REPORT: Wolverines ex coach plays dirty as he set to return back to…
Michigan wanted to make Jim Harbaugh the highest paid coach in college football.
Jim Harbaugh is now the head coach of the Chargers and appears to be loving life. However, according to a new book written by John Talty and Armen Keteyian titled, “The Price: What It Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos” Harbaugh actually wanted to remain as the Michigan football head coach.
Looking back, this probably won’t surprise Michigan football fans. It felt like the Wolverines could have kept Harbaugh if they offered what they did at the end, much earlier in the process. It was hard to figure out why they didn’t and I still don’t get why it felt like everything possible wasn’t being done.
I said that Michigan should have offered to make Harbaugh the highest-paid coach the same day the NCAA allegations about “burger gate” came out. Or they could have signed him to an extension during the Big Ten’s tom-foolery, but U-M didn’t do that and paid the price. Here’s an excerpt from the new book:
“During a two-day getaway with his wife Sarah on Coronado Island off the coast of San Diego, Harbaugh unloaded to longtime friend Todd Anson. He told Anson he wanted to remain at Michigan but believed Manuel—no matter his public pronouncements—was not the advocate he needed in his corner, particularly in front of the Board of Regents. He also raged against Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who before the three-game Big Ten suspension had promised to meet Harbaugh in Ann Arbor and brief him on what the conference was doing, only to stand him up. [Through a spokesperson, Petitti declined an interview request.]”
Harbaugh’s attitude toward Manuel changed once the Chargers interviewed him, according to the book, but by then it was too late. Whoever showed Jim the love was going to get him and that wasn’t Michigan football, thanks to Warde Manuel.
It took a little while for Jim Harbaugh to win big with the Michigan football team, but his entire nine year tenure with the Wolverines was impressive. The past three seasons were the best for Harbaugh and Michigan as they have won three in a row against Ohio State, won three straight Big Ten titles, made three straight College Football Playoffs and they just won the national championship. Harbaugh reached the peak with the Wolverines, and then he decided to leave.
Shortly after the Michigan football team won the national title, Jim Harbaugh took the head coaching job with the Los Angeles Chargers. Harbaugh had entertained NFL jobs before, and everyone knows that he is hungry to win a Super Bowl. However, that’s likely not the only reason why he wanted to go back to the pros.
If you paid attention to Harbaugh at Michigan, you know that he doesn’t like the NCAA, and the NCAA doesn’t seem to like him either. Harbaugh has called out the NCAA, and Harbaugh has been punished by the NCAA.
During the back half of this past season, Michigan was under investigation for alleged illegal sign-stealing, and when the Wolverines were to trying to sign Harbaugh to a contract extension, he wanted to be protected in case things in the investigation took an unexpected turn.
“I think where the stumbling block came was trying to find the best way to handle any additional information from the second case we didn’t know at the time of [contract] signing,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said, according to an article from CBS Sports.
Jim Harbaugh’s attorney, Tom Mars, thought that he would be punished, and he made that clear to him.
“I will tell you this,” Tom Mars said. “I told [Harbaugh agent] Don Yee and Jim as clearly as I could, more than once, more than twice, that in my opinion if he stayed at Michigan . . . the COI is going to punish Jim under the vicarious coaches’ responsibility legislation, and he’s dealing with a COI that’s clearly manifested bias against him. He’s going to sit out four games, maybe six, and whatever we do the COI is going to find him guilty.”
Jim Harbaugh and Tom Mars were both aware of the possible punishments that could be come if Harbaugh decided to stay with the Michigan football team. Mars doesn’t know if that impacted his decision to leave, but he thinks that Harbaugh made the right call to go to the NFL.
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