By Rock Westfall
Michigan gave Jim Harbaugh a final offer to become the highest-paid and most unaccountable coach in college football. He refused.
A Rejected Hail Mary Offer for an Absolute Dictatorship
In the final hours of his tenure as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, Jim Harbaugh was made an audacious offer that he turned down. Michigan proposed to make Harbaugh the highest-paid coach in college football with full immunity from any university punishments for breaking NCAA rules. But Michigan was humiliated when Harbaugh blew them off for the NFL and the head coaching job of the Los Angeles Chargers.
The irony is that pompous Michigan is an institution so full of snot in its upturned nose that Kleenex is always out of supply in Ann Arbor. Yet if there was ever any shame or self-respect remaining, it disappeared on Wednesday.
Harbaugh fulfilled the mission at his alma mater, leading the program to its first national championship since 1997 and just its second since 1947. In the process, Michigan forsook all of its haughtiness, arrogance, and stated principles of being above everyone else in college football. Harbaugh leaves a hero at Michigan, where just three years ago, he almost became a zero.
https://twitter.com/mfarrellsports/status/1750941400118558909
The Leaders and the Best at Unabashed, Unprincipled, Duplicity
When the Connor Stalions spy scandal broke, this space outlined the Insufferable Myth of the Michigan Man. We reviewed that Michigan’s image was a house of cards that ignored the decades-long coverup of Dr. Robert Anderson’s sexual abuse of countless student-athletes while sneering about how all other schools were beneath them. We examined the coverups of violence against women and the downplaying of assault and battery charges against Taylor Lewan.
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A few days later, we examined the zombie-bot-like behavior of Michigan fans, the media, and the university leadership. The Connor Stalions affair was a classic example of Michigan willingly and deliberately putting on blinders and choosing to live a lie in an alternative universe.
In 2023, Michigan reached the point of total desperation for a football national championship. It willingly and brazenly sold its soul in the process.
The “Leaders and the Best” who proclaimed to do everything the “right way” went as low as any renegade SEC program. After all, the SEC takes pride in its cheating. Further, SEC fans scoffed at the amateur-hour stupidity of the Michigan caper. They rolled on the floor, laughing at an institution proclaiming perfection while it was as sanctimonious and corrupt as American politics.
https://twitter.com/HowUBenFeller/status/1750317777997406585
“Hard to Beat the Cheaters”
When Harbaugh arrived in 2015, it was as if Ann Arbor was experiencing the second coming of Bo Schembechler. Harbaugh generated headlines for climbing trees and staying overnight with recruits. He conducted football camps in SEC territory and generally annoyed everyone except the Maize and Blue faithful. Paul Finebaum huffed that Harbaugh was the Donald Trump of college football. But then the wins started coming.
Harbaugh delivered back-to-back 10-3 seasons in 2015 and 2016 after the program had only one double-digit win season from 2004 through 2010. His 2016 team was in the hunt for the national championship before a painful and controversial overtime loss at Ohio State.
From there, Michigan began to tail off with four seasons that exploited them as soft, slow, and outmanned against Ohio State. As the 2019 season began, a beleaguered Harbaugh croaked out that it was “hard to beat the cheaters.”
Finally, in 2020, the program collapsed and needed an out.
https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1164538127861596167
The Career-Saving Sick Call
Michigan was 2-4 before its 2020 regular-season finale, to be played at 4th ranked and undefeated Ohio State. The Buckeyes were big favorites to massacre the Wolverines. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day wanted to hang a hundred on the Maize and Blue. Certainly, his Buckeyes would have gotten halfway there without breaking a sweat. Harbaugh faced the real prospect of being fired.
Michigan fans were tired of his antics not producing wins or titles. And they could not tolerate another loss to the Scarlet and Gray. So, Michigan literally phoned it in. They called the Big Ten office and said, “We have COVID,” and took a powder.
Anyone with a sense of reality realizes that Michigan would not have “had COVID” if they were playing well and 5-1 or 6-0. No way. No need to pretend otherwise. Don’t even try it.
The sick call was the first in a litany of lies that led to a national championship. At that point, Michigan’s imperious “ethics,” “standards,” and “honor” were no longer a priority. Beating Ohio State and winning a natty is all that mattered. Self-respect and integrity be damned.
https://twitter.com/nick_dettmann/status/1336402759680208897
Are You Better Off Than You Were Nine Years Ago?
In the 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan asked the country, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” A similar question pertains to Michigan. Jim Harbaugh delivered the national championship that everyone pined for. But it literally cost Michigan its soul.
Now, the program is being wiped out by the transfer portal, coaches fleeing or elsewhere, and lackluster recruiting rankings. As Harbaugh campaigned for NFL jobs, the procurement of talent was ignored. Ohio State and other programs filled the void. Now, the new head coach will inherit a decimated roster and a program that is under notice for potential NCAA sanctions.
Most of all, Michigan’s proud and pristine, if false, marquee is spray-painted with hideous graffiti.
Was it worth it? Millions caught in the current euphoria will scream, “YES!” But let’s check back in a year or two. Then, the answer could be different.
Ann Arbor faces the potential of being completely razed to the ground. And Harbaugh is long gone with his NFL riches, laughing all the way. He will pay nothing in the aftermath.
https://twitter.com/Johnubacon/status/1750358572691595284
The Time Has Come for Michigan to End its Obnoxious, Contemptuous Hubris
In 2023, Michigan proved once and for all that it has been living a lie, basically since it opened its doors, as any student of its football history can attest. Michigan was selling an image to millions of the willing blind, desperate to believe in a majestic myth. A media full of “journalist” alums was in its hip pocket and serving as a perpetual advertising agency.
But after years of falling short of national titles and being humiliated by Ohio State, Michigan could not stand it anymore. It sold its soul, integrity, brand, and carefully crafted image for a national championship.
Subsequently, Michigan offered to turn itself over, lock, stock, and barrel, to a football coach who was so sick of losing to “the cheaters” that he became one himself. UM begged a lying, deceiving hypocrite to rule with impunity. The Mazie and Blue were more than willing to coronate Harbaugh as their dictator.
Instead, Harbaugh told his alma mater to pound sand and left with all the goods. Michigan was shamed and cleaned out by its high-end hooker after the thrilling night of a lifetime.
It just goes to show you can’t spell “scum” without UM at the end.
