Gattis shouts out Harbaugh family for supporting black coaches and QBs
Great message. Horrible formatting of the article.
If you go to posted link and delete the "/amp/" from the URL, it will be better.
Wow thanks. Perfect now.
Thank you for that. What is the AMP and why does removing it change the formatting?
It's the version optimized for mobile devices, presumably.
tl/dr It's Google's way of presenting articles and stories through essentially copying them on to it's own platform instead of directly linking to the source website. Kinda frowned up now since it takes away revenue from the site's visits.
Here's and article talking about it in more detail: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/googles-amp-an-i…
The next NFL and college seasons, whenever they happen, are going to feature a lot of kneeling. Jimmies will be rustled.
But not our Jimmy!
At first I read that as "shouts at" and thought they were in a verbal spat. Glad I was wrong and good article. Thanks for sharing.
Gattis is special man
But I thought Gattis hated Harbaugh, and Harbaugh took control of the offense and was dictating plays and Gattis was a puppet OC. Oh wait it turns out they're fine and it just takes some time to install complicated modern offenses?
After the initial learning curve his offense really took off. Would've been even better with better QB play and less drops by the WR's. Now Michigan is being thrown in with other programs for their creativeness and innovation on offense, which is amazing and exactly what we were all hoping for. Gattis is also a man of great integrity and leadership, someone who people look up to and want to follow. Maybe I'm crazy, but I would be completely fine promoting Gattis to HC in a few years at this rate.
I think a real QB would have made a big difference. Shea was not that good when it really mattered. The receivers weren't that good either. I think a new QB is gonna make a major impact.
I think you can spread the blame around quite a bit here. I remember Shea making plenty of good throws in the OSU game that his receivers just inexplicably dropped. Would it have made a difference in the final result? No, but it would've kept drives alive and maybe influenced the score to look more respectable.
But then you look at the Alabama game, where receivers were consistently getting open and Shea just flat-out could not connect with them, no matter how hard he tried.
Seemed like the culprit was someone different each week, but I do agree in that if I had to pick one, I'll take the good QB. A good QB makes everyone around him better.
Shea had some good qualities but his arm just wasn't that great. Same going back to Speight. UM has had four seasons of just ok QB play. So far in Harbaugh's tenure, Rudock has had the most legit arm.
The offense really needs McCaffrey or Milton to take control. The offensive scheme will probably be ready to take off at some point this season but it needs a QB who is able to sling it around.
I don't doubt Gattis' sincerity, at all. But I will say that not only the Harbaugh's, but also most sports coaches want only to hire (and promote) the best assistants they can find, regardless of race. Yeah, there are outliers, especially years ago, but mostly these guys just want to win and don't care what race helps them do that. I've long believed that sports have been in front of race relations in a more positive manner them most of society at large.
And yet, while other coaches do good things, the Harbaugh's do always seem to be at the leading edge... I don't know what prompted this (was he asked an opinion, or just say it out of the blue?), but for an assistant that's only known the Harbaugh family for a short time to say this is high praise.
But there's a difference between being 'blind to race', which is what it sounds like you're saying in the first paragraph, and being proactively supportive to those who are underrepresented (which is potentially how the Harbaughs have approached - though it's difficult to know that from a distance).
I used to think I was enlightened by ignoring race in my (corporate) decision-making, but I've had the opportunity to learn from experts in the field now and recognize that if we're really going to make meaningful progress in racial parity it requires evolving that approach. The 'system' is heavily biased because it was setup by white men. (Ask yourself, would businesses value the same traits in its employees if women had been the historical business leaders? I think it's obvious the answer is no, and this is just a single example of the bias that exists without any conscious ill intent at all.) Because of this systemic bias, women and people of color are at a significant disadvantage. Unfortunately, 'judging everyone equally' means reinforcing the current system and its biases - maintaining the status quo (which is far from equal) - rather than challenging the status quo.
For example, an engineering firm saying it prioritizes hiring graduates from MIT and Stanford(1) wouldn't raise many eyebrows. That would produce a remarkably white-straight-male company though, because there are various systemic issues that prevent LGBTQIA, PoC and non-males from applying, much less graduating.
Now, progress is being made there. But there is still a long way to go. Addressing systemic issues is a lifelong task, but well worthwhile for all of that.
1. I picked MIT and Stanford because I attended one and know many graduates of the others, and I have experienced and followed the efforts to increase diversity and support at both places.
Terrific post. Really like the message and positive energy from Gattis. Hope his effort and approach can translate to results on the field - if so, he and Harbaugh should be able to build a special football program at Michigan.
This is why I love our head coach. I absolutely care about W's and beating Ohio State, but Harbaugh has been a winner for our program in much more substantive ways.
I've read between the lines over the years what coaches say and I've always felt Harbaugh was a progressive person. I'd say the same about Nick Saban. From Ryan Day's actions the past week I'd say the same about him.
My prediction is that players are going to realize they hold all the power in college football and they are going to care what their coach believes in beyond the football field. They are going to realize they don't have to play for a MAGA supporter. There are options out there now.
But what about when Harbaugh played “American Sniper” for the team or praised Mike Ditka? I agree in general with your statement on the players, but it’s also possible that a guy like Harbaugh has the ability to look beyond the political team, understand a specific issue, and actually synthesize an informed opinion and speak to it. I think that’s one of things that makes him a great leader and one of the reasons why players want to play for him. Not Bc of who he votes for.
Yeah it's almost like he's a person and most people aren't one thing or another because we're complex and our views don't perfectly align to a single party
I know several people close to Harbaugh. He's fairly conservative and definitely leans right. I asked one of these people that knows Harbaugh if he's a Trump supporter, he said "no comment". He may very well be a MAGA guy, but who knows for sure.
You never know. Its only my guess. I was under the impression Harbaugh had voted for Obama. Saban, I've heard comments where's he's let slip some liberal leanings and he grew up in W.Va as a Democrat. Ryan Day, just the vibe I get and the fact he grew up in New Hampshire. Plus, he just made the video with his team endorsing BLM.
Meyer and Tressel are MAGA. Tressel in fact donated to Trump, someone on Twitter had pulled up the donations.
Harbaugh is pro-life. Supporting the Black Lives Matter movement is consistent with a pro-life philosophy from conception to natural death.
Harbaugh attended a Hillary Clinton rally in Ann Arbor a day or two before the 2016 election. So, whether he is conservative or not, I do not think he is a MAGA guy.
My general though is that if you are truly a left-leaning democrat anti-Trump type person, you let people know loud and proud. For a person in Harbaugh's position this can only help his effort, particularly around recruiting. Yet, he's very circumspect when it comes to politics.
Harbaugh is a progressive conservative. He’s the gallon of whole milk in America’s melting pot.
I've said before and will say again that Harbaugh has a very specific political orientation that does not at all map to traditional political alignment. He is as strongly pro-life as it is possible to be, up to but not quite including the line of saying abortion in America is one of the largest acts of mass murder in history. He's come close, though.
At the same time, he is very committed to fighting poverty, increasing access to attorneys, voting rights, ending discrimination, etc. He's complex, but he, in his own way, is consistent. The short documentary about his charity trips to Peru are quite revealing.
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/video/peruball-jim-harbaugh-south-america-part-i
BOSA Beat Ohio State Again.