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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Instead of coaching a game on Saturday, Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh marched down Hoover to S. State St., joining players, parents and fans voicing their displeasure over the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the 2020 college football season.
While much of the outrage has been directed at Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, University of Michigan president Dr. Mark Schlissel was reportedly among the 11 presidents and chancellors who voted against a season, and he hasn’t exactly been transparent about how he came to his decision, either.
Pundits will scream ‘coronavirus is why!’ yet the medical findings by three other Power Five conferences — the Big 12, ACC and SEC — have allowed their leagues to move forward towards a season. Likewise, high school football is going on, with the state of Michigan reversing course this week allowing the MHSAA to join surrounding states by letting those at the high school-level to play this fall.
Thus, it’s somewhat bewildering that Schlissel hasn’t spoken to the team. He hasn’t visited Schembechler Hall. He hasn’t seen the protocols in place.
Harbaugh insists that what Michigan is doing is working, evident by the recent testing. While four more student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19 this past week, none of them came from the football program, Harbaugh says.
As far as conversations he’s had with Schlissel — well — Harbaugh hasn’t been able to get a response.
“I have had none. I’ve texted and Warde Manuel has done all the conversations with President Schlissel,” Harbaugh said. “You think I maybe got some inside information or something but I don’t. I can tell you how practice was, how the workouts have been. I could tell you we just had another 120 tests that were all negative. That’s close to a thousand tests in a row, completely negative. I could tell you how the guys’ grades are. Those are the things I’m focusing on — training and focusing our guys.”
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Later, WolverinesWire asked Harbaugh if he’s frustrated that he hasn’t been able to get through to the university president, and he merely stated that he’s made attempts — and surely he must know the status of the football team given the current medical intel.
“I texted Mark, e-mailed, showed him all results,” Harbaugh said. “(Senior Associate AD and Chief Health & Welfare Officer) Darryl Conway has been down to our facility multiple times and he thinks what we’re doing is a real model for everybody. It’s a testament to the players and to the staff, everybody really following the protocols.
“So yeah — he’s aware. He’s aware. So is Warde Manuel.”
There have been rampant rumors that the Big Ten is considering potentially reversing course and playing as early as October, to which Harbaugh says, ‘We could be playing sometime in October, early October. There’s a chance of that.’
But would the team be ready to go if the conference did reverse course, giving Michigan approximately five weeks to prepare?
Harbaugh says it would take but two weeks, and the team would be ready to go. According to him, via his conference calls with league coaches, that’s a unanimous thought across the board.
“Our position to the Big Ten, to everybody is we want to play as soon as we possibly can,” Harbaugh said. “We’re ready to play. We could be ready to play a game in two weeks. Put the pads on and our guys have trained without a pause since June 15. That’s our position. We’re ready to play as soon as we possibly can play.”
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