Oller: Second Thoughts: Will Jim Harbaugh follow Urban Meyer's lead and exit UM in a huff?
Jim Harbaugh hates being compared to coaches from That Team Down South, especially ones he believes were born on third base, but the Michigan coach’s pending four-game suspension for misleading NCAA investigators shares similarities with former Ohio State coaches Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel.
We’ll begin with Meyer, who was suspended the first three games of the 2018 season and docked a month’s pay by Ohio State for mishandling domestic violence allegations against former assistant coach Zach Smith. Meyer retired four months later, citing health issues related to a brain cyst as the main reason, but also acknowledging the suspension contributed to his decision.
Meyer clearly felt wronged by the board of trustees and OSU president Michael Drake, believing his reputation had been impugned. Headaches? More like “head-Drakes.”
It will be interesting to watch how Harbaugh reacts to his suspension, considering he fancies himself an ethically above-reproach coach who always does things the right way. I doubt he holds a grudge against Michigan, because the NCAA would issue the penalty, not the university, but that may not matter to his career plans if he feels unfairly judged by the college system of justice. Meyer landed ever so briefly in the NFL. Might Harbaugh, who each of the past two years has shown interest in jumping to the NFL, be annoyed enough with the NCAA to make a similar leap?
As for Harbaugh’s connection to Tressel, a source confirmed to the Detroit Free Press that Harbaugh and the NCAA are nearing an agreement that would result in the coach missing one third of the regular season as discipline for false statements he made during an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period. He has not admitted to deliberately misleading investigators.
Sound familiar? Tressel was forced out at Ohio State after the NCAA determined he lied to investigators during fact-gathering into the tattoos-for-merchandise scandal of 2010. Ohio State thought it could avoid even heavier sanctions if Tressel was removed. As it turned out, the Buckeyes still had to erase 11 wins from the 2010 season and received a postseason ban in 2011.
The difference is Michigan has not punished Harbaugh with a similar resign-or-be-fired ultimatum. At least not yet. Every NCAA investigation includes individual nuance, so I can’t say the Harbaugh and Tressel situations are identical, but it makes me wonder that if the saying is true – the cover-up is worse than the crime – what would it take for UM to kick its squeaky clean, ahem, coach to the curb? Anything?
Love the Cleveland Browns white helmet, Ohio State grays
I’m not much of an alternate uniform junkie, actually preferring tradition to clothing gimmicks aimed at selling merchandise, but I have to admit I dig what the Cleveland Browns have in store this season with their “inverted” white helmet, a throwback to their early years.
Cleveland wore the white lids from their first season in 1946 until switching to the orange in 1951. The new shells will feature the iconic orange and brown striping down the middle and include a metallic brown face mask.
Ohio State has trotted out multiple alternate uniforms since first bowing to Nike’s marketing “suggestions” by wearing white helmets with black numbers on the side during the 2009 Michigan game. I’m hit-and-miss on OSU alternates, liking the 2012 “Rivalry” look (chrome helmet with oversized stripes and reflective buckeye leaf stickers) and loathing the all-black get-up. But the 2023 all steel-gray model that will make its debut Nov. 11 against Michigan State is a big win.
Not only is the gray super sleek, but you can actually read the jersey numbers. Imagine that.
Listening in
“I finished bad, is the best way to describe it.” – Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke, who against the Guardians on Tuesday suffered his 16th consecutive road loss. It was the first time Cleveland had beaten him in 13 years.
Off-topic
I live in a “shoes off” home. Or I should say an “indoor shoes” home. Multiple pairs for outdoors, one pristine pair for inside only. And never the twain shall meet.
But here’s a little secret: I cheat. Usually when no one is looking. Take out the trash? Grab the paper off the driveway? Ssshh. Don’t tell anyone.
It’s not that I am dead set against shoe rules, it’s more about the “uh-oh” feeling I get when removing my shoes before entering a home; a queasy feeling hard-wired into my brain. I still remember as a kid visiting a friend whose mother issued a no-shoes-in-the-house mandate. She was militant, to the point I didn’t feel warmly welcomed. It was like was an intruder at the door of her castle.
Now, decades later, I understand not wanting to scrub the floor and clean the carpets every day, so no hard feelings and no judgment against anyone insisting on a shoes-off rule. But keep an eye on me. I’m known to fudge on the rules.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: UM's Jim Harbaugh, OSU's Urban Meyer share suspension similarities
