Jim Harbaugh Willing To Make His Life Harder To Give Players More Options

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh has been making headlines after his proposal in an open letter to the football community. Among other things, he's pushing for players to be able to turn pro after any year of college, with the option of returning to school if they go undrafted or unselected within the first 224 picks of the NFL Draft.

Joining The Athletic's Tim Kawakami on his podcast, The TK Show, Harbaugh said he's willing to make his life — and the lives of other college coaches — harder, in order to allow student-athletes to have options they don't currently have.

"There would be a higher level of difficulty for college coaches to manage the roster," Harbaugh said Wednesday. "Yes, I see that. There would be more difficulty for NFL teams to have to scout more players.

"But, [I'm] willing to have that difficulty on us and the NFL. It gives the player, it gives the young man, it gives their family, really, the advantage in making their own career decision."

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Another hot topic in college athletics right now is the issue of name, image and likeness (NIL), after the NCAA announced plans to move forward with allowing student-athletes to profit off of their own name via third-party endorsements.

Last week, Harbaugh said he's "all for" the NIL proposal, saying it's along the same lines, the same trajectory, as his own proposal — giving more opportunities for student-athletes to prosper.

Harbaugh believes the one-time transfer rule proposal, which is expected to be voted on next week, is also along the same trajectory. He's advocated for a one-time transfer for players, without having to sit out a season of competition, for some time now.

"If a football player wants to transfer schools, they have a one-time exemption," Harbaugh said of what he believes the rule should be. "They can transfer schools, and they also have the ability to be a graduate transfer. That puts the decision in their hands.

"That’s somebody deciding for themselves, ‘What’s the best place for me to be? What’s the best school for me to be at?’ Where they’re making the decisions, not somebody telling them what’s best for them."

Again, Harbaugh believes that the extra work and level of difficulty it may put on coaches to construct a roster is worth it, if it means doing what he believes is best for the student-athletes.

"I don’t think forcing somebody to stay at a school, if it’s not the best thing for them, for whatever reason," Harbaugh said. "… if they don’t feel like they’re getting enough playing time or if they have family issues or personal issues, they need to be closer to home … I’m proposing that it’s their lives and they should be making that decision without, ‘Well, if you do transfer, then you’re going to have to sit out for a year.’"

Not having to sit out a year after transferring works, Harbaugh pointed out, in other sports across college athletics.

"Interestingly, football right now, basketball, women’s basketball and I think it’s hockey, they have the rule that you have to sit out a year," Harbaugh said. "That’s not the case in other sports, 30-some-other sports."

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