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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
HOUSTON — Jim Harbaugh batted away any questions about his future at Saturday’s media day session for the College Football Playoff National Championship, instead using his time to advocate for revenue sharing for college athletes.
The Michigan coach said coaches, administrators and television networks are all “robbing the same train” in making money off unpaid college players and he hopes the rapid pace of change in the sport can finally make revenue sharing a reality, not just in football, but in all collegiate athletics.
“We’ve seen a whole conference go into a portal,” Harbaugh said of the Pac-12. “If those kind of things can happen overnight … I don’t know how the sausage gets made completely, but there’s a lot of smart people that do, that know a lot about revenue sharing, know a lot about how those algorithms and economics work. And the real issue is there’s no voice for the players.”
Harbaugh routinely deflected questions about his future — “Future, I’d like to have one,” he said — and snuffed out any NFL questions, dismissing them quickly, such as when he was asked what the difference was in time management between coaching in college and the NFL.
“I don’t have that list in front of me,” he said.
But his longest and most considered answers were on the “ever-growing, ever-increasing revenue that it’d be right for the student-athletes, not just football, all student-athletes, to share in.”
In 2012, then-South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said coaches would be willing to give up a small percentage of their salary if the players could get a modest stipend.
That never happened, but Harbaugh said, more than a decade later, that he feels like there seems to be more hope, with change taking place across the sport.
“If stuff can happen this quick, like we’ve seen this year, then I’m hopeful that there’s a wrong that could be righted quickly as well,” he said. “There used to be a saying: Old coaches — my dad’s used it, my brother’s used it — like, hey, we’re all robbing the same train here. Coaches, administrators, media, television stations, conferences, NCAA. The ones that are really robbing the train — the ones that could really get hurt — are getting a very small piece. … It’s one thing for somebody to say, well, they’re getting NIL, but the billions that are being generated, they’re not getting much of, a very small percentage. They’re getting the same amount as I got in the ’80s. You’re getting a scholarship, room, board, books and tuition. So it’s like, come on, man, let’s do the right thing here.”
Harbaugh said his plan, similar to Spurrier’s, would be for everyone to take a cut of their salaries and pool it to share with the players.
“I would say this, anyone who is profiting from the student-athletes right now — myself included — coaches, somewhere between 5 and 10%, take 5 to 10% less. That would go for any administrator, any coach, any conference, any university, NCAA — 5 to 10% less and maybe a 10% tax from the television stations, into one pot for the student-athletes. Maybe that’s a start, a way,” Harbaugh said.
“There’s a lot of people profiting off the backs of student-athletes, and they do a lot of work to keep it from them. It’s all kind of rules — and have been doing it for a long time.”
Meanwhile, Harbaugh was asked if the result of Monday’s title game against Washington would have any impact on his thoughts concerning his future.
“I have no idea about that,” he said. “I couldn’t be more happy to be here.”
But he said his team is focused and has to be ready to face Washington and notably quarterback Michael Penix Jr., whom he said has “no conscience.”
“When he’s throwing one of those balls into the tightest window and the confidence that he can put it in there and his receivers are going to make a play, I mean, that’s scary good,” Harbaugh said.
Despite all the tumult of the season and noise around his future, Harbaugh said his Wolverines team is in a good place.
“It is as one-track mind as it can be,” Harbaugh said. “It’s like a thoroughbred horse thundering down the straightaway. The blinders are on, and we see the finish line. And we’re going to the whip, just each guy — but also with a good balance. It’s a focused and loose team at the same time, really in the sweet spot from where I see it. But that’s where we’re at.”
