U-M AD: Harbaugh’s exit won’t affect probes

• Dan Murphy, ESPN Personnel WriterFeb 14, 2024, 01:55 PM ET

  Close

  • Covers the Huge 10
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2014
  • Graduate of the University of Notre Dame

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel stated Wednesday that he does not expect Jim Harbaugh’s departure will have a considerable influence on the 2 open NCAA examinations into potential rule violations throughout Harbaugh’s time as the Wolverines’ football coach.Harbaugh took a task with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers in late January after winning a nationwide title at Michigan to cap his nine-season tenure at his alma mater. The NCAA opened a pair of examinations into Harbaugh’s program during his last 2 years on the task– one associated to alleged recruiting infractions during the pandemic and another about a supposed illegal searching operation. Manuel stated he has not gotten any updates from the NCAA on either case in current weeks.

“Their examination is ongoing,” he said. “I don’t believe [Harbaugh’s departure] will alter any of their investigation. It simply will continue to move on, and we’ll see where it goes from there. We’ll continue to work with them. We’ll continue to support their efforts to investigate.”

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

Manuel, who talked to press reporters while introducing a new company partnership developed to increase name, image and likeness chances for Michigan’s athletes, likewise stated he has actually been pleased to see the development that new head coach Sherrone Moore has made in building his coaching staff.Michigan lost a number of assistant coaches in the wake of Harbaugh’s departure– consisting of the entire defensive staff and strength coach Ben Herbert, who followed Harbaugh to the Chargers. Manuel said Wednesday that Michigan had already planned on including”a couple million dollars”to the spending plan for football assistants before Harbaugh’s departure, which he and Moore both made efforts to maintain as many coaches as possible.” I won’t go into details, however all those discussions have actually taken place,”Manuel said.”Individuals chose to leave. It wasn’t since of an absence of effort on our part to keep people here.” Manuel stated he didn’t begrudge any of those former team member searching for other chances, and that their exit gave Moore a possibility to establish an identity for the group that he desires, specifically on the protective side of the ball. According to ESPN sources, Moore just recently employed previous New york city Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to have the same position in Ann Arbor.Moore promoted quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell to offensive coordinator and moved Grant Newsome, the group’s

tight ends coach, to managing the offending line, which Moore dealt with the previous three seasons. Michigan also promoted special groups expert J.B. Brown to unique groups planner, replacing Jay Harbaugh, who is a child of Jim Harbaugh and took a position with the Seattle Seahawks.Although Martindale and others are anticipated to sign up with the personnel, Michigan has actually announced only one outside assistant coach hire up until now– tight ends coach

Steve Casula, who had actually been UMass’offending planner. Moore promoted Justin Hair to replace Herbert and oversee the group’s strength and conditioning.Along with including money to the assistant coaches swimming pool, Manuel stated he has actually been working for many months to be as aggressive as possible in pursuing methods for their players to generate income through NIL deals.

He revealed a brand-new partnership Wednesday with Learfield and Altius Sports Partners that will bring an executive general manager to Michigan’s campus to collaborate and increase NIL opportunities for Wolverines professional athletes in all sports.Manuel stated he”will take “the criticism he has received from Michigan fans who believe the school has been too conservative in their technique to NIL so far, however that he believes the school has actually been active in trying to promote opportunities for its athletes.

Solly Fulp, who functions as Learfield’s executive vice president for NIL operations, said out of the 100-plus schools his business deals with on NIL, Michigan is one of the leading five schools in number of deals completed by their athletes.Manuel stated he sees this brand-new partnership as a”long-term financial investment”to put Michigan in position to take advantage of the progressing methods which college athletes can earn money. He stated he believes schools will be sharing more revenue with their athletes in the

future. “The timeline is quickening every day,”he said.” It’s a realization that we have to continue to think about what we offer our student-athletes. I think it’s going to occur more quickly than not.”ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.