John U Bacon: potential NCAA reprimand for football, adding to Harbaugh's frustrations
Published on his blog this morning, copying some here since a hungry fanbase crashed his website:
Sources have told me Harbaugh is fed up with the NCAA, and all the hassles that go with coaching college football vs. the NFL – something just about every coach would understand. The NCAA is famous for punishing misdemeanors while ignoring felonies. As Jerry Tarkanian famously said, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky that they’re going to give Cleveland State another year of probation.”
Another unknown factor: Harbaugh and/or his staff will likely receive some form of reprimand from the NCAA, for what I’ve heard is a relatively minor recruiting infraction from two years ago. What exactly the infraction is, what the NCAA’s response might be – with the NCAA, it is impossible to predict — and how Harbaugh and Manuel will react to the NCAA’s conclusions aren’t yet known. U-M insiders believe the NCAA will be announcing what the infraction is and what the penalty will be, if any, within the next few weeks.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:03 AM ^
Fuck the NCAA and fuck the $EC. That is all.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:38 AM ^
And fuck the $EC refs for a performance on Saturday that would make John Gotti blush
As for the NCAA ... they're so horribly arbitrary that, if this is true, Harbaugh would rather deal with Roger Goodell of all people
January 5th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
PAC12 or ACC should have ref'd both games. PAC12 got the Peach Bowl. ACC should have had the Fiesta. Don't understand why they would let the ref's from an opposing conference be included when said conference is represented in the other semifinal. I hope the BIG gets the final.
January 5th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
Could B1G refs cause both teams to lose?
January 5th, 2023 at 12:35 PM ^
Please, do NOT challenge their creativity!
January 5th, 2023 at 1:35 PM ^
Bring back John O'Neill! He could do it!
January 5th, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^
The thing is, we don't know until the NCAA makes an announcement. But I can totally see them doing something like this, and then going back home feeling like they had done a good job. The NCAA might be the worst organization in the history of sports.
January 5th, 2023 at 5:00 PM ^
FIFA says, "hold me beer."
January 5th, 2023 at 5:54 PM ^
It is for an analyst coaching on field during practices is what is reported on 247. Fckn stupid yet pay a player and don't get a dam thing
January 5th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
What happens if we ignore whatever the NCAA says just like every other conference?
January 5th, 2023 at 1:31 PM ^
you beat me to it
January 5th, 2023 at 1:31 PM ^
Michigan already was subjected to self imposed sanctions with Harbaugh talking with NFL teams for two straight years, and in turn, damaging recruitment efforts. Any advantage gained two years ago has been negated and it’s all balanced out.
If only it worked this way…..
January 5th, 2023 at 6:33 PM ^
I couldn't help but read your comment with this Steve Earle song playing in my mind. F the CC! You wrote a new line to his song!https://youtu.be/B2rygAhcgcI
January 5th, 2023 at 11:04 AM ^
Hey NCAA, I got your infraction RIGHT HERE
January 5th, 2023 at 11:04 AM ^
Joy...... My gosh....
January 5th, 2023 at 11:04 AM ^
Sounds like he is gone and it won’t be because Warde failed to pony up.
Edit: Truth hurts apparently.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
Won't stop people from blaming him.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^
Lets Pony up to six straight bowl losses . Sounds like a plan
January 5th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
all bowl games except the playoffs mean nothing.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:38 AM ^
Yep. I get why it makes a good stat, but if it were the 80s or 90s, it would matter. But now, these are exhibition games.
January 5th, 2023 at 12:22 PM ^
The NCAA actually didn't start counting bowl statistics as official until 2000. So even then, they were effectively exhibitions, too.
January 5th, 2023 at 3:48 PM ^
So we can just say Harbaugh is 0-2 in CFP games. Does that make it more palatable than saying he is 1-6 in bowl games?
January 5th, 2023 at 5:13 PM ^
Yes, because there are plenty of coaches who have the same number of playoff wins out there.
January 6th, 2023 at 3:31 PM ^
I don't care about other coaches. I care about Michigan. He's 0-2 or 1-6. Pick one or the other.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:39 AM ^
We used to have not only the most wins of any team but the highest winning percentage. Now we rank third, behind OSU and Alabama, by a narrow margin. If we had won five of those six bowl games, we would still be #1.
EDIT in response to negbang: Obviously that is mainly Rich Rod's fault, not Harbaugh's. I'm just saying that bowl games DO matter for at least one thing.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
Yes, let’s fault the guy who is 74-25 (.747) overall and not, you know, the two coaches before him who went 46-42 (.523). Because posting a higher win percentage than our school average (.731) is obviously bad.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^
Obviously I blame RichRod 1,000,000 times more than Harbaugh. I was just disagreeing with the notion that bowl games don't mean anything. They do matter--for this one thing, at least.
January 5th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
Don't even get me started on Bump Elliott and his pedestrian 51-42 record (.548).
It's amazing to me that in all of football history, Michigan has only had 2 coaches with records under .500. RichRod was 15-22 and the tandem of Frank Crawford and Mike Murphy finished 4-5 in 1892, their only season of coaching. Outside of that, Bump was the closest to .500.
Bo is 5th overall with an .802 win %.
January 5th, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
Ties count as half a win and half a loss. Bo's win percentage at Michigan was .796.
January 5th, 2023 at 3:20 PM ^
I was told there would be no math
January 5th, 2023 at 3:51 PM ^
Sorry, I didn't do the math. I just went with what Bentley showed:
https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/coaches/coaches.htm
January 5th, 2023 at 3:29 PM ^
Back when Bo was coaching, he won consistently in the regular season, but not so much in the bowls. Fans still loved him and wanted him to coach forever.
Fans today are not as forgiving, IMHO
January 5th, 2023 at 3:52 PM ^
The difference is with Bo? He was more likable than Harbaugh is and the national title was mythical.
Harbaugh comes off like a jackass, is a prima donna, and loves the attention he gets for it. And now, national titles are reasonably objective (reasonably because we still have humans subjectively picking the participants but for all intents and purposes...). You win the games, and you are champion.
January 5th, 2023 at 5:24 PM ^
Hey, leave Bump alone.
His overall record as a coach may have been disappointing, though his players loved him, but the 1964-65 season was very impressive. Not many Wolverine teams have ended the season ranked higher than fourth nationally. And won the Rose Bowl against the PAC-12. By a wide margin.
One of the few that did was the undefeated team in 1947, known as the Mad Magicians. Bump not only played on that team (on both sides of the ball), but won the Big Ten (Nine?) MVP award and was an All-American.
Later, he did a lot for the Iowa football program too. His record is stellar. Check it out.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:45 AM ^
Lol. If we hadnt been complete shit for the enitre Rich Rod/Hoke era, it would also be a moot point. If Bo hadnt gone 6-6 in 1984, and so on and so forth...
January 5th, 2023 at 12:35 PM ^
The Covid season was the killer. In 2020 we went 2-4 while Bama went 13-0 (!) and OSU 7-1.
Harbaugh has in fact outperformed both schools the last two years - we went 25-3, to 24-4 for Bama and 22-4 for OSU - but the Covid year will take a while to cancel out.
It stinks that a season played during a pandemic, with no fans in the stands and eligibility not even counted, is enough to affect these records.
January 5th, 2023 at 2:57 PM ^
not to mention other conferences in different parts of the country played an entire season pretending everything was normal.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
minor bowl performances only matter as far as they impact recruiting, image, program momentum. so they often dont matter much however some cycles a poor performance in an otherwise meaningless bowl can have significant impact on a program
January 5th, 2023 at 1:16 PM ^
As of today that's true. But it seems to me there was a lot of bitching on this board after the first 4 Harbaugh bowl losses. We'll see if the first 2 CFP losses under Harbaugh continue the trend or not, assuming he stays.
January 5th, 2023 at 1:25 PM ^
As of today that's true. But it seems to me there was a lot of bitching on this board after the first 4 Harbaugh bowl losses. We'll see if the first 2 CFP losses under Harbaugh continue the trend or not, assuming he stays.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:13 AM ^
The whole “He wasn’t any good anyway” shtick is the height of cringe. There’s a reason half the NFL wants the guy.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:16 AM ^
I'd be fine losing 6 more in a row if we beat Ohio State each year
January 5th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
Agreed - ending the season on one loss after beating OSU is way better than a decade+ of losing to OSU and getting smoked in bowl games. More than half of college teams end their seasons on a loss, but not every team beats OSU in Columbus.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
I'd take the OSU win and bowl loss every year. Something about a crisp late November day in Ann Arbor or Columbus feels like the true climax of the college football season
Big corporate bowl games -- or even conference championship games -- in domes or pro stadiums lie in that uncanny valley of college football for me, like Diet NFL. I guess I'll drink it but the aftertaste is a little unpleasant
January 5th, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
I've been to the last three Games in Columbus and all of the one in AA. And I've been to the B1G Championship Game last year and the Semi-Final this year.
The games played in NFL stadiums don't come anywhere close to the atmosphere of The Games played in AA and Columbus. Everything (other than the Rose Bowl in 1998) is a cheap replica of The Game.
January 5th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
I agree with your overall sentiment, but I'd put the conference championship games on their own tier between the something like Ann Arbor/Columbus editions of The Game (which is peak CFB), and a totally soulless corporate bowl game (utterly forgettable).
Lucas Oil isn't a B1G venue, but at least it's geographically correct, and played between conference teams with at least SOME history between them (as long as we are spared the spectacle of a Rutgers/Nebraska champ game I suppose).
January 5th, 2023 at 12:25 PM ^
Completely agree. I was excited for the CFP this year, but beyond that, I can't remember having much enthusiasm for a bowl game. With the corporate takeover of the games, the age of opt outs (which I have no issue with), and the half-filled neutral site stadiums, the non-CFP bowl games just can't match the excitement or the feel of a regular season game. Apart from the last two years, every bowl game I can remember has felt like an afterthought and it just doesn't feel like anywhere close to as meaningful as a game against Ohio, State or ND.
January 5th, 2023 at 1:16 PM ^
That is some “little brother” shit, but apparently people eat it up
January 5th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^
You must be referring to the losses from 70-79. I feel your pain.
January 5th, 2023 at 2:13 PM ^
This whole excuse as to why he's looking around just reeks of bullshit. Was he not aware of the impending reprimand two weeks ago when he said he would be coaching Michigan in 23? He got contacted about some jobs and wanted to listen and is feeding excuses to a willing ear to backfill an excuse for if he leaves so he's not just a liar