Pettiness Ensues as Jim Harbaugh Calls Out Ohio State Athletic Director
It wouldn’t be football without grown men getting into drama. While the NFL players take a break from bullying each other, college football has picked up the slack with the latest debacle between Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State University.
Let’s take it from the top. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith decided to throw some shade on Harbaugh and Michigan’s trip to Florida and practice during the school’s spring break.
“If we were jump starting our program, I’d probably try to do that too,” said Smith.
A little uncalled for, man.
And, of course, in typical Jim Harbaugh fashion, the former San Francisco 49ers head coach stepped up to the plate, accepting the challenge.
“Good to see Director Smith being relevant again after the tattoo fiasco. Welcome back!” tweeted Harbaugh in response.
Harbaugh has a point, but it’s hard not to take Smith’s side. Despite the uncalled for attack, taking spring break away from the players that are already working their asses off between football and school seems a bit extreme, even for the overly-competitive Harbaugh.
“Somebody asked me a question, would we look into it,” said OSU head coach Urban Meyer, when asked his take on the whole situation. “We look into everything. I can’t see taking spring break away from players. It doesn’t mean we won’t do research or keep an eye out, but it’s funny…Somebody said the other day, ‘I saw you guys were going to Florida.’…We wouldn’t take their free time away from them. If there’s some way to do something like that and it helps the players, we’ll look into it.”
I guess there are worse things than missing out on spring break. Some colleges don’t even let the players go home for Thanksgiving since it falls around Rivalry Week. But this is spring. The season doesn’t start for another five months or so. Maybe there’s a line that needs to be drawn somewhere because if Harbaugh had his way, the players would do nothing but practice.