Harbaugh's Response to Santa's Tweet

They can actually repair any damage from this process fairly easily by explaining to prospective recruits that it was only about contract negotiations and not any real desire to leave. If that message is genuine, and if it is accepted as such, nobody will hold it against Harbaugh, and this will be little more than a blip.

If, however, recruits instead believe that Harbaugh has a genuine itch to get back to the NFL and that this process will likely be repeated every year -- until he actually does leave -- we're in trouble. If this latter scenario is, in fact, the truth, I liked Seth's suggestion on WTKA today that they need to identify and announce Harbaugh's replacement now, so that potential recruits understand that there'll be real stability regardless of what happens. That's not ideal -- many kids come to play for the head coach, not for the assistance coaches or the "program" -- but it can work. Kids would understand Harbaugh's ability and desire to coach in the NFL, and could potentially be persuaded that coming to play for a coach that every other institution, both college-and-pro, is interested in, is a pretty unique opportunity.

Is this a troll? Feels like the most sarcastic response you could give

Oh no, how is Harbuagh ever going to recruit when he leveraged his contract to get his assistant coaches paid and NIL fixed?!

This needed to be done, he was never going anywhere, this isn’t the same as last year.

For some reason Warde Manuel doesn't seem to understand how contract negotiations work in athletic departments but luckily it seems like the president is teaching him on the job.

I fully expect Harbaugh to be signed to a nice, long-term deal for a ton of money by this time next week.

It would take it up a notch if the tweet read:

Todd Anson and I are both in full support of President Ono's message to our fans and appreciate his support of us and the team.

No matter what happens, this has been a fiasco. 

Next Message Board post will be "Santa's Response to Jim's Tweet"

Fire Warde

Kiss and make up already!!

What's amazing is the disparate responses to the tweets. Here it's all "yeah, done deal." Elsewhere, among sports reporters and the Twitterati, it's "WTF is this?" The tweets may have soothed the locals, but they're only creating more chaos nationally -- because they're so fucking contorted and hedgy. I don't know which side is right. But if Michigan hoped to calm the waters, it hasn't.

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2023/01/12/michigan-decision-tweet-jim-harbaugh-recent-statement-backfires

every single one of you people is freaking nuts.

Michigan football is best with Jim Harbaugh as a part of it. 

Go Blue.  

Reminds me of Roy Wood, Jr

"If it were up to me I'd give you another sauce."

It is up to you! It's on your side of the counter!

At this point I'm fucking sick and tired of this nonsense, especially given the commitment that it would not be an annual thing. He's in the middle of a contract. So it gets redone because he broke his commitment. And then what next year? And the year after that?

At this point his word (and signature) don't mean much. And I don't see how recruits won't get that, too.

Sign Jim up for a big, long term deal that covers the assistants, etc, today.

Move on from Warde tomorrow.

This is apparently too difficult or complex to leave to the current AD, so we need a new AD who will be in lockstep with both his boss (Ono) and his extremely important team leader (Harbaugh), and obviously with the millions of paying customers.

This is all about NIL and the players.  Nothing to do with salary or even buyout, imo.  Harbaugh is going to bat for his players to make money and for Warde to get in the game with NIL so he can recruit legitimate talent (jadyn davis).

A battle for the future of the program, possibly

It’s a negotiation. No two are alike. Just hold tight. 

I find it interesting that this tweet once again is issued by @UMichFootball, and not directly from JH - who hasn't issued a tweet himself in over 2 years. His evacuation of Twitter seems to have been part of his self-evaluation, perhaps to cut the irrelevant toxicity out of his life so he can focus on what's important, which is winning football games.

He’s tired of the NCAA and the lack of support from Warde. I’m tired of Warde…he’s living in the 80’s