On the transfer portal, Jim Harbaugh has zigged where everyone else zagged. How does a pro-transfer stance help the Michigan football coach?
The transfer portal has been a heated topic around the college football world throughout this offseason. The pro-player sentiment has been loud in recent years, but the powers that be have not agreed. The NCAA has been notoriously slow to adapt, and coaches have been strongly against player movement.
However, as he has a tendency to do, Jim Harbaugh went against the grain at Big Ten Media Days. On the topic of transfers, he took the side of the players.
Jim Harbaugh says players should get one transfer without having to sit out. Second-time transfers should have to sit and he would keep the grad transfer rule as is.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 19, 2019
Coaches like Nick Saban have spoken out against “free agency” in college football as they’ve taken the podium this week. Coaches have taken varying degrees of opposition to the liberal nature of transfers recently, but most are on the same side. Harbaugh has never had a problem being unique.
This isn’t necessarily a random move, however. Harbaugh’s response to the transfer topic at Big Ten Media Days is now juxtaposed with the anti-player stance that nearly every other coach in the country holds. It’s not just juxtaposed for fans and the media, it’s also juxtaposed for recruits.
Now, when a player is weighing Michigan against schools like Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, and the other heavy hitters around the country, Harbaugh looks like a coach that genuinely cares about the success of his players.
In college basketball, John Calipari has taken a similar approach. He’s consistently said that winning games at Kentucky comes second to putting his players into the NBA. It’s a pro-player sentiment, and it’s a great recruiting tool.
At Big Ten Media Days, Harbaugh was ahead of the curve. As player mobility remains inevitable, instead of resisting change, Harbaugh embraced it. Don’t be surprised to see other coaches follow that lead in the coming years.