Category: Football

Phil and Clint discuss the state of Michigan football as spring practice begins. Topics include Jim Harbaugh’s criteria on whether he should remain at Michigan after every season, his response to the NCAA as well as snarking by some local media outlets, his happiness when players decide to return to the program, and his relationship with athletic director Warde Manuel. With audio from Jim Harbaugh.

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Phil Callihan 0:00
This is Phil Callihan, along with Clint Derringer and spring practice has begun for this new edition of the Michigan Wolverines well Clint Coach Jim Harbaugh had a press conference he addressed a number of topics. What did you find interesting about his statements to the media?

Clint Derringer 0:32
I think just in general, the way you know when Harbaugh has kind of any offseason, especially, you know, at the end of December the last games played the bowl game. Another tough loss obviously at the end of a really great and historically great season. Kind of a downer to end on. Just one sour note at the end of a really great season. Then a lot of crazy headaches and some drama that swirl right after and you know, the first time Harwell comes out to see everybody. He has his a comical ability to just pretend like nothing happened, even you know, standing in front of all of the newspaper writers and be writers and answering the questions. So matter of factly as if, you know, we did not just see the craziness, you know, and it’s it’s just it’s still amusing to me that kind of a picture into how he compartmentalizes things. And to him right now. This is the 23 season and his eyeballs are 100% forward. And he’s he’s nearly dismissive of almost anything that’s kind of backward looking, which is kind of just who he is. It’s frustrating to many people, fans and members alike. But that was the overtone of the overarching tone was I was kind of chuckling to myself, because I could feel the kind of the tension or frustration with folks that you know, probably thought that they were going to finally have their chance to grill hardball. And he just slides by like water water off a duck’s back.

Phil Callihan 2:16
Well, it is interesting. And you know, Clint, you have won, I’d say that we have been through enough Jim Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh press conferences, that we kind of know what to expect at this point. Right. But it was interesting, again, as you said, how he just, you know, these questions come up, and they’re just glancing blows, he just keeps moving forward.

Jim Harbaugh 2:41
I’m here, you know, as long as Michigan wants me and wants me here. And that you would have had a story if I wasn’t here. But I’m here. And, this is where where I wanted to be.

Phil Callihan 2:55
And on one hand, you could just, you know, see the Twittersphere explode, right? Like, oh, look, he’s back. He’s always gonna be here. See, there was nothing to worry about. And then he came back with-

Jim Harbaugh 3:08
Yeah, like, yeah, like we’ve said, I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s an it’s an ongoing thing. Something that we retreat is a really positive thing that NFL franchises, NFL teams have a lot of interest in all of our personnel, coaches, players, staff, if somebody in our organization feels like, you know, that’s going to benefit them professionally. And personally, then we say that we don’t, we don’t hold anybody back. I think the players it’s got to be so many, over the last eight years, it’s got to be in the 80s or 90s, over over eight years, amount of players that are in the NFL coaches, I think I’ve lost count how many coaches have gone to to the NFL from here. Staff members, same. So, right now Jesse mentors, you know, considering that and we just don’t hold him back. I like to tell you all the all the ones that I mean calls come in, calls come in calls are taking those conversations, or had I was a few coaches on our staff that those calls came in and, and and they decided to stay here in Michigan. I’m one of them. There’s, there’s another so you guys are going to people do what they think is, is best for them professionally and personally.

Phil Callihan 4:39
It’s kinda like he answers the question with a yes and a no. Right. And he doesn’t seem to grasp or I should say care about the, you know, the differences there. Right. So it’s interesting because, you know, on one hand, he says, Well, you know, I’m I’m here Are as long as they want me to be,

Jim Harbaugh 5:02
I gotta have a great relationship with Ward Manuel, and he’s been great for our athletic department and our in our university. That nothing but good. I trust word he trusts me. I mean, as far as you know, any kind of any kind of contract situation. And we’d like to talk about that we talked about, I just asked, Hey, do you just? Do you want me here at Michigan after every season after every season? anywhere I’ve ever been? I mean, that’s conversation I want to have, do you still think I’m the best person to do this job. And then I want to know what the, you know, the rest of the administration thinks I want to know what the players think. I want to know what the other coaches think. And I want to know what the fanbase thinks. And so when that season’s over I, I sit down to have that conversation with Ward and, and, and do the same with the players and assess where the where the fan base is, and has never been in. All the years I’ve been here. And that’s the feedback I got in the in the month of January was as good as it’s ever been from players, coaches, from Ward administration. President and from the fan base. And so here we go. Let’s go to 2023. and have at it.

Phil Callihan 6:30
You know, one of the surprising things that I thought is that nobody followed up with a question about well, if you get along so well with Word, why did the university president step in? Right, which has never happened before? And, you know, one of the things that I was hoping for was that somehow this offseason, Michigan could put the rest this annual dance with the NFL. Right. So, you know, at one point during the press conference on that, oh, well, maybe we’ve maybe we finally set this aside. And then at the end, he ended up with

Jim Harbaugh 7:11
That’s something you assess after every season, that’s the thing that I will, I will do after every season, just to my superiors, fan base, players get that you get that vote of confidence from from all three of those, all three of those groups. And you know, here we go again, let’s, let’s tee it up and have a have a great season and we’re attacking with enthusiasm unknown to mankind.

Question 7:47
The decision to go ahead and have those talks with the Broncos was that in any way, a sign that you hadn’t gotten the vote of confidence?

Jim Harbaugh 7:54
Now, as I said before, calls come in calls are taken with everybody. With everybody in the program and some calls, it takes some some you don’t.

Question 8:07
Why take this one this year. What was it about that opportunity?

Jim Harbaugh 8:13
Intriguing. Like I said, I think we’d have you’d have a real story if I, if I was right here, doing exactly what I told you. I predicted I would be doing.

Phil Callihan 8:23
You know, and I think it’s a very honest answer. And I liked that he put it out there that, you know, on NFL interest, you know, he’s gonna assess after every season. And, and, you know, I can live with that, because I had really kind of come to that conclusion myself with a little bit of frustration that, you know, when Harbaugh came back to Michigan, you know, I know there were NFL beat writers who and and alleged experts who said he was never going to come back here, right. And then when he came back here, it was, well, he’s only going to be here for a few years until the perfect job in the NFL, but and here we are heading into, you know, two great seasons of Michigan Football. And I think what we’ve learned in the last two off seasons is I think that there’s definite interest for Coach Harbaugh on his part to return to the NFL for the right situation. And there’s enough interest from the NFL that I think this is going to keep coming up. And I liked it. He kind of just put it out there. He’s like, listen, the players always evaluate, I’m going to evaluate. And, you know, we just we just kind of get used to it. Like, I kind of feel that January is Harbaugh NFL season. Right. And, you know, I you know, it is interesting to me that, you know, after the COVID shortened season, there were plenty of people in the Michigan camp, you know, Michigan fandom, who would have been perfectly content to run them out of town. And now it’s Wait, wait, don’t go. Right. So it’s amazing that how the, I guess the temperature of the Michigan fandom has changed. And, again, it just seems like something we’re going to need to keep dealing with as as we move forward.

Clint Derringer 10:16
And I want to reiterate something that we say it seems like, at least once per podcast, right, especially talking about Harbaugh and the way that he communicates and decisions that he makes is that he’s been plainly and brutally honest through through most of his conversations. It’s kind of a obviously a personal value of his that when he says something, he wants it to be the truth. And that he kind of massages what he says, By removing, you know, anything of interest, so that everything is still just kind of technically true. And he doesn’t, he’s not fazed by those awkward kind of standoffs when he responds to something where somebody’s clearly driving for a particular narrative, or, you know, simply doing their job as a journalist and kind of asking questions and hard follow up questions. Harbaugh’s, you know, I can’t imagine he’s ever lost a staring contest. And I’ll say that, I will say, this offseason was was more frustrating than the previous times, I think, this time last year. For me, right, there was kind of a sense of the initial seven year contract from when he first came back to harbor, even though there were extensions and pay changes and increases and decreases got the the initial term of his first contract was seven years, he kind of mentioned that that was kind of all of his plan. It was always his plan to kind of kick the tires on the NFL interest in and possibilities. At the end of that seven years and see and reevaluate. He flew to Minnesota, and then there’s this kind of strange interview with Mitch Albom, you know, now seems strange, where he says, you know, this isn’t going to be an annual thing. And then a year later, he’s back in the mix of it. I think that there are it’s the first time really that I feel there’s a direct contradiction to something that he said on the record, and what his actions did following up now I I don’t think it’s black and white. I don’t think it’s kind of cut and dry that way. Certainly. There was a lot of strange actions and activities that were happening in the offseason. Whatever the tension is, or negotiation stance, between Ward Manuel and Jim Harbaugh, certainly there’s a dynamic there that that’s in play. For the first time in at least that we know of, right, Jim Harbaugh is being represented by an agent and not representing himself in these negotiations. So I’m sure you know, he’s got somebody he’s paying good money to advising him on how he should be communicating publicly, to kind of, you know, how it affects the negotiating leverage that he’s giving his agent. I think that played a role in in how this past offseason went. And then the the drama with the NCAA and the level two allegation, allegations, and the timing of that. And really, and then Jim Harbaugh’s insistence on kind of taking a stand and fighting the NCAA, and the more major allegation that he misled or lied to investigators, right. And I think, from what we know about Jim Harbaugh as a person, from his, from his public facing comments and what he has said and done on the record, it matters pretty much to him, that the institution that he’s a part of supports him and that he feels loved and supported, especially when he’s preparing for what could be a really long drawn out battle. And I think a lot of this stuff isn’t gonna play out in the public, by the time that most of this becomes public knowledge, and it will, but but we’ll be long past talking about the January 2023 offseason in the NFL hiring cycle. So I certainly agree with what you said. I think it probably makes sense to kind of settle in and and understand that this is going to be at least a conversation annually. I do want to kind of put my hand up and say that this is the first time that there’s that contradiction that I mentioned And but still, I think that I can understand how the situation is different in what’s different in January of 23, as compared to when he made those comments in February of 22. So, all of that said, you know, I wish it wasn’t that way. I wish to, you know, I’m sure we can talk more about the the NCAA investigation and allegations, I wish that wasn’t happening. But in the grand scheme of things, I you know, I am still satisfied and happy that Jim Harbaugh is here and coaching Michigan’s Football program, and has kind of a unique ability to compartmentalize all of that, pack it away, put it on the shelf, and focus on the task at hand, which right now is spring practice.

Phil Callihan 15:52
So one of the things about Jim Harbaugh that I’ve come to appreciate, slash acknowledge, is that he’s a different kind of guy, right. And we knew that coming back from his time here when he was at Michigan, and, you know, from watching him as a player in the NFL, and as a coach in the NFL. But, and I think specifically about his time with the 40, Niners. There’s a reason why he was kind of out of sync with the 49 ownership, because he’s a different guy. Okay. And part of him being different is, you know, as you alluded to, there’s this, you know, I always I call back, you know, being a Star Wars fan, you know, to the original Star Wars? Well, you know, a lot of your truth depends on your point of view, right. And from Jim’s point of view, everything he says is completely honest and completely straightforward. And occasionally we sit back and go, Wait, what did you just say, five minutes ago, or 10 minutes ago? So it is interesting that, you know, on one hand, he talks about, Well, I’m here as long as Michigan wants me. But as you mentioned, he really, I think the thing that I learned from this press conferences, as much as he tries to stay aloof and above the fray, there is a certain amount of wanting to be wanted, right? Wanting to be the guy for everybody, from the administration, from the coaches. You know, he had a statement where he says, You know, I evaluate, you know, what the, what my coaches think what my players think, what the administration thinks, and, you know, he didn’t mention the media, which, which I would have laughed if somebody had suggested, but it’s like, he, he really wants to be popular.

Clint Derringer 17:40
You did mention the fan base in that in that phrase. Yeah.

Phil Callihan 17:44
Yeah. So it’s interesting that he acknowledged that I think he acknowledged that he does care, you know, it does matter. He wants to all be together. And, you know, specifically about the NCAA,

Jim Harbaugh 17:56
I would just say, just, you got to be a Schem, you know, you just got to be in this in this building. To just to really, to really feel it, compare us to perfect, and we’re going to come up short. In the in the major areas, comparison to any other program, I think you’re gonna see that we’re the we’re doesn’t get doesn’t get any better. When you talk about graduating players, up to perfect, but it’s I mean, it’s as close as you could possibly be, to, to graduating players over the years, talking about doing things with integrity, on the field off the field. players, coaches, staff, everybody within this, within this football program, about as close as you can get to, to perfection, winning games…not perfect. 13 was not perfect, but as we keep striving for we keep, we keep chasing that perfection.

Phil Callihan 19:00
And I appreciate that. I like that, right? It’s an acknowledgment that you’re always going to fall short. But it was also a shot at the NCAA say and you know, you’re coming at us with tic tac stuff. And I always use the analogy of speeding on the expressway right here in Michigan, going five over, you should you know, nobody’s gonna bat an eye, you go 20 30 40 You’re gonna get pulled over. And it seems as if the NCAA is really good at tic tac five miles over tickets, while ignoring programs that are just blowing by 30 or 40 miles over. So I kind of get that’s the impression I get from when Coach Harbaugh talks about it. And, again, there are a lot of rumors about what happened with the alleged NCAA violation and what Harbaugh’s role in it is and you know, I think we are going to learn more about That, I think we do know that it is not a major, you know, thing. This is not a, a ESPN front page scandal, you know, at some other programs, but I think that you know, and you know more than think we know that, in the past coach, Harbaugh has directly challenged the NCAA. And I think that that raises the awareness a little bit. That is the same way, if you ride referees, you’re not going to get calls. And we can remember the first couple of seasons. Coach, Harbaugh was real good on writing the referees, and I think he backed off a little bit. Seeing that, you know, there was not exactly a good outcome in some cases. And I think this is just a natural outcome of the hypocrisy of the NCAA. And we’re just going to have to deal with it.

Clint Derringer 20:52
I mean, we’ve seen We’ve seen Jim Harbaugh’s decisions, especially early in his tenure at Michigan, where he found unique ways to try to work within the rules, and still try to give the program a competitive advantage. We saw this with the satellite camps and hiring high school coaches that were tied to high level recruits. And those were the triggers that led the NCAA to change rules specifically to crack down on what Harbaugh was doing. So this, whatever particular loophole Harbaugh had found, in those early years, the NCAA was quick to crack down rule changes and enforcement and these these other things, as you mentioned, where we know, they’re just, you know, major violations, you know, all over the place, and, and even more so, in the Wild West, you know, of NIHL. And kind of the paper curtain between, you know, pay for play and money coming from universities, through collectives or somehow loosely affiliated organizations and eventually paying players for their name image and likeness. No standard rule, right. It’s it’s the NCAA is an enforcement body is an embarrassment. So Michigan, by playing by the rules, certainly to a greater degree than than many of the programs that operate on the same competitive level with Michigan in the in the top tier. In Football, especially recently. I think Harbaugh said it in a way that would certainly was unique. With this comparison to don’t come, we’re chasing perfect. And if you’ve made compares to perfect, certainly there are flaws, but they certainly are doing things a lot closer to the right way than many of their peers. And certainly he’s he’s still bracing to fight with the NCAA. So we’ll see how that goes. Again, I wish that it weren’t happening. But this example is another ridiculous bald faced hypocrisy with one of the lower level violations being that an analyst, not a true onfield coach, but an analyst was putting time in as a coach and actually coaching players. And it was days between the announcement of that violation for Michigan and the NCAA announcing that that’s no longer going to be a violation. But they’re adding an additional Anfield coach and analysts are going to be allowed to coach players because once they got to publicize this particular violation in Michigan’s past, you know, from two or three seasons ago, then yeah, but we’re going to change that rule because nobody else cares about our slap on the wrist, maybe Michigan well, so it was literally less than less than 72 hours separating the slap on the wrist for Michigan publicly and then but we’re going to change the rule so that we don’t have to really address it because it’s happening everywhere else. So just crazy. Just just crazy. So that problem is one big piece of it. Again, I would say that that’s kind of a major thing that Harbaugh has managed to kind of contain and compact and sit on the shelf and then there’s the you know, the coaching staff turnover and you know, more interest in the in the coaching staff but then also the change in offensive coordinator with Matt Weiss, and, you know, getting dismissed from the program. Again, something that really came out of like a lightning bolt out of left field and definitely nothing that I saw coming.

Phil Callihan 24:57
Well and you know, it regarding the NCAA, no common sense at all, and, you know, moving forward. So, you know, the matt Weiss thing was weird, right? And, you know, there’s, you know, a couple of different staff changes, there’s the return of Chris Partridge, which was a good thing, right? And cause, you know, George Hilo to leave the program. And by no fault of his own, right, unfortunately, for him, but then you have the matt Weiss thing, which is a completely different animal, right, where you had the university police get involved. There are lots of rumors about what had happened that, you know, we’ll leave in rumor land until we get something more solid, but the reality is, is, you know, Coach, Harbaugh was asked about it. And he kind of just said, Oh, I don’t know anything about that. And if I did, I couldn’t talk about it. And which is, which is pretty similar to what he said about the NCAA things, you know, he kind of dodged it, and then responded in a way right, but didn’t get it didn’t get didn’t get down in the weeds. And, again, you know, the, I think the thing that upsets me that we do you know, about the matt Weiss thing is, you know, here, you are supposed to be prepping for the college Football playoffs and there was some stupidity happening, right. And what was reported is that he didn’t respond to the university’s investigation, and the university dismissed them. So, again, you know, again, somebody who had done a really good job when he was here, and unfortunately, you know, the program will move on. Now, I do have to say that after the last several years, you know, with some of the coaching changes we’ve had, that we’ve just rolled on and hasn’t missed, haven’t missed a beat, I’m expecting the same thing to happen here. Again, unfortunate that, you know, there was a I guess, a perfect storm of of bad for Michigan, right? You had, you know, the the bad loss to TCU, you had the NCAA news, you had the matt Weiss news, you had the Harbaugh, you know, NFL drama, and, you know, Coach address that

Jim Harbaugh 27:21
This program has become like, good. Okay, we lost that game. Good. Yeah, that, that drives us, it makes us even more hungry. Something else comes up, good, cool, we’ll work on that we’ll fix that. It’s a it’s a it’s, it’s a place right now, to me and me. Only analogy I could make to it, you know, just how good in terms of, you know, a culture a family that, that this Michigan Football program is, it’s almost, it’s, in my mind, like, some of those housing markets have become recession proof, you know, they’re just, it is good, you know, no matter what’s coming from the, from the outside of here. I just see her, I just see everybody here, it’s like, almost like a superhero that, I mean, the attack comes in, it’s like, we’re able to absorb it. And, you know, just spit it back out in some kind of laser fashion. You just see the way they attacked, you know, the next day, and every day, it’s, it’s, it’s phenomenal to be around on a on a daily day to day basis. Truly, everybody’s everybody’s got to pay the price to win. That doesn’t happen and everyone pays the price of losing. And nothing comes nothing comes cheap. You know, there are no, there are no cheap victories, you know, for, for the team or anyone on it.

Phil Callihan 29:00
I like how he responded about the culture, Clint, but there is a certain amount of he asked to acknowledge that part of the perfect storm was his doing. Right. And I think that’s the thing that if there’s anything that that Michigan has been able to do as a program, and I think this is really key, okay. Is that you had that COVID season where there was so much on and off the field drama, okay. We had worldwide drama with the world stopped. You had players deciding to play some players not deciding to play. You had a very disappointing season. And from that crucible, you had the last two seasons come, right. You had the culture really just get forged in such a way that the program elevated itself and And I look at what’s happened with some other programs in the state when things have gone not well. And I think that Harbaugh’s greatest skill, as a head coach, has been shown in the last couple of seasons that he has navigated the chaos. And he’s created a culture where the players navigate the chaos, and kind of just, you know, keep going. So, you know, I’m expecting the same thing this season. And now I could do with a little less drama. Again, you know, there were, there were some pretty snarky questions from some of the media, some of the usual characters about, you know, some of the, off the field drama, and, you know, what’s this going to do? And, you know, Harbaugh responded. So it is interesting that, I think that the team has been, you know, there’s the old saying about, you know, a ship is safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are for, I get the impression that this team is made for chaos. Okay. And I think back to, you know, the season before last, when there was that crushing loss on the road against Michigan State where, you know, they kind of got jogged on a couple of calls, and the first half, still had were still was in a position to win and didn’t win, right. And instead of the season going off the tracks, they bounced back and really elevated their game, to, you know, go to the big 10 championship win. And, and, you know, go to the college Football playoffs for the first time. So it seems like that the culture is made in such a way that a lot of the outside drama is just a glancing blow, and the team just elevates itself.

Clint Derringer 31:58
Yeah, there’s a, there’s a particular stat in tennis that that I like, and I don’t think that they track it. And the other sport that I know of, it’s unforced errors, unforced errors, and that’s what pops into my mind when when we have these offseason problems, right, these are, this is avoidable. This is these are things, there’s plenty out there, that’s not within your control, right, there’s so many other things that happen, whether it’s NCAA IV, or changes in IL, or transfer portal, or, you know, other teams, you know, improving and getting better. And so many things that you can’t control, all you can control is your players and your program. And these problems, like you said, are sometimes unforced errors. And, and at the same time, if there were a tennis player to make, you know, record numbers of unforced errors in a match, and still manage to win, you know, in the, in five sets in a tiebreaker? Well, they still win, you know, they still win, you know, but they make it so much harder on themselves than it would have to be. And that that’s kind of the feeling. So I think that there is, you know, some some quality and value and being able to kind of weather that storm, but I think that there’s something else there. You know, I don’t think I can’t imagine that it feels as chaotic inside Schembechler Hall, to the players, coaches and staff. As it feels to us on the outside. I just can’t imagine that. Because this was happening at the same time that all of these NFL prospects that play for Michigan coming off of a nearly perfect season. You know, Blake Corum is a Heisman hopeful, who, you know, has very little to gain by coming back to Michigan in terms of his NFL stock running backs. You know, traditionally, you have a much shorter shelf life than then some of the other skill positions, just the miles that you put on your body and taking all those hits as a Running Back, and especially coming off of a knee injury, right? It’s for Corum to come back and to kind of lead the charge with the the offensive linemen who all had eligibility remaining coming back. And just amazing that at the same time, all of this chaos is going on outside of the program and outside of the four walls. The players are banding together and staying and playing again and saying, saying, you know, we feel like there’s unfinished business we went, we had the best record any Michigan team has had since 1997, and the first team ever to win 13 games. But there’s still one more step to take right and amazing that the player leadership and again, the word culture that that swirls around a lot in the offseasons is absolutely it’s tangible with this program in this team right now. And I think you really have to tip your cap to the leaders in the locker room, the players, you know, upperclassmen, especially, and the coaches on the staff, who build really strong relationships, you know, position coaches, and other support staff that really builds strong relationships with these players and give them what I you know, what I would imagine is really honest advice. And, and encourage them and kind of circles back to Harbaugh’s comments about there’s always interest from the NFL, right? The one of the strengths of this program is how they prepare their players for the NFL, it’s one of their strongest recruiting pitches, I’m sure, right, and that nobody’s trying to tell these guys to forego NFL dreams, right, they have to believe that coming back to an arbor for another year, it is is still going to be beneficial to them, personally and professionally. And that they handle these conversations with with a level of integrity and trust. Because if it was not that way, then the players would not act this way in unison, right like this. These those types of problems where there’s dishonesty, and coaches and programs that are just looking out for themselves. It it spirals quickly. And we don’t always know the details of what’s going on. But you can feel bad culture very quickly the same way that you can feel right now, a very good culture. So I think that there’s some kind of

Phil Callihan 36:57
Jim’s spoke very excitedly and eloquently about how happy he is when players decide to return.

Clint Derringer 37:05
That the players and the coaches interact, that kind of shields, the Football business and the players, and the coaches, from all of the other craziness that’s happening in the outside.

Jim Harbaugh 37:18
And, you know, guys feel that it’s in their best interest to return to Michigan. Super, super happy and excited about that as well. I mean, yeah, like, selfishly really happy. It’s, you feel like the parent, you know, that how many of you have had have have a son or daughter’s choosing like high school or choosing their, their college, you know, you, you don’t want to be the one to tell them which to do, you know, because that’s some decision they have to make on their own. And then if it doesn’t work out, and they, you don’t get blamed for, for telling them what to do. So that’s kind of the position I am in and kind of feel the same way as both my son, James and, and grace as they’re choosing which college to go to. You’re, you’re helping them with the pros and cons, and you’re, you’re talking about them, I mean, secretly, you know, you’re, you’re wishing and hoping they they go to Michigan, which which those two did, but that’s really about the, you know, the thing I would, I would compare it to, but in total support of whichever decision they make, and feels best for themselves. And, and they’re really good at it. They’re really good at making, you know, the wise decision that was a smart choice for themselves.

Phil Callihan 38:47
And, you know, the thing about that, Clint, is, I think you made a great point that I’d rather have be honest and say yeah, okay. So on one hand, while I wish Jim had came out and said, You know what, word gave me the contract that I’m going to be happy with forever, right here as long as Michigan wants me, but we’re always going to assess. And you know, isn’t that whatever player does, right? I mean, and I think in the world of the transfer portal, right? Every player is evaluating Is this the right thing for me? Is this the right decision? You know, as far as the Blake Corum stuff goes and the players returning? One thing that struck me and it was really impressed upon me as I was out shopping over the last couple of weeks, is you’re seeing NFL merchandise all over the place. Okay. And I think that I wonder how much the NFL is giving players a little bit of a cushion to perhaps stay longer, right? Where there’s not the pressure to get your money or nothing, right? There’s not hey, it’s it’s stay and get nothing or get something under the table or get something on the slide, or go, right? Hey, you know, you can see that, you know, Michigan has made major strides in organizing, you know, these collectives, associating with NIHL mechanisms to benefit the players. You know, you can go to m Dan, and you see the NFL merchandise out. I’ve seen, you know, NFL merchandise at other vendors. And you’re getting the impression that for years, the critics right, would say, Well, you know, if you pay players, if there’s any kind of way to compensate players, the wheels are going to come off college Football, right? You know, what college Football seems to be going right along, obviously, as you mentioned, there, there needs to be improved, you know, it needs to be a same swim lane for everyone. But we’re seeing the players being compensated for the work that they’re putting in. And I think that it’s it’s giving them more choices, right? It’s, it’s not a well, Blake, you better go get money right now. Because it’s not, you know, that’s the only this is maybe the only time you get a contract, hey, you have an Al. Okay. And it seems like it’s working out the players speak very well of it. You know, it’s giving them different options. So, you know, I think that while there was a lot of the sky is falling for the Michigan fan base, you know, when NFL first hit, that Michigan wasn’t doing everything that they’d like to see, Michigan has caught up. And I think that they’re coming along. And I think that it’s it’s another benefit for players coming to the University of Michigan,

Clint Derringer 41:48
I think that there’s one more thing to be said and kind of in this in this realm is the strategy that Michigan employees focuses more on these kind of keeping your own players, whether it’s, you know, keeping them out of the transfer portal, or right, giving them a viable option, as opposed to having to get into the NFL draft and sign the contract before, you know that dream is snatched from you. So where the money is right now, in the NFL, Michigan Football space. I think strategically that’s being shaped and pushed more toward players that are they’re actually on the field planning and producing during the games, as opposed to packaging, huge deals for for incoming freshmen. Now. You know, there’s there’s pros and cons there, of course, and there’s only so many dollars to go around. As it stands right now, everybody’s trying to figure out what the right formula is. But I think Michigan, at least it seems, is kind of taking a different approach. And for the shortcomings in recruiting and ranking of incoming freshmen recruiting classes, kind of being laid at the feet of of not being willing to drop, you know, six or seven figures on a on a high school senior. Making these packages more accessible. And figuring out how to, to make a fourth or fifth year more attractive to players that are proven starters and have have kind of proved themselves also in the locker room amongst their peers is a slightly different strategy than I think what what is commonplace amongst everybody else. So we’ll see how it plays out in the long term. I think that the right formula probably is a little bit of a balance of both. And but we’ll see how that goes. But I think you do have to kind of highlight the positives of this strategy and certainly holding on to that much talent from a team that was, you know, in the college Football playoff, and certainly, you know, is poised to be right back at the top of the rankings in the preseason coming up for the next year. With the returning talent and experience and productions coming back. You just don’t usually see that a team that qualifies for the college Football playoff and then brings back such a large percentage of their offensive and defensive production so that there’s a direct correlation there certainly.

Phil Callihan 44:32
So we don’t know for sure. Right, because Coach Harbaugh won’t sit down or won’t address it in a way that I think we would like. But when you sit back and look at the strategy, okay. There are the programs that put the money up front for the top tier talent right the the top five star guys and my impression of teams that are successful year in and year out, are the programs that have the teams that stay together the longest. Okay, obviously, talent, but kind of gel as a team. So, you know, the point you made about Michigan kind of backloading, the NIHL toward performance and benefiting guys and their third, fourth, potentially fifth year. I wonder if it is a conscious choice, okay, like a strategy to do that, rather than to put the bulk of the money in guys who may only be on, you know, be there for two or three years. Right. So again, it’s interesting, it’ll be interesting to see where it plays out the way it plays out. You know, you know, I’ve said this before, I will say it again, that the 2022, Michigan Football team was one of the best teams we have ever seen. It’s unfortunate that they were tripped up in the Fiesta Bowl. You know, and Coach Harbaugh talked about, you know, JJ? And, you know, I thought that was really interesting. That, you know, he thought that, you know, JJ really grew from that game, he experienced a whole season in one game, right. But, again, we all want to see Michigan take that next step. But, you know, one of the ways you add is get most of your players to come back and then add more. And it seems like that’s what the current NHL strategy is doing. So you have to appreciate that. You know, and I will tell you looking back, Clint, I think you could agree, or or acknowledge that there were a lot of concerns about how great the Michigan defense was going to be with the difference in defensive coordinator and players leaving, and Gosh, darn it, they were better, right, in a lot of ways. So whatever they’re doing, you know, whatever’s in the water down there is working. And hopefully, we will continue to see it, you know, during the spring practice, and hopefully, they will set themselves up for for even greater success in this upcoming season.

Clint Derringer 47:10
Yeah, I think. I think it’s all certainly very interesting. Right. I think that it’s there’s really a fascinating kind of yin and the yang going on with the program right now. And it’s something at least gives us something to talk about here through the offseason. And certainly looking forward to seeing what comes up in the spring game and a couple of new players that that may get some opportunities. And I think the one player that I heard about in in her balls press availability, that was the most interesting and certainly one of the highest kind of profile positions of need this coming season is that second cornerback spot potentially right now having Amarion Walker in the lead to take that second cornerback spot opposite from Will Johnson right. And he’s another kind of shift, you know, from came in, recruited as a wide receiver played a little bit of wide receiver and corner last season, and Harbaugh mentioned that directly. He he may be somewhat of a unicorn of an athlete and have the ability to be that two way player. But there right now, he’s focusing on defense and may very well be penciled into the starting spot there opposite Will Johnson that that was really from a Football standpoint, probably the biggest piece of news that that came out of the press conference.

Phil Callihan 48:47
Absolutely, he raved about him. And anytime you hear Coach Harbaugh talk about a potential two way player, you know that that is a special individual, as you said, unicorn, you know, that’s, that’s, you know, you gotta love that phrase. You know, there was also talk about the old line that there’s so stacked that Where are you going to put these guys right? And, you know, when you think about the building blocks for success, it certainly seems like that Michigan is poised for yet another great run. And Clint, I will tell you that you know, when and if Michigan has success in the college Football playoffs, and you know if they are able to pull together a national championship in this upcoming season. I certainly hope that there will be a large bank truck backing up to Schembechler Hall to keep Coach Harbaugh locked in for as long as he wants to stay here. So, I think that’s that’s definitely potentially in the cards. And you know, I you know, and again, just I’m hoping that that will be the case that will be Want to keep this? This machine rolling? So? So, Clint, any final thoughts for the podcast?

Clint Derringer 50:09
No, I think that the only other thing that I was going to mention real quickly is that maybe some of the money that comes off or that bank trucks get diverted toward Sharon more. Two times back to back. Joe more award winning offensive lines. Just thinking back two seasons ago, when Ed Warner moved on, and you and I really calling out that is that the biggest wildcard for the upcoming season? Is your Sharon more ready to coach the offensive line? Can’t he just kind of hold water and fill those shoes? And man, did we set the expectations far too low for for him? And and now in the 22 season, he adds kind of an offensive co offensive coordinator role. And now with Matt Weiss moving on. He’s kind of the senior offensive coordinator role here. So another kind of a functional promotion, or at least more responsibility for for sure. Oh, more. So if we’re backing up, you know, armored trucks to Schembechler Hall for coaches. Don’t forget Sherrone Moore.