Subscribe
Follow Us
Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh is the gift that keeps giving. Between giving political opinions to telling things how he sees it, if nothing else, he is at least honest.
He is also not too thrilled about a hit that happened last weekend. Jim Harbaugh says it was an “egregious” hit that injured Wilton Speight
“If I had a stronger word to use, I would use it,” Harbaugh said, as transcribed by ESPN. “With all the emphasis on protecting defenseless players, it appeared that the player knew what he was doing. He targeted the head. [Speight] was on the ground, and he accelerated.”
Harbaugh also said he wants Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and other head coaches to figure out a way to have better accommodations for visiting teams. This isn't anything new, as Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has been talking about this issue for some time.
Here is Meyer on what he calls “substandard conditions.”
Article Continues Below“And I've shared that with our athletic director, and the commissioner should handle that,” Meyer said. “In my very strong opinion, that should not be allowed.”
A Big Ten spokesman released a statement on the matter.
“Big Ten member institutions have direct access to conference governance and policy development, so if any institutions have game management procedures that warrant discussion at the conference level — including those related to student welfare, health and safety, film exchange, media services or any other game-related procedures — there are processes and opportunities to do so. While current conference policy does not set minimum specifications for team locker rooms, most, if not all, of our sports and game management procedures come from recommendations based on the experience of our schools and are supported by a vote of the majority of our members.”
Purdue also released a statement Monday after Harbaugh's comments. It was a strong response.
“Purdue regards the welfare of all student-athletes as its No. 1 priority. We would fully support a conversation regarding a conference-wide set of guidelines for visiting football team accommodations because we have experienced less-than-ideal conditions on the road. There is no place for gamesmanship when it comes to player care and safety.
“The after-the-fact concerns expressed by Michigan are somewhat surprising because a member of its football staff conducted a walk-thru of our facilities with our athletics department staff at Ross-Ade Stadium on July 18.
“Furthermore, to help teams prepare in advance, our visiting team manual highlights in bold type ‘there is no air conditioning in the (visiting) locker room,' with accompanying Purdue Athletics staff contact information about how to request preferred temporary accommodations. We did not receive any such request.
“Basic X-ray is available within our athletic footprint and more-sophisticated capabilities are located two blocks away, similar to the arrangements at many other schools. Our sports medicine staff members, in fact, have received numerous compliments from their Michigan counterparts regarding the care they received at Purdue.”
Will anything come out of this? Probably not.
