Jim Harbaugh on Michigan and NIL

I take a quote from Breaking Bad when Jessie asks Walt whether they are gonna resume cooking again after they lost a lot of money and Walt says “What’s changed Jessie” and hangs up. 

Nothing has changed. NIL is a legal way to cheat your ass of now, which is why Saban hates it because it levels the playing field for those who are willing to cheat. Michigan has never openly cheated and never will. They value the student and the athlete part equally. Fans who thought NIL was going to get Michigan on par with those other teams were and are delusional. I was probably there in the very beginning too. Harbaugh and Michigan value the overall Michigan experience. Some years we will catch lightning in a bottle and have a serious CFP run and most years we will be somewhere in the top 10-15. Our coaches will have to be ten times the coaches as they are recruiters.
 

Now, if Michigan comes out this year and stomps OSU’s ass on the way to the CFP then I might change my expectations of our annual results. 

Love it. Thanks, Jim. Let the other schools slide into sleaze, and those M fans that care to go leave with them. Eventually--I hope--we'll have that conference of like-minded schools, a kind of Ivy League of the rest of us, and shitty, shitty universities like Alabama and OSU can take their one-dimensional B-league pro experience with them. I honestly don't get why people want to watch a shittier version of the NFL dressed up in university colors anyway, but know I am in the minority. We have already seen how very foolish people's exuberance over "NIL" has turned into a nightmare, pretty much overnight. I'm starting to repeat myself, so will stay out of future conversations on this subject; I'm gonna go and celebrate the fact that Jim plans to live the moral high ground and isn't ambivalent about this. 

This is a good sentiment, I think, for M to have as it relates to NIL. It’s very similar to the workplace. For example, I run a midsize nonprofit. We pay well but there are many other larger organizations that can afford to pay even better. However we can sell culture things that other organizations may not be able to do. So, if your goal is to make as much money as possible then yes you’re probably not going to choose my organization. But if your goal is to make a good amount of money and also be home in time for your child’s recital then that’s going to change the equation. I feel like that’s what Jim is saying here -there is more to Michigan than just money.

“Then you don't know
you already lost the war.”

Here's a really bad analogy. Who's going to fight harder? A mercenary fighting for money, or, a "patriot" defending their country? If we're being honest, it's not black and white. Some people will do a lot of really difficult things for money. Some people are just driven by a sense of pride. There's so much unknown. 

I devoutly believe college athletes should be able to profit off their NIL. I also devoutly believe that a recruiting system based on the highest bidder is doomed to fail. I don't have the answer. No one does...yet. NIL needs time to mature and marinate. It will be a chaotic and bumpy ride in the near-term. "College" football may not survive. Maybe it'll be better than ever. Who knows?

If I had to choose a side of this debate right now, I would vote for more regulation of NIL benefits so long as the Fatcats-in-Sportcoats never get to play the exploitation game ever again. I know that statement is vague, but it's a framework. 

This is one of the things I love about Michigan, also one of the things that frustrate me at the same time. I understand that brand is important and I’m not saying corrupt your culture but damn, you’re one of the richest schools out there. Spend some money and win. I’ll root for Michigan either way but this is what I would love to happen.

Guys, its not that complicated. We're going to recruit guys who want to come here, and we'll pay them. But we won't go to a kid who has zero connection to Michigan and just try to outbid their best offer just because he's a five star.

It's just like anything else in life, even a financial transaction like buying a home. Unless you're an REIT you're not gonna go around bidding on homes purely because it's a profitable venture. 

Yes, obviously everyone has a budget but the main thing is getting a house that makes sense for your family.

Some schools will take that purely transactional approach, maybe even recruiting kids purely on NFL earnings potential.  But that's not us.  Harbaugh is going to be recruiting kids that are going to join a family and the money will be a secondary concern.

When you're recruiting a player, and they ask about NIL opportunities, it sounds like Michigan may say something like this:  "We're not going to pay you to come to Michigan.  But we have this opportunity and this opportunity and this opportunity and this opportunity, etc. to earn money through NIL programs above and beyond your scholarship."

As long as Michigan is providing the opportunities to earn money, I wouldn't think it would be that big of a deal.  Maybe I'm wrong.

I don't think I'm prepared for this summer being a constant discussion of NIL and UM's relative merits in that aspect of recruiting.

Transformative in what way?  Lots of programs offer good player development and paths to the NFL.  Is it academics?  Well, even in the Ivy League these football/basketball players aren’t there to play school.  Sounds a lot like “getting paid in exposure”, which no one in their right mind would accept.

Thank you, Coach. Carry on ...

I guess I'll just take solace in knowing that the feeling of hopelessness I get when I hear about Michigan's approach to NIL is the same level of hopelessness Harbaugh will probably feel when he faces teams who have rosters full of Top100 players paid for by competent, legal (and totally "moral") NIL programs. It's not even moral high ground bc there's nothing immoral about NIL. It's this notion that schools like Michigan and Notre Dame have always held that their universities are more "transformational" or sacred than every other university in America and that's the reason we can't play by the same rules as everyone else. We have to put meaningless self-imposed restrictions on ourselves to separate us from those ordinary universities. 

So we want to become Northwestern?

Remember when many people, including tbe proprietors of this site, thought Michigan would just fire the money cannon and compete with the SEC and OSU in recruiting …

Playing major college football is already a transactional experience. They sign contracts to attend a school and to receive scholarships. That's a final transaction and no one had or has that issue. Now that kids and families are saying "Hey, I want that money in cash", you get the "I want a kid who isn't just looking for money". Any coach talking like this coaching at the college level should then walk their talk. Dont make your coaching transactional, make it transformational. 

If that’s what Michigan wants to be then so be it. I understand. But what happens when it starts to cost you your goals on the field? Beating OSU? Making the CFP? Winning it? Those goals now become a lot harder.

This won’t be a situation, most likely, where Michigan can’t have its cake and eat it, too. If you don’t want that kind of relationship with NIL then so be it. But you shouldn’t look at a national championship then as a realistic goal. If a national championship is your goal, then you need to get fucking serious about NIL. Because everyone else is. You can’t claim this moral high ground with NIL and then still tell everyone that you expect to be winning national championships.

This is the current landscape of college athletics now. For better or worse. Adapt to it or don’t. But if you don’t, fine, but accept the consequences of what will follow. Be ready to blame yourself when you don’t achieve that ultimate prize.

Is it okay to be indifferent and confused with this whole thing? 
 

- Harbaugh is playing the holier than thou Michigan Men only thing. Thats fine, and actually respect Harbaugh because you know what you’re getting with him. That said, don’t expect highly rated recruits to come here if there is no intentions of evolving with the game; for better or worse. UM will have great years but they will get blown out like this year against UGA if this is the path they choose. Save that moral issue crap for others. We can pay coaches that don’t play the game millions but the ones who risk their health to play can’t sniff a few hundred dollars? C’mon. As some put it, go to the Ivy League if this is how they want to play

- I do not believe this Wild West in CFB is sustainable. I think we are seeing a peak at the moment and teams trying to get to the top of the mountain (recruiting aspect). But, all it takes is for a couple of those guys on A&M or other teams who paid big bucks for these players only to be a bust and pay them to be on the depth chart for the next 4 years. I don’t think these investors/bagmen etc. will be happy to see that. I think you start seeing people paying players to transfer to their school to play their remaining years there as everyone knows that they’re stars already. 
 

I have no idea which is right. Love him or hate him, Harbaugh is a straight shooter and calls it as he sees it. So, I’m not sure what the right answer is, if any. 

Fabric is being split. 

Bama is just upset that they cannot  use their bagmen and everyone is now using NIL (not M to its capacity) to get top recruits for money, that Bama use to get with cash under the table.

This statement confirms how Michigan stays behind the times 

“Exposes the slippery slope” are you fricking kidding me? Harbaugh has taken runs at a bunch of people in the media for years now, is the Saban/Jimbo thing anything other that funny? It’s K-Fabe and harmless.
This article is a bs puff piece that was placed in exchange for access for the reporter who wrote it. It tells all the piggies to stfu and stop oinking complaints about UM’s incompetent NIL policy.  Placing this type of article is what you learn on your first day in PR.

Good post.  I like it and agree with him 100%

42-27. The cheaters can be beaten

Just pay, baby.