Leaked audio of DeBoer's farewell speech to UW players

Submitted by Communist Football on January 14th, 2024 at 12:44 PM

Audio from Kalen DeBoer's farewell speech to his Washington team was leaked and posted on YouTube.

It gives us a glimpse into how these things play out behind closed doors. You feel for the Washington players. (On a related note, last night I saw a fun movie about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team, The Boys in the Boat, which reminded me that we need more coverage of rowing at MGoBlog.)

Santa Ono needs to get Harbaugh signed—sideline Warde if necessary—so our own players don't have to receive a similar speech this month.

MGoBoard
Football

NittanyFan

January 14th, 2024 at 2:38 PM ^

No.  At Fresno State, he took over a team that was 4-8 the year prior, and went 12-6 in his 2 years there (1 of those years was the COVID year, thus only 18 games overall).

At Washington, he took over another team that was 4-8 the year prior (including a home loss to Montana), and went 25-3 in his 2 years there with 1 Top 10 finish and a National Runner-Up finish.

Both FSU and Washington are traditionally pretty good, he was aided a bit by those structrual advantages.  But they still were struggling and he definitely turned things around - at multiple places.

Joined: 12/04/2012

MGoPoints: 43109

Mercury Hayes

January 14th, 2024 at 12:47 PM ^

Why would Santa Ono need to sideline Warde?

Warde has mentioned numerous times publicly he gets along with Harbaugh. We all know through months of reports that the contract has been provided to Harbaugh. Somewhere around 10 years $125 Million. 

We know the University has improved in certain areas related to assistant coach salaries, NIL, etc. Maybe Harbaugh is posturing for more.

But we have no data or soundbytes to indicate Warde is at fault.

Joined: 08/18/2010

MGoPoints: 9221

othernel

January 14th, 2024 at 1:50 PM ^

If Bacon if to be believed, JH wants the bear hug. 
 

Yes, Warde offered an extension when things were good. 
 

But when things turned sideways, Warde didn't publicly back JH, and basically took a wait and see approach. Meanwhile, Ono went out of his way to support JH when things got tough. 
 

That's why people are critical of Warde. If Jim wants an more supportive AD before he signs a deal, then send Warde packing. 

Joined: 08/04/2009

MGoPoints: 19920

mGrowOld

January 14th, 2024 at 12:51 PM ^

As I'm sure many here remember, I was one of the first and loudest "Fire Warde" posters and started my Jihad shortly after the OSU game in 2016.  I say this because I honestly do not believe Warde is the problem here although I get why it appears that way.

From all indications the one thing preventing Harbaugh from signing a new contract with Michigan is his demand that he's protected contractually from being fired for cause for anything he's already told the University about.  Michigan is allegedly balking at that provision hence the stalemate.

Does this seem like something the AD would demand or does this seem WAY more like something Michigan's legal team is refusing to grant.  I have to believe contracts, especially ones with as many zeros as this one will have, need to be blessed by corporate counsel and not just whatever the AD deems appropriate.

I dont think this is a Warde problem.  I think this is a Michigan legal department problem.

Joined: 10/04/2010

MGoPoints: 212943

ffmpeg

January 14th, 2024 at 1:04 PM ^

I dont buy that. The regents undersign the entire financial operation of the University. The regents are elected. Not a single voter will blame the regents if they tell the current general counsel to f-off - you're fired and we outsource the authoring of this contract to some big law firm that's willing to draft the paperwork.

Say worst case scenario happens - it comes out that Harbaugh was calling Stallions on a daily basis and lied about everything. So we owe Harbaugh $150 million to buy out his contract and then we have to find money to get a new coach. Its on the regents to plug the hole in the AD budget. Not a big deal in the scheme of things for a University with a $12 billion dollar endowment.

General counsel is more replaceable than Jim Harbaugh.

The more likely truth is that a coach who has waffled, made flirtations with the NFL the last two years, is doing this...again. Because he is our very stable genius, until he isn't.

Joined: 01/08/2024

MGoPoints: 620

ThisGuyFawkes

January 14th, 2024 at 1:27 PM ^

I’m sorry - this is such an ignorant comment. The University Endowment has almost nothing to do with the AD budget. Most of that money has very stringent requirements on how / when / where it can be used and virtually none of it is earmarked towards football or the AD more broadly.
So let’s potentially throw away $150M and not worry about it? That type of loss would cripple the entire athletic department and have ramifications way beyond football. 

Joined: 09/16/2019

MGoPoints: 6487

Bluesince89

January 14th, 2024 at 3:10 PM ^

Yes I was going to post something very similar. A truly ignorant and stupid comment. Although under this scenario, I don’t get how that isn’t a termination for cause because Harbaugh would have lied before signing the contract. Honestly, if I was advising the university, I’d tell them to have Harbaugh sign an affidavit or declaration under penalty of perjury if he wants that type of clause so that way if there’s ever a dispute down the road, he’s locked in. 

Joined: 09/14/2008

MGoPoints: 14739

Mr Miggle

January 14th, 2024 at 1:38 PM ^

Your worst case scenario truly is one. But that would be new information and would allow the university to fire Harbaugh for cause. I'm skeptical that the roadblock is what was described above. That doesn't seem hard to resolve.

I think you've hit on the real stumbling block. Harbaugh wants to flirt with the NFL whenever the urge hits him. There's nothing that Michigan can do to stop it from playing out. What they can do is make staying in Ann Arbor look better than anything the NFL offers.

Joined: 10/07/2010

MGoPoints: 47648

gruden

January 14th, 2024 at 2:44 PM ^

I've watched so many things about M in the last few weeks, but there was a quote from Harbaugh (if memory serves reported by Klatt) that he'd turned over his phone and computers to investigation and everything they asked for and nothing was found.  So I think at this point the worst case scenario is no longer in play, at least as far as past events. 

At this point, it's a question of what they think of Harbaugh going forward, and how assured he feels that the admin and regents have his back because I'm sure his enemies will be back for more blood at some point.  It's probably more the latter.  We still don't know why M backed down on the stay challenge and that could be on his mind.

Joined: 04/29/2016

MGoPoints: 6063

RedHotAndBlue

January 14th, 2024 at 1:07 PM ^

I don't think we can blame the lawyers for this; they aren't the ones who get to make the final decision on contract terms.  They are advising Santa and Warde for sure, but they aren't the principals.

IME, it is not at all strange in these situations for someone who has a perceived issue to put it all on the table, tell the employer to get comfortable with their diligence and go in eyes wide open.  An analogy is an employee who has a non-compete with a prior employer; the employee tells the putative employer about it, lets them diligence it, and the putative employer either gets comfortable with it or they don't.

I think the real hold up stems from one of two things that are not mutually exclusive.  First, UM may be doing its diligence to understand exactly what they have been told and how the NCAA and B1G will respond.  Second, there may be reluctance to "get comfortable" if the downside is that the NCAA hits Harbaugh with a show cause (however remote that may be) and UM still has to pay him eight figures. No matter how much we love Jim and the football team, that is a very difficult, and potentially career altering, conversation for Santa and/or Warde to have with the trustees.

Joined: 01/25/2010

MGoPoints: 647

gbdub

January 14th, 2024 at 2:40 PM ^

I know everyone likes to hate on lawyers, but isn’t this a genuine concern?

Bullshit or not, the NCAA has the ability to levy a show cause penalty that would leave the university on the hook to pay 8 figures to Harbaugh to not coach (having already paid him to not coach half the regular season games this year). 

It would be frankly irresponsible for the university to NOT contractually protect themselves from this possibility. 

At the same time, obviously it’s in Harbaugh’s best interest to protect himself from a contract that could be invalidated in six months over said bullshit (especially if it prevents him from seeking NFL employment). 

This seems like a genuinely hard problem of conflicting interests even if both parties genuinely want to work together. Dismissing it as “Warde lazy” or “Harbaugh stubborn” or “lawyers sleazy” seems trite. 

Joined: 02/16/2010

MGoPoints: 26761

sports fan

January 14th, 2024 at 12:54 PM ^

Fundamental fact from time immemorial: It takes two willing parties to sign an enforceable contract. If Harbaugh doesn't want to sign, there will be no contract. Don't automatically blame Ono or Warde.

Joined: 07/19/2009

MGoPoints: 156

KBLOW

January 14th, 2024 at 1:01 PM ^

This guy is lauded as a great coach/motivator? FFS, how mush-mouthed and namby pamby can you get. Maybe it's because I've been a middle school and high school teacher for 25 years, but I don't care how emotional or troubling the issue is, especially when it's not close to life or death, if you're in that sort of position of authority suck it up and speak clearly and coherently. 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 22581