Chicago Tribune writer blasts Jim Harbaugh for pulled scholarship debacle
The decommitment of Erik Swenson is not going away overnight. In fact, the story only worsened the next day.
The four-star offensive lineman, who was Michigan’s longest tenured commit, opened up his recruitment on Wednesday, citing “unforeseen circumstances.” Those unforeseen circumstances turned out to be that Michigan pulled his scholarship offer and Jim Harbaugh wouldn’t even talk to him on the phone.
That didn’t sit well with Chicago Tribune Big Ten writer Teddy Greenstein.
On Thursday, he wrote a column criticizing Harbaugh’s recruiting practices. In it, Greenstein referenced how raw of a deal Swenson got from Harbaugh. Swenson said that on Tuesday, just two weeks before National Signing Day, he got a call from Michigan offensive line coach Tim Drevno saying their were “no spots left.”
RELATED: Four-star OT decommits from Michigan
Another Tribune writer spoke with Swenson, who said “he felt used” because he helped recruit some of Michigan’s 2016 recruits. According to Greenstein, Harbaugh’s shadiness with Swenson’s recruitment wasn’t the first time he pulled something like that.
When he was at Stanford, Harbaugh allegedly pulled a scholarship from Kain Coulter after he injured his throwing shoulder, and he needed clearance from the admissions office despite the fact that he had a 4.2 GPA. Coulter, of course, went on to star at multiple positions at Northwestern and fought for athletes to be considered employees of the university.
Greenstein wrote that Harbaugh “is making a mockery of a system that is already a joke,” and that Harbaugh was “greedy.” He compared him to Richard Nixon and Bill Belichick because their smarts outweigh their actions.
Long story short, Greenstein didn’t hold anything back in going after Harbaugh’s “diversion” methods.
It remains to be seen what kind of impact this will have in the final weeks before National Signing Day.