Counter Point to the Prevailing Board Views re: Our Head Football Coach and AD

I am Groot

Well... it's settled then.

Not going to read that wall of text but uh ok sure whatever.

Plenty of blame to go around.  None of us know exactly what has been going on between JH and WM.  So, significant parts in this piece are speculations. However, two things are known with almost certainty. 
 

1) JH’s love for NFL has been a distraction and has negatively affected recruiting. 
2) WM’s conservative approach to NIL has made recruiting more difficult. 

We don’t need no stinkin counterpoint 

Was really hoping OP would show up in the comment section to take some more negs.

Oh well.

I do agree with some of that. One of the more confounding sentiments I've observed on here the last year or so is how "unfair" and "a slap in the face" Harbaugh's extension was, like Manuel was supposed to somehow see the future and give Jim a better contract based on how good 2021 and 2022 were going to be, which is obviously nonsensical. 100% agree that after six seasons, Ohio State and any upper-echelon SEC program would have fired someone with Harbaugh's record against rivals and in bowl games, and the lack of conference or even division championships. And I also believe Harbaugh simply really would rather be in the NFL. Nothing to do with Michigan, everything to do with who he is, someone who wants to be at the highest level and lead men who are already men, not boys who he has to make into men.

That said, I do also think Warde is just not the guy. Some won't like this but I think he is emblematic of the kind of people who have run Michigan athletics for a while now, who view athletics as merely a supplement to academics. Which indeed is fine for most sports, but frankly if you want to treat football and basketball the same way, go join the Ivy League. I wish this weren't the case, but the old days are over. You're in a conference with Ohio State, who has abandoned even the pretense of the "student athlete," and other programs like Michigan State who would kill to be Ohio State if anyone gave a fuck about them. An athletic department that wants to compete with Ohio State can still be balanced with a commitment to academic excellence, but it can't be run by people who at the end of the day seem to view athletics as some kind of unwelcome intrusion on education.

Lastly, the AD's job is also to keep the program clean in the media, to get out ahead of negative news and fight back against bullshit. Warde has been caught flat-footed almost every time. A White House Chief of Staff or Press Secretary would not survive with Warde's seeming irresolute timidity and indecision.

I remember a quote from a former Michigan coach,

"Nothing good happens after midnight."

This OP certainly certifies that statement.

Hchiti 76:

You've done a good job of destroying the straw man you set up.

Before the 2020 season, Jim Harbaugh had won 72% of all his games as head coach at Michigan and 77% of his regular season games. To me, 2020 should not even be counted, as I believe he cared more about the health of his players in a season that should have been cancelled than about the meaningless games that were played. No power five conference program would have fired him.

You are the kind of "fan" that makes it harder for Michigan athletics to succeed, the prototypical ingrate who appreciates too little and criticizes too much.

Life is ever changing, and I don't blame the coach for reacting to the changes that are ongoing in a manner that makes him continue to evaluate his situation. If Michigan does not want to play the NIL game, then it makes it hard for him to compete. If Manuel does not stand up for him, in the most public manner possible, when the NCAA goes even more bonkers than usual, it makes it hard for him to feel appreciated. I suspect that a year ago he was told Michigan would get its NIL act together, but it is just barely starting to get it right and still has a long way to go from everything that I have read.

To me, Manuel is a disaster, and Harbaugh is the best coach in collegiate athletics. We are lucky to have Harbaugh and cursed to have Manuel.

You're going to get negged to death by the cult that's formed against Warde, but I agree with your take.

I believe this post exists solely for the OP to prove to a bunch of people they don't know online that they know the definition of "dalliance". That, or we've found Warde's shadow account. 

Note: I did not read all of that.

One area I think you have a point on is the notion of a buyout ending this forever. That's just silly. Gruden got a $100m deal after nearly a decade of not having coach stench on him, the Broncos just gave up a 1st+ for either their 2nd or 3rd preferred coach. The WALTONS own that team. Buyouts will not prevent future conversations, and M receiving said buyout isn't going to bring WiFi to the stadium.

I don't want to touch the "this is all JH's fault" part of this. It's not my opinion, but whatever. One thing I will say, however, is I have not been impressed at all with Warde's performance since he took over for Jim Hackett. And if JH does leave after 2023, the idea that Warde would be in charge of hiring the next HC and helping him retain the best assistant coaches and staff makes me very concerned. He is slow, reactionary and seems steeped in Michigan 1990s era athletic department thinking. I see zero vision from Warde Manuel whatsoever. JMO.

The statement about other big time programs firing their coaches for going 3-3 vs MSU, 0-5 vs OSU, and 1-4 in bowl games lacks a lot of actual context.

No matter how much we all love our Wolverines.....the program was no longer a "big time program".  Wasn't for a decade.  Truly wasn't for a couple of decades.  Michigan was a tire fire before Harbaugh took over.  That is the actual "FACT" here.  Also, let's stop pretending that in this day and age of the best players opting out of bowl games, every year, is some sort of inditement on the head coach's ability or inability to win a game....that has literally zero relevance.

Michigan was trash before Harbaugh took over, while BOTH Ohio State and Michigan State were on top of the college football world.  Anyone that didn't have an agenda and could look past the emotion of losing those games could see what was really happening.  Harbaugh immediately turned the program around, and played above their heads to compete with a MUCH more talented OSU squad, and got robbed of one victory and really had a chance in another.  He immediately flipped the decade long dominance that MSU enjoyed over Michigan.....to a point where MSU is once again considered a disappointment when we lose, instead of an expectation of a loss.  All three losses were close, full of controversial things, and were full of just bad luck.  Yes, they were still losses, but they weren't the drubbings that Michigan was taking on a yearly basis, before Harbaugh’s arrival.

So.....with all that taken into account.  Knowing that there's really not any obvious better options.  Warde giving Harbaugh another chance wasn't exactly some charity decision.  It was based on logic, and rationalized perspective of where Michigan was before and where it was going.....especially when you look at the same criteria for OSU and MSU, during that same time.

I get tired of people completely ignoring the final years of Carr, the RR Era, and the Hoke Era.  It was MISERABLE to be a Michigan fan.  Harbaugh’s arrival changed that.  Did it magically flip Michigan into Alabama's level (instantly), like the delusional fans expected?  No, but it was clearly better, and you could see the growth, and that was important to recognize.

Hey guys we found Warde's burner mgoblog account

Sorry.  It’s not group think that has warde blamed for this. It’s facts. 
Last year Harbaugh was upfront even w recruits that he was potentially going to the nfl.  Parents and recruits reported this and reported they appreciated the honesty.  

Do you blame him? He had taken a massive cut after 1 bad year    Took the team to new heights and given his bonus back to the school   He didn’t owe us anything  

This year, based on posted information and insiders ( harbaugh high school and college friends who are still in his circle) that I know , is all in warde    They had a frame work established that was supposed to be done after osu   
 

Then warde , instead of defending harbaugh to the ncaa, used it as supposed leverage to lower the deal   Harbaugh then used the nfl to show his worth and to say f you to warde   He could have used college programs- how would you have felt about that  

harbaugh had to go to ono directly over warde to get backing against ncaa  that’s when Ono found out everything   Thank god for ono  

Whether warde is responsible any number of other athletic issues I don’t know  But, I do know that when it happens on your watch you’re ultimately accountable   And on harbaugh he is fully accountable  

But glad to know Manuel’s burner account  

Thank you for writing this. I also don't understand the Warde vitriol, except the Pearson thing which that one they have right to complain. 

What they miss is how Warde made a great maneuver and kept Jim on which was right thing to do and got jim to take a massive cut to snap him out of it and fire guys and do what was needed.  This cannot be understated.  The football program got back to the proper level and Warde was the AD.  And yet you have the sob sisters wanting him gone, and the irony is that it was these who were most vocal in wanting Jim fired, which was the wrong thing.  That alone should give Warde enough goodwill.

You make a lot of valid points even though people on here don’t want to hear it. Right now JH can do no wrong because of the last few seasons, but a couple of years ago everyone wanted him run out of town. I think Warde has been a hot mess lately but JH has done himself no favors with always looking over the fence to see if NFL grass is greener. It’s even worse when a year ago he said never again. People can twist that however they want but bottom line he lied 

I like turtles 

I'll bite here. Re: Harbaugh, Warde is in an untenable position if Harbaugh still has interest in the NFL. Ain't nothing gonna change that -- no amount of money, liberal NIL policy, bigger salaries for his staff --- none of that will scratch the NFL itch. It's about something else for Harbaugh. I don't know how Warde is dealing with this and I assume no one else here does either. His lack of public action doesn't necessarily mean there's a lack of action. Harbaugh does what he wants to do, as is his right. You can't "lock him in." It's not like catching an animal in a cage -- put a bunch of money in there and we got him!! Just doesn't work like that. 

No good posts ever happen after midnight... 

QDAGTB!!!

We need a JH v Santa v Warde hawttakes sticky now like after games.

As for our AD, this idea that he mishandled, mistreated and “insulted” JH is totally hogwash.

Most coaches in Harbaugh's position would be insulted by the pay cut he had to take after 2020.  You can argue that it was justified under the circumstances (Covid, poor 2020 season, etc ), but still, for a guy of his track record, it was harsh. 

When word leaked out about that offer, the general assumption was that Manuel was effectively pushing him out the door, not standing by him.   But the NFL was not biting, and Harbaugh returned under the pay cut.  I would describe it more as a huge gamble that happened to pay off.

I enjoy contrarian arguments, and suspect that we on this site some times fall victim to group think.

That said, I don't think it's true that at any other big time program a coach with multiple 10 wins (and before that success in college and the NFL) would be fired after a bad season. If that were the case Brian Kelly would have been fired at Notre Dame after 2016. 

Second, Michigan football is the most important program in the Athletic Department by far. I don't know why Harbaugh and Manuel had a falling out in May, but I think that whether Warde believed he was right or wrong one of his jobs was to try to repair that relationship.