Michigan’s Decision to Tweet Jim Harbaugh’s Recent Statement Backfires

The Wolverines coach’s future at the university has been a big topic of discussion in recent days.

A curiously-timed social media exchange between Jim Harbaugh and Michigan sent the college football world into an uproar on Thursday as speculation continues to swirl surrounding the football coach’s future at the university. 

The past week has been a whirlwind for Michigan as the program deals with an NCAA investigation and rumors regarding Harbaugh possibly leaving for a return to the NFL. Last Thursday, Harbaugh attempted to silence the chatter by announcing that he expects to be “enthusiastically coaching Michigan in 2023.”

However, in the days since Harbaugh’s announcement, there has been no confirmation from the longtime coach or school that he’ll remain in Ann Arbor for the long haul. On Thursday, Michigan president Santa Ono confirmed that he and athletic director Warde Manuel have been having conversations with Harbaugh, but stopped short of providing an actual update on where things stand. 

“I pleased to share that I have been having very positive and constructive conversations with our Athletic Director and Football Coach,” Ono wrote. “Warde Manuel and I both want to see Jim Harbaugh stay as the head football coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines. #GoBlue“

Interestingly, the Michigan football Twitter account shared a statement at the exact same time from Harbaugh saying he is in “full support” of Ono’s tweet to the Wolverine faithful.

“l am in full support of President Ono’s message to our fans and appreciate his support of me and the team,” Harbaugh said.

#GoBlue https://t.co/hBHOyqotDx pic.twitter.com/Fce3ddopKx

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 12, 2023

The back-to-back non-updates were enough to rile up the CFB community, considering Harbaugh essentially said he supported Ono’s support and nothing more. And, as you might expect, the Wolverines quickly found out their attempt to show solidarity with their coach backfired in the worst way as onlookers began to wonder what the reasoning was for either tweet.