job description is keep Jim. Tomorrow he should have Jim in his office close the door and like a good AD just say Jim we want you to stay here until you retire. What do you need from us to make this happen? Both parties be adult here and hammer something out and get a lifetime contract signed. I would tell him it’s for as long as you want to coach and you can groom your replacement. We start at 12 million next year and every year we increase it by 500K. When your ready to retire you name your replacement and we move on with that man
January 9th, 2024 at 4:53 PM ^
So tl/dr: Fire Warde, replace him with anyone, print swag, sign JMFH.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:27 PM ^
If it comes down to this, I don't disagree. I would, however, pump the brakes on replacing Warde with just "anyone." After all, I'm sure there are other Dave Brandon's lurking out there.
There's an experience we don't need to revisit.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:46 PM ^
I have no idea what an ADs day to day job are or how important personal connections are across college sports, but there have got to be dozens of highly skilled, smart, and highly organized men and women with experience in P5 athletic departments and managing people who could do this (or any other P5 AD) job.
With all the assistant ADs and support staff to help an AD, I just refuse to believe the pool of qualified candidates isn't actually huge and the job of an AD is actually manufactured to be seen as difficult by the the old boys and old girls club of current ADs who want to protect their ridiculous salaries and personal power.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:50 PM ^
If Warde is in any shape or form a good leader, he should have a fitting replacement reporting to him
January 9th, 2024 at 5:58 PM ^
Our highest revenue sport constantly gets shit on by the NCAA and the Big Ten
Our superstar coach does not “feel the love”
I don’t care what all the job responsibilities of the AD are. If these two things are true, you are failing at your job
January 9th, 2024 at 11:49 PM ^
This is ridiculous, as are most of the posts in this thread.
What EXACTLY should Warde or any other AD at Michigan do about the perceived bias towards us by the NCAA and Big Ten Conference? We are voluntary members of each. Perhaps we should join the NAIA??
Our AD and University President have each expressed the desire that Coach Harbaugh remain at Michigan and he reportedly has been offered a contract that would make him the highest paid coach in the Conference. EXACTLY what else do you want them to do?
It's up to Harbaugh whether or not he wishes and chooses to stay or move on. Nobody else.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:58 PM ^
There are thousands of people who could do the job better than Warde
January 9th, 2024 at 9:01 PM ^
More than that.
January 9th, 2024 at 6:04 PM ^
Heather Lyke.
January 10th, 2024 at 1:02 AM ^
Hackett as interim and conducts job search. Doesn’t need to be a “Michigan man” just someone competent that doesn’t let the rest of the conference gang up on us with no lube.
January 9th, 2024 at 4:53 PM ^
The is the same stuff Bacon always says and I really don't buy it at this point. You have the president, AD and regents constantly praising him.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:01 PM ^
Yeah, it's hard to know what would constitute "the bear hug" that the AD could give Harbaugh that doesn't already exist/isn't on offer, unless it's code for some weird power play/secret demand that Warde be let go.
January 9th, 2024 at 6:27 PM ^
Then why not just let Warde go?
January 9th, 2024 at 6:48 PM ^
Sure, if that’s what Harbaugh actually means by the Bear Hug. Absolutely. But he’ll never say that.
(my secret suspicion is that Harbaugh has a meh relationship with Warde, like he has with almost everyone who’s ever been above him on some org chart, but that Warde and Bacon have some mutual antipathy).
January 9th, 2024 at 5:10 PM ^
Could it be the Warde Manuel part? Maybe that's what's holding this up. That relationship doesn't appear healthy, I wouldn't want to work like that either. Could it be reminiscent of his relationship with Trente Baalke?
January 9th, 2024 at 5:19 PM ^
President? Yes. Regents? Absolutely. But Warde only speaks when he has to and never seems proactive or forthcoming in his praise.
I'd be thrilled to be wrong and watch Warde resign Jim, but it just doesn't feel like that's a likely outcome or that it's entirely Jim's fault.
January 10th, 2024 at 1:04 AM ^
Um, let’s go with re-sign, rather than resign, thanks!!!
January 9th, 2024 at 5:32 PM ^
JUB has been off a few times. So as Jim just said in his morning interview, don’t believe everything you read.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:55 PM ^
The bear hug could mean a lot of things. It’s possible he doesn’t feel the university is backing him up enough with the BS investigations. Maybe he wants them to stand up to the NCAA and Big and tell them to pack sand and leave Jim alone. From what I’ve seen we’ve kind of rolled over to them and left Jim out to dry
January 10th, 2024 at 1:04 AM ^
And NIL please
January 9th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
Didn't he steal a CFP fridge? That's swag.
January 9th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
I'll donate all of my old Adidas gear if that would help.
January 9th, 2024 at 4:55 PM ^
Bacon's been saying the same thing for a while now.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:02 PM ^
I think it's Bacon's way of saying nobody knows anything because Jim is the kind of guy who will make a decision like this not based on say....dollars and cents...the way normal people do, but rather on arbitrary things like feelings generated by custom mugs and such.
Having a frosty but professional relationship with the AD isn't helping us in that capacity.
We have to wait and see how Jim "feels" about his options.
January 9th, 2024 at 6:01 PM ^
Maybe there’s a reason
January 9th, 2024 at 4:58 PM ^
I am leaning Bacon is a Balas clone. All of same ilk.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:13 PM ^
I'm no JUB slappy, but comparing him to Balas is wild lol
January 9th, 2024 at 4:58 PM ^
My guess is listening to him talk about his parents and Michigan, he wants to stay but that competitive body of his says John won a Super Bowl and is at a fork in the road.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:15 PM ^
Maybe, but you could also say John has never won a National Championship either.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:51 PM ^
Well, then that settles it. Jim to Baltimore, and John to Ann Arbor, plus a Harbaugh to be named later.
January 9th, 2024 at 4:58 PM ^
I'll send him UM swag if it would help
January 9th, 2024 at 5:02 PM ^
Brian should have a few pockets-full of Rose Bowl confetti left that could at least pull on his sentimentality.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:16 PM ^
The confetti angle might work. Each piece of confetti tells a story is Harbaugh’s direct quote last night. This would actually be a good play. Mail some extra confetti to Schembechler Hall right now and write a story on how Harbaugh and the team has brought you joy and made a positive impact on your life. The fans and alumni need to give him the bear hug.
January 9th, 2024 at 5:22 PM ^
With how Jim is wired, something like this would actually be super convincing I think. He'd love that
January 9th, 2024 at 5:01 PM ^
Career/contract go the NFL's way? Chargers and some others would pay half of what M's offering, so wtf