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With uncertainty facing athletic departments across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some schools have eliminated non-revenue sports entirely. Some coaches have accepted pay cuts, but many have not.
In the case of Michigan, it hasn’t cut any sports, but its premier coaches have found themselves in the former situation in regards to pay cuts.
Both Jim Harbaugh and Juwan Howard have taken 10% pay cuts, with Harbaugh’s case being particularly notable given that he’s the third-highest paid college football coach in the country. According to ESPN, he’s only one of two of the top ten coaches who have taken any kind of cut during the pandemic.
But, as always, he’s got a target on his back — because — reasons.
The latest comes from a current, sitting United States Senator in Connecticut’s Chris Murphy. He took to Twitter on Sunday morning to express what could happen if Harbaugh instead took an 86% pay cut — though what he’s proposing would be against NCAA rules.
And to illustrate his point, Murphy posted an article of Harbaugh’s financial compensation — from Oct. 2019.
Unpaid UMich football players are playing in the middle of a pandemic to assure their coach can get his $7.5 million salary.
If Harbaugh made $1M instead, each player could get a $50K annual stipend to help their families pay for rent, health care, etc.https://t.co/0Iq60rFWHO
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 2, 2020
Listen, we get it. We’re on the side of student-athletes receiving compensation and some of that will start to point their way once the new name, image and likeness rules come into effect. But, Harbaugh is not the nation’s highest-paid coach (that distinction belongs to Clemson’s Dabo Swinney — who has not taken a pay cut), so the fact that he and Michigan are singled out is ridiculous.
This is not to mention that Harbaugh has been on the forefront of rule changes that benefit the student-athlete. He’s a proponent of the NIL rules, has openly proposed a one-time transfer rule (which will be voted on in time by the NCAA) as well as a comprehensive change to college culture as it pertains to players and their draft eligibility. Additionally, in the official scholarship offer letters that went out on Aug. 1, there was a new caveat added that players who couldn’t play because of medical reasons would still receive a four-year scholarship to attend Michigan.
Of course, to some, despite evidence to the contrary, it’s a Harbaugh problem. If you want to attack intercollegiate athletics and coaches’ salaries, that’s fine. But this is hardly a Harbaugh problem, and a sitting U.S. Senator trying to make it into one is disingenuous at best.