Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel not speaking directly

John Bacon reported that Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel haven’t spoken directly since May, which sheds light on a few things. 

Jim Harbaugh has been notoriously hard to work with over the years. That was something said about him even before he came to Michigan football.

Harbaugh is hard-headed and he can rub people the wrong way. It’s part of what went wrong in the end with the 49ers. He wasn’t let go for wins and losses, that’s for sure.

We also knew that tension existed between the Michigan football head coach and his boss, Warde Manuel, even as the two are supposed to be working on a long-term contract extension.

However, I had no idea it was as bad as John Bacon reported it to be this morning on the radio. He also tweeted that Manuel and Harbaugh haven’t spoken directly to each other since May.

They have been communicating through intermediaries — whatever that means — but it’s not really a great sign that they can’t even have a conversation.

Santa Ono needs to get it fixed

One thing we should know about Harbaugh is that he’s not worried about money. The value of a contract can matter for reasons beyond money and Jim definitely didn’t like having his salary cut.

It was a tough decision by Warde but it led to a Big Ten championship. Still, long-term success is generally achieved when everyone is on the same page and that’s not the case with Michigan football and its athletic director right now.

Bacon also tweeted some other interesting things such as the fact that Mark Schlissel never conducted a review of Manuel’s job. He also opined that Ono would rectify that and change what’s happening with Harbaugh.

Manuel has some explaining to do in my opinion about Harbaugh and also why Michigan athletics is so far behind its competitors in terms of NIL. Things are improving but there seems to be little direction and Manuel feels like he’s behind the 8-ball.

You have to give Manuel credit though. Michigan is winning Big Ten championships in just about everything, so he’s doing something right.

So is Jim Harbaugh and his job is a little harder.

But the situation needs to be resolved and at the end of the day, Manuel is a lot more expendable and easier to replace than Jim Harbaugh, the guy who brought Michigan football back to glory.