snarling wolverine

January 16th, 2024 at 10:49 PM ^

And we’re currently telling him, “We want to reserve the right to fire you if the NCAA punishes us.”

What message are we sending him?

It's never going to come to that.  The NCAA bullshit is almost over with.  The president wouldn’t say what he did (“Michigan won fair and square”) if they were going to drop the hammer. 

This is Michigan being stupidly petty.  And it may cost us our best coach in forever.

Ryno2317

January 16th, 2024 at 11:55 PM ^

This.  A contract requires a meeting of the minds.  There is no contract because Harbaugh doesn’t want to be here.  And … stop blaming anyone on the Michigan side.  Even if Harbaugh signed a massive contract a few months ago, he would still be doing this now.  Any buyout in the Michigan contract would not prevent an NFL team from simply hiring him if they really wanted to.

I think this all goes back to Michigan not wanting Harbaugh to talk to NFL teams this year.  I suspect Harbaugh slow played everything do he can have his cake and eat it too.

Brodie

January 17th, 2024 at 10:06 AM ^

uh huh and did he need these assurances last year when he chatted a bunch with the Broncos? What about the year before when he interviewed with the Vikings? 

What indication do you have that Jim prefers it here to the NFL? Ever since he's been hot enough here to get these interviews, he has taken them. And we already know for a fact he would've left in 2022, part of what put the Vikings off him was that he walked in assuming the interview was a formality and started talking about all the things he was DEFINITELY going to do there. 

Jim wants out and he will be gone as soon as a team offers him a job. 

BananaRepublic

January 17th, 2024 at 10:38 AM ^

Yes...we low balled him because we had him over a barrel in 2020. I don't know what the extension talks looked like in the 2022 off season, but we were not comping him like a top coach at all.

 

>What indication do you have that Jim prefers it here to the NFL?

The fact that he was a very successful NFL coach and gave that up to be here for basically twice as long as he's been anywhere else...dumb question.

>Jim wants out and he will be gone as soon as a team offers him a job. 

Poor analysis. Jim wants a Bill B. type control of whichever team he goes to. This is a huge ask and it's a big part of why he never left. IF he gets that he will likely go but only because I'm pretty sure Michigan and stupid fans like yourself are too dumb to offer him whatever he wants.

Brodie

January 17th, 2024 at 10:03 AM ^

if the NCAA gives him a showcause, we HAVE to fire him or we incur additional and accumulating penalties. Jim is asking for more than the moon and y'all want to give it to him because you haven't grasped his plan A is to be far, far away in the NFL next September 

They could go out and give Jim the entire university endowment if they wanted, it won't change the fact that he'd use the money to buy an NFL team for himself to coach. 

Ernis

January 17th, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^

Do we? Pretty sure any NCAA decision isn’t set in stone. The SCOTUS has laid out an opinion that they are an invalid organization, and essentially set a roadmap for their demise. They are effectively asking colleges to take them to court, indicating that doing so will lead to success. And for good reason. 

Michigan doesn’t want to go through the steps needed to protect their coach from arbitrary and capricious rules enforcement because doing so could make the university look bad to some people. The most dominant characteristic of UM is pathological aversion to any risk that might negatively affect The Brand. Protect The Brand über alles. That, you can bet, is Jim’s biggest turn off. And if the university cares more about The Brand than they do him, or the players, or winning, etc. then I get why he wants to leave. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to work for UM and I deeply love the place.

Now, one can reasonably ask “is NFL ownership any better?” and I think that’s fair. But at least you don’t have the arbitrary and capricious enforcement of deliberately nebulous rules. So I get it. Plus, he probably wants to win a Super Bowl so his brother can’t lord it over him. But if Michigan commits to “we’ll do everything we can to neutralize the NCAA menace” that might be enough to tip the scales for him.

pescadero

January 17th, 2024 at 2:44 PM ^

"And if the university cares more about The Brand than they do him, or the players, or winning, etc. then I get why he wants to leave. "

If the university doesn't care more about the brand than they do Harbaugh, the players, or winning - they are failing at their job.

The entire athletic department could disappear tomorrow and it would have less affect on the University than some bad publicity that cost us a few percent of our research dollars.

 

HighBeta

January 16th, 2024 at 10:39 PM ^

SQ? The guy's been jerked around, hard and publicly, by the B1G and the NCAA. He's also still dealing with a great deal of uncertainty about future sanctions, penalties, etc.. He's obligated to explore his options with both M and various pro teams. He's got to protect himself.

This will play out in due time. Until it does? Try to ignore the noise.

los barcos

January 16th, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^

Ha but the bear hug!

JUB spent all fall saying Harbaugh wasn’t going to pursue the NFL anymore. Hope we can put all this nonsense to bed - he wants to be there, its only a matter of if a team wants him.

wavintheflag

January 16th, 2024 at 10:25 PM ^

Now can definitely see Arthur Blank rolling up the Brinks truck more than Spanos. Probably a play for leverage somewhere. Do we know if Jim went to LA? All these could be Zoom meetings otherwise. 

UMChick77

January 16th, 2024 at 10:51 PM ^

That's what I was trying to figure out. Are they in person or Zoom? On Twitter, a few of the Charger journalists claim he was IN town and was still in town today to continue talks with the Chargers.

Idk if I believe that, but who knows. I actually think it's kind of hilarious that he spoke to ATL based on how sure they were about everything 😂 

WallyWallace

January 16th, 2024 at 10:33 PM ^

3 straight conf championships and wins over OSU. He led M to a Natty. He's a conquering hero.

Going out on top and going for that Super Bowl ring just seems natural versus a (potentially) anti-climatic return and the complex legalese of the M contract negotiations.