Jim Harbaugh no longer expected to attend Michigan opener as honorary captain
Jim Harbaugh will not be coming back to Michigan for the season opener.
Less than a week after Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel revealed that Harbaugh would serve as an honorary captain for the Wolverines’ Aug. 31 game against Fresno State, head coach Sherrone Moore has said the homecoming has since been called off.
Harbaugh, now the head coach for the Los Angeles Chargers, called and informed Moore he didn’t want to be away from his new team.
“We made that decision in January or February really to honor him for what he’s done for Michigan. … It was nothing besides that,” Moore said at a media availability on Tuesday. “(Monday) he called me and told me that he didn’t feel he could leave his team — in true Coach Harbaugh fashion — and wanted to be in the foxhole with his team and not want to make it look like he was taking a deep, long bow.”
Moore did say that Jack and Jackie Harbaugh (his parents) would be in attendance in place of their son.
L.A. concludes its preseason tour on Aug. 24 in Dallas. The Chargers open the regular season against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 8.
The announcement that a national championship-winning coach would return to the program as a guest wasn’t surprising in the least. What made waves was the timing of it all. Last week, Harbaugh was hit with significant penalties from the NCAA stemming from its investigation into recruiting violations at Michigan. He was slapped with a 4-year show-cause penalty and a 1-year suspension that takes effect if and when he returns to the collegiate level.
Harbaugh is also expected to face Level I violations related to Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing scheme that made headlines last fall. He was one of several Michigan coaches named in a draft of the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations against Michigan.
Bringing him back to Ann Arbor at the first possible moment to be celebrated would have been seen by many as flippant toward the NCAA.
Still, Harbaugh has maintained his innocence. In a press conference for the Los Angeles Chargers on Aug. 5, Harbaugh denied knowledge of the sign-stealing scheme.
“Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal. I was raised with that lesson. I have raised my family on that lesson. I have preached that lesson to the teams that I’ve coached,” Harbaugh said. “No one’s perfect. If you stumble, you apologize and make it right. Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate, was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations. So for (me), it’s back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”
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