Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh wants change to college football landscape

Published Aug. 28, 2023, 3:36 p.m.
By Ryan Zuke |
ANN ARBOR –Jim Harbaugh is clamoring for changes to college football once again.
The Michigan head coach opened his first game week news conference of the 2023 season on Monday with a 6-minute statement advocating for revenue sharing with student-athletes.
Monday isn’t the first time Harbaugh has publicly broached the topic. The 59-year-old also suggested a revenue sharing model in 2020 and then at 2022 Big Ten media days, but his most recent comments come as he’s set to serve a three-game suspension self-imposed by the university in relation to an NCAA investigation for alleged recruiting violations and not cooperating with the NCAA.
“As a former player and current coach, mentoring many of these student-athletes, what I want to do is be a voice for the student-athletes,” Harbaugh said. “I want them to be treated with the respect and the dignity that they deserve. What I don’t understand is how the NCAA, television networks, conferences, universities and coaches can continue to pull in millions and in some cases billions of dollars in revenue off the efforts of college student-athletes across the country without providing enough opportunity to share in the ever-increasing revenues.
“When a student-athletes call it a game, the corporate types call it a business. When the student-athletes call it a business, the corporate types call it a game.”
Last summer, the Big Ten announced a new seven-year media rights deal that exceeds $7 billion. A chunk of that revenue will go to the individual schools, but Harbaugh believes players also should receive a piece of the pie.
“The current status quo is unacceptable and won’t survive,” he said. “In my opinion, when we capitalize on the talent, we should pay the talent for their contributions to the bottom line. The game of football has evolved since inception and dramatically started to change in the 1970s. At that time, one game a week was televised. Today, every game during the 12 -week regular season is broadcast…
“Why wouldn’t we let the student-athletes share in the success of their sport? We all should be about diversity, equity and inclusion. I’m calling for a system that is fair, equitable and benefits all involved. Don’t exclude the student-athletes from the profits.”
When pressed on specifics about how he would incorporate revenue sharing, Harbaugh said those details should be determined by “legal experts” and university and NCAA officials.
“I don’t know exactly how that sausage is going to be made, but the current system, the status quo, we just can’t keeping kicking this can down the road,” he said. “It’s got to change.”
Harbaugh has never been afraid to speak his mind about the landscape of college football, whether it was supporting players having more freedom when transferring or profiting off their Name, Image and Likeness.
Student-athletes have been able to earn money through NIL opportunities since July 1, 2021, but Harbaugh said that isn’t enough.
“It is the elephant in the room,” he said about revenue sharing. “Now is the time to address it. It is overdue.”
When was asked if Michigan and athletic director Warde Manuel share his beliefs, Harbaugh replied, “All those conversations are privileged. As I said at the beginning, these are my thoughts, my opinions. These are not the opinions of anybody else or the university.”
Senior running back Kalel Mullings said he appreciates his head coach sticking up for the players.
“I’m not going to lie, right now I haven’t really focused or been thinking about that too much,” he said of revenue sharing. “But what has been great for me the entire time of me being here is having a coach who advocates for us players. A lot of the times we don’t have all the details and behind the scenes of what’s going on, but having a coach we can all know and truly has our back and is looking out for our best interests is a great thing. With all that stuff, I trust Coach Harbaugh to use his voice, his very influential voice, to advocate for us in the best way possible.”
Meanwhile, graduate student defensive tackle Cam Goode said he doesn’t have an issue with college football’s current setup.
“Honestly, I think the NCAA is doing a good job,” said Goode, who is entering his second season at Michigan after transferring from Central Florida. “NIL is booming right now. I can’t really complain about much.”