Jim Harbaugh Continues To Push For Player Compensation

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been poking the bear all year and he doubled down today during the Big Ten Championship media call.

We all know that Jim Harbaugh marches to the beat of his own drum and it's been more obvious this year than ever. Back in August, he talked about revenue sharing for the players, which obviously didn't sit well with those who would be losing some money. Some believe that the NCAA took Harbaugh's words personally, which is why he's been in their crosshairs all season long. Now, after serving two separate three-game suspensions, Harbaugh is back at the mic and still isn't pulling any punches.

“Who could be against the players being compensated for what they do? At least even minimum wage. Who could argue against that? Whether there’s injury or not," Harbaugh said after being asked about Zak Zinter's season-ending injury. 

Harbaugh then went on to explain why he thinks like he does, especially after watching the last few Michigan games on television.

"The emotional buildup watching it on TV...there wasn’t a commercial that went by, a sporting event that was played all week that you didn’t see those two teams and the buildup and the hype and the talk about players’ legacies and everything that could possibly be rolled into one game on the line. And then you see the amount of people that are benefiting financially from those players’ efforts out there. I wonder who could be against that? I ask other coaches to get on board, to use their platform and their voice for the student athletes, not just football players, all student athletes, to be sharing in this ever-increasing revenue."

Harbaugh even took things a step further saying that he'd take a hit in the pocket if it meant that his players and other student athletes got what they deserved.

“I would take less money for the players to be compensated," he said. "I would take less money for the players to have a share. I hope other coaches would use their voices to express the same thing.”