Michigan President says Jim Harbaugh will be back for 2023 season | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger discuss Michigan President Santa Ono’s tweet that Jim Harbaugh will remain the head coach for the Michigan football team for the 2023 season, and talk about what impact retaining Harbaugh has on the program and the university.
Video Transcript
DAN WETZEL: I don't know what they paid him, but this is one of my things on why you got to pay him. I don't care if he's a pain in the neck. I don't care for any of it. Like the value-- take the extra home game, what it means to Ann Arbor.
[AUDIO LOGO]
PAT FORDE: Breaking news, Santa Ono, President of Michigan, says he, "just got off the phone with Coach Harbaugh. And Jim shared with me the great news that he is going to remain as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines."
ROSS DELLENGER: Hey, all right, he didn't get an NFL offer after all.
DAN WETZEL: He was trying to-- I think there was a Denver Bronco interview maybe set up this week. All right.
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: Harbaugh is back. Well, now, that he's got all of his players back, maybe he's not so upset at Warde Manuel and the way the collectives are working. All right.
PAT FORDE: [LAUGHS] There you go.
DAN WETZEL: Jim Harbaugh is back. Well--
PAT FORDE: Jim Harbaugh is back.
DAN WETZEL: --let's react to that. I've got one last bit. But, yeah, I was going to do something else. But let's react to that.
PAT FORDE: So I put away the "Daily Mail" material. Hold that--
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, well, hold off. I have one fun story at the end. But it's not "Daily Mail."
PAT FORDE: I love the-- the president really wants to be out front on this. Santa Ono, who I've met. He's a very charismatic guy.
ROSS DELLENGER: He's tweeting from his own account? It's bizarre.
PAT FORDE: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
DAN WETZEL: He's in on this.
PAT FORDE: "I just got off the phone with Coach Harbaugh. And Jim shared with me the great news that he is going to remain as the head coach of the--
DAN WETZEL: Sources.
PAT FORDE: --Michigan Wolverines.
DAN WETZEL: Sources.
PAT FORDE: [LAUGHS] He named his source.
DAN WETZEL: Named his source, yeah. All right. So does this-- [LAUGHS] Are we doing this again next year? Let's say Harbaugh-- let's say they figure out how to make this all work. And they get through this NCAA thing, which they will. How big is this to keep Harbaugh if he's actually committed to staying and like not doing this again next year?
PAT FORDE: Look, he's established himself. He's proved he can take your program almost to the top. Back-to-back playoff appearances, not many guys have done that. Thumping the hell out of Ohio State back-to-back years, not many guys have done that. Got to figure out--
DAN WETZEL: Could be favored next year.
PAT FORDE: --the next part. Oh, heck, yeah, he'll be favored next year.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah.
PAT FORDE: I don't think there's any doubt about it. The game's in Ann Arbor. On paper, they're going to have a very good team coming back. CJ Stroud, as noted earlier in the podcast, is not coming back. So, yeah, like they-- they will, once again, be looking at a 12 and 0 regular season and probably a 13 and 0 walkover against the Big Ten West. And then we'll see what happens from there.
DAN WETZEL: Got to go to Penn State, and they got to play Ohio State. We'll see what Michigan State can do. But, yeah, the non-conference stinks. And then going forward, this is a team that should be in the playoff like, you know, four out of five years.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, right. I mean-- oh, going forward, yeah. As the playoff expands, absolutely. Yeah.
ROSS DELLENGER: Oh, yeah. They should make the--
DAN WETZEL: Home games.
ROSS DELLENGER: Yeah, every year, you would think.
DAN WETZEL: This is-- I don't know what they paid him. But this is one of my things on why you got to pay him. I don't care if he's a pain in the neck. I don't care if any of it. Like the value, just take the extra home game, what it means to Ann Arbor. Playoff games are going to now matter. It's literally like the city of Ann Arbor should be like, we'll kick in.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, for sure.
DAN WETZEL: Like, we're going to get a home game.
PAT FORDE: Isn't that the truth?
DAN WETZEL: Right? We're going to get an extra home game, whatever those things are worth. But, you know, like you guys have been to Michigan State. I don't know if Ross has. But like there's literally a public high school, Pioneer High School. It's kitty-corner from Michigan stadium.
And they just load up their parking lot. I mean, they make-- Lord knows how much money the public schools in Michigan-- in Ann Arbor, Michigan, make off of just parking at Michigan home games. I mean, they load the RVs in. It's-- it's not owned by Michigan, the University. So it's like they're getting a parking--
PAT FORDE: Like Pioneer High School or something?
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, Pioneer High School. They have this huge lot right across the-- kitty-corner from the stadium. I mean, $50, $50. I mean, it's just like, boom. Like imagine how much money that is for those public schools. Oh, just add another one. It's like, boom, we just got you know, a ninth home game. Yeah, it's a frigging 12% bump right there, you know? So that's huge for Michigan. They needed to figure out how to resolve this, and it looks like they were able to. Because it was kind of an odd impasse.
PAT FORDE: Yeah. The one other element here-- and I'll let Ross chime in. But there is a possibility that Jim Harbaugh is sitting out some portion of next season.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, but those early games--
PAT FORDE: But we'll see how long it takes NCAA jurisprudence to be--
DAN WETZEL: Can't see it, though. They got to resolve it. Take two games. Take your hit. Smarten up next time, please.
ROSS DELLENGER: Yeah, I don't-- we haven't seen a whole lot of that, right? Have we ever seen coaches suspended for NCAA infractions?
DAN WETZEL: Basketball has.
ROSS DELLENGER: But I know they've changed the-- basketball. I know they changed the rule--
DAN WETZEL: Basketball has.
ROSS DELLENGER: --right, to where it's more a head coach--0 whatever they're calling it. Yeah, less--
PAT FORDE: Strict liability.
ROSS DELLENGER: Yeah, yeah.
DAN WETZEL: They're always perp walking the basketball coaches. But like, all right, Bill Self sat out some games at the beginning of year. Anyone remember? No.
PAT FORDE: No.
ROSS DELLENGER: No.
DAN WETZEL: Jim Calhoun once had it. I mean, like whatever.
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
ROSS DELLENGER: And what's their early-season schedule look like? If any of the previous--
DAN WETZEL: The first five, it's garbage.
ROSS DELLENGER: Yeah, I mean--
PAT FORDE: Cake walk central.
ROSS DELLENGER: Michigan had a preseason this past year.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah. Oh, yeah, he was literally trying out his quarterbacks--
ROSS DELLENGER: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: --in the--
ROSS DELLENGER: He treated it like a preseason, yeah.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah.