One of the most disappointing aspects surrounding the Michigan Wolverines’ inability to play football for the foreseeable future has been the actions of school President Mark Schlissel, who has been reported to be one of the biggest roadblocks on the Big Ten's path to getting the season back on track.
U-M head football coach Jim Harbaugh has been incredibly outspoken about his desire to play as soon as possible, and reiterated that message this afternoon at a protest in Ann Arbor.
Harbaugh touched on the interactions he has had not only with Schlissel throughout this ordeal, but also Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel, and how the interactions between the two U-M higher-ups have played out.
“I have had none,” Harbaugh revealed when asked if he has had any interactions with Schlissel throughout this process. “I’ve texted [him], but Warde Manuel has had all the conversations with President Schlissel.
"I’ve also emailed and showed him [Schlissel] all the [testing] results. [U-M Senior Associate AD and Chief Health and Welfare Officer] Darryl Conway has been to our facility multiple times and thinks what we’re doing is a model for everybody.
“That’s a testament to the players and to the staff. He’s [Schlissel] aware of it, and so is Warde Manuel. Warde talks directly to President Schlissel.”
The number of positive tests among Michigan’s football athletes have been incredibly low throughout the entire process, with Harbaugh once again singing his players’ praises this afternoon by singling out the discipline they’ve all had.
“Everybody on the team has realized how important this is, both collectively and individually,” he explained. “They’ve taken it upon themselves and want to be healthy. They just want to be able to play — that’s the driving factor here.
"They’ve disciplined themselves more than usual, because football has a tendency to do that. I don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the world, but I know what we’re doing. I’ll tell you about practice and how our workouts have been, and I can tell you how we just had another 120 tests that were all negative.
“That’s close to 1,000 tests in a row that have been negative. I’ll tell you about our guys’ grades and how those are; those are the things I’m focused on — training and coaching our guys.”
Michigan has continued practicing over these last few weeks since the Big Ten announced the cancellation, in hopes of potentially beginning the campaign earlier than expected.
Rumors and reports on the internet have run rampant as of late, with not only Thanksgiving being thrown around as a potential starting date, but October as well.
“It’s possible, and maybe there’s a chance we could play sometime in early October,” Harbaugh exclaimed today when asked what he’s been hearing lately on the subject. “There’s a chance of that.
"Our position to the Big Ten and to everybody has been that we want to play as soon as we possibly can. We’re ready — we could be ready to play a game in two weeks. We’d put the pads on and our guys have trained without a pause since June 15.
“That’s our position — we’re ready to play as soon as we possibly can. I told Warde that, and I’ve texted Mark that. All us coaches [in the Big Ten] want to play. I’ve been on all the [conference] calls [among the head coaches], and we’ve said we want to play as soon as we possibly can.”
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