Harbaugh throws Baumgardner shade in the post-game presser

Submitted by triangle_M on September 8th, 2019 at 1:03 AM

Maybe this belongs in snowflakes but it seems like discussing on it's own because of the potential for media backlash.  Nick and Coach speak quickly so I'm not sure the intro or anything else 100% accurately but here but this gets the point across.

Baumgardner: "So you just decided to stick it, keep it on the ground in the second.  I mean you didn't . . . you preferred to . . ."

Coach: "Yeah I mean that was the play that was called.  I mean we could go every game with the, you know, 'why didn't you pass when you.'  'You ran and it didn't work so you should have passed.'  You know we could do this for every game that's ever played in football.  'Oh you passed you should have run'  so . . .  I mean I listen to your podcast and you seem to know a lot about football, and baseball and basketball and every other game so I mean come on.  That's kinda low hanging fruit, Nick."

 

Attempted an embed, hit the preview and it didn't look so good so skip to 12:02 to watch the exchange.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_KQHGjZzig

Discuss.

TheCube

September 8th, 2019 at 1:30 AM ^

How the fuck is it low hanging fruit???? 

Nick is the only reporter worth a damn in that press conference. Dude actually asked wtf we’re all thinking. What the hell is the point of running run run options if Shea isn’t going to fucking run!?!?! 

You think eternal sunshine blower Sam Fucking Webb is ever gonna ask ??? I’m sure he’s prepping to hype up another non-contributor like Sainristil in this past offseason. 

Maize and Blue AF

September 8th, 2019 at 1:52 AM ^

 All criticism of obvious flaws could be considered low hanging fruit.   Jim Harbaugh press conferences typically don’t contain great revelations.   I personally think we’ll see a much more efficient offense once our starting QB has healed up for two weeks, and we get our All BIG tackle/WR back.   It might sound like an excuse but it’s true that we are more than just a little beat up right now.

TheCube

September 8th, 2019 at 1:56 AM ^

So this begs another question. Why the hell is everyone always injured on this team? What the hell are they doing in practice that we already have 5-6 important players injured before week 3!!! 

That completely kills any development that players can have together. 

I remember someone saying Herbert’s methods cause a lot of injuries back when he was hired. That can’t possibly be it. 

Yessir

September 8th, 2019 at 2:44 AM ^

Replying to a couple posts up there ^

I think Coach said to help the fumblitis there will be more live tackling or something like that this week.  So does more hitting in practice toughen you up or weaken you?  

Also if Shea is hurt, why not go to QB #2?  Especially when we were lead to believe there were 2 starters coming into the season. If the competition is so close and one is dinged up go to #2, imo.  

FGB

September 8th, 2019 at 4:38 AM ^

For whatever it’s worth, I live in Oregon Duck country, and they had literally 5 WRs injured this week. I think shit happens to every team, and as far as season ending injuries, we’ve actually been quite ok these last several seasons. Speight  was a freak injury. Outside of that I’m thinking Grant Newsome is the last vital contributor we’ve lost for extended time, unless you want to throw Black in there, but we had lots of other talent.

Had Peppers and Higdon and Gary and Evans and Chase dinged for a few games but that all seemed pretty typical for a game of uber athletic 230-350 pound dudes throwing their bodies at each other. 

So back to your comment, is “everyone always injured”? I think we’ve been alright. 

JTrain

September 8th, 2019 at 8:22 AM ^

Yes. The reporters are in a tough spot. Harbaugh knows the reporter has a valid point. And baumgartener knows Harbaugh won’t open up about it. But he has to ask. 

My only issue with all the arm chair guys standing on the sideline is that there’s a lot of in game material / nuances that we don’t know about. And I’m sure that coaches get irritated with pundits putting ideas into our heads that may not be true. Then people run with it and rumors that aren’t necessarily true spread like wild fire. Take for example play calls made at the line of scrimmage. We don’t know who calls what protections in every play. Or what their coaches are asking for. One player may get blamed in the press for a missed assignment but it may or may not have been their fault. 

In this case I agree tho...NB did his job. Harbaugh is frustrated and is being a B*tch. You’re not going to coax him into giving info out that he doesn’t want to. Or Into throwing Gattis under the bus. It’s a tough job being the reporter in a room..but I’m glad someone is there to do it. 

michfan23

September 8th, 2019 at 8:37 AM ^

I agree that we have no idea about the nuances of the game and therefore we can criticize, but we only have a small percentage of the information the coaching staff does. 

I have a suspicion that Shea was unable to perform due to injury and the playbook became so small that running the same play multiple times became to “safe” play. Harbaugh and the coaching staff believed that eventually it would work. Winning narrowly was the game-plan because taking risks throwing the ball downfield was not going to be successful in their minds. What remains to be seen is whether Michigan has a more extensive playbook and has intentionally been vanilla, or if this is the best we got.

The other interesting question is that why didn’t Shea audible and change plays. There were a few times that the Army defense lined up and so obviously we’re going to be unblocked that he could have read the defense and changed the play. He didn’t. Does he not have that freedom, or is he that bad at reading defenses before the snap?

Indy Pete - Go Blue

September 8th, 2019 at 1:30 AM ^

Nick carries himself self with some arrogance and at times seems to enjoy condescending Michigan football. ( he is after all, an MSU grad). Harbaugh has repetitively said that the lowest hanging fruit is questioning run plays when a pass could have been better or the converse.  Because of his use of this lazy trope, Harbaugh sarcastically comments about Nick’s knowledge of football, basketball, and baseball on his podcasts.  It was an edgy Harbaugh versus the media moment that used to be far more common place.  Nick asks the hard questions, and he writes the cutting articles. Nevertheless, he can be pretty arrogant and condescending, so he has this type of thing coming. 

jsquigg

September 8th, 2019 at 1:41 AM ^

Nick is arrogant and condescending based on what? He asked that question and he also asked if Shea had the option to keep on a lot of the run plays.  Good luck getting anything useful from the Harbaugh submarine, but after hearing about #speedinspace all off season it was the only substantive question.

My guess as to what happened is that the coaches got as panicked as the players after the early issues.  They tried to simplify the calls and reads to try and play faster.  What irks me is that Army was conceding space the entire game and for whatever reason Michigan decided not to run flash screens or tunnel screens or bubble screens.  Shea may be hurt and it doesn't seem like McCaffery can pass well enough to take over in the meantime.

As far as the long view, Army is better than anyone is giving them credit for.  Michigan is playing a lot of new guys on both sides of the ball, and in a game of who's going to blink first they struggled at times to say the least.  The defense obviously won the game for them, but the offense has potential to be good.  I hate to think that Gattis doesn't have full control because this pattern on offense is becoming familiar. 

Blue-Ray

September 8th, 2019 at 2:05 AM ^

Exactly. He very rarely asks questions but has a lot to write and talk about.

He should be the main person asking them. Instead he lets the other less knowledgeable people ask generic ones. That was a weak question with the amount of knowledge and respect within the fanbase he has. 

He already knows what he's going to write to dissect a hard fought win, so whatever Harbaugh says is irrelevant anyway. 

2 question... And that's one of them. 

2-0 and on to Wisconsin. Put that cardiac arrest inducing, never have to play them again, game behind us. 

There's nothing to analyze from that game besides, "Did you win?", because the mindset doesn't match any other team. 

Oklahoma's high powered Offense scored ZERO points against them in the 3rd and 4th quarter with a Heisman winning QB. 

 

 

 

Blue-Ray

September 8th, 2019 at 2:30 PM ^

That's not in dispute.

But then he's more of an analyst who attends pressers than a reporter. NTTAWWT He's exceptional at both... Choose one though. 

A reporter of his caliber should ask more and better questions. 

An analyst shouldn't be at a presser asking for incite to dissect that could help future opponents.

Right or wrong, most other top programs have this established already. 

 

 

 

 

I'mTheStig

September 8th, 2019 at 1:33 AM ^

 so skip to 12:02 to watch the exchange.

There's a checkbox in the YouTube embed control which says "start at:".  Just forward the video to that time and check the checkbox like so:

 

BoFan

September 8th, 2019 at 1:43 AM ^

Appropriate comment and Bumgartner deserved it.  Hindsight comments are always BS.  I like Bumgatner but it’s a cheap shot.  He’s better than that. 

Harball sized HAIL

September 8th, 2019 at 1:48 AM ^

Harbs should have someone at the great University of Michigan create a robot Harbaugh that can handle pressers.  Robotic answers would be less uncomfortable.  The robot most likely wouldn't need to furiously chomp on a stick of gum to get through it.  Farts on elevators have more joy in them than Jims pressers.  

Ezekiels Creatures

September 8th, 2019 at 2:53 AM ^

I don't have a problem with his answer. It's good to see some emotion. Where has the big emotion Jim Harbaugh been??

blueblueblue

September 8th, 2019 at 4:00 AM ^

Never been a fan of Nick. I find his one line paragraphs, attempts at (obvious) dramatic statements, and often condescending nature to be quite juvenile. I am glad coach put him in his place. He needs it done more often.