Michigan football coach addresses icy post-game handshake

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Last night, after Jim Harbaugh led his Wolverines to a solid 41-13 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers, improving to 9-0 (6-0 Big Ten) along the way, 9th-year Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh addressed his icy post-game handshake with first-year Purdue coach Ryan Walters. Walters had some strong comments against the Wolverines earlier this week, and while the post-game handshake was as brief as it could possibly get, Harbaugh says it was business as usual.

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh addresses post-game handshake with Ryan Walters

Jim Harbaugh and Ryan Walters are clearly not fans of one another, as evidenced by an ice-cold handshake after Michigan football crushed Purdue, 41-13.

What did Purdue Boilermakers coach Ryan Walters say this week?

Here is what Purdue head coach Ryan Walters said about Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football earlier this week, prompting backlash on social media and more.

“It’s unfortunate,” Walters, who is in his first year with the Purdue Boilermakers, said this week. “And what’s crazy is they aren’t allegations. It happened. There’s video evidence, there are ticket purchases and sales that you can track back. We know for a fact that they were at a number of our games. We’ve had to teach our guys a new language in terms of some signals, and we will operate differently offensively. You might see us in a huddle for the first time this season. It is what it is. But we’re excited to go play, and I think it’ll make for a great story.

“Just calling a spade a spade, really, in terms of advantages or disadvantages,” Walters added after the game. “I was just stating what happened. … Usually, when you tell the truth, it’s not like a big deal, you know what I mean? But I would say I made breakfast Friday morning, got a cup of coffee, turned on SportsCenter, and I was on the ticker. That was an ‘Oh, okay’ moment. But I’m not shy about speaking the truth. If I had it to do over again, I’d say the same thing.”

Jim Harbaugh and Ryan Walters have an icy-cold handshake

Below is the video of the trending Harbaugh-Walters handshake. The video is slowed down, though if you blink, you still might miss it.

Appropriately icy pic.twitter.com/s4EbdZtCep

— Due# (@JDue51) November 5, 2023

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh responds

After the game, Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh had this to say.

“It was a typical postgame handshake,” Jim Harbaugh said during his Michigan football postgame press conference.

As seen above, it really was not a “typical” handshake, though Harbaugh seemed to opt for the high road and move on. Next weekend, he will face a much better football team than the 2-7 Purdue Boilermakers when his Wolverines hit the road and face the Penn State Nittany Lions, so Harbaugh has bigger fish to fry.

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