Michigan football coach explains devastating feelings on suspension

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, a 9th-year veteran at the helm in Ann Arbor, will be missing the entire non-conference slate for the Maize and Blue this year due to a three-game suspension. Today, Harbaugh had a chance to comment on his feelings about the suspension — to him, this isn’t just a slap on the wrist, it’s a “baseball bat to the kneecaps.”

Michigan football coach is not one to miss games

When game time rolls around for Michigan football this weekend, what is Jim Harbaugh expecting? Will he be able to watch his team take the field under someone else’s direction?

“I really don’t know (what to expect of his suspension) yet,” Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh said on Monday. “There’s a chance my son Jack’s team’s gonna be playing at the same time — if he is playing, I’ll go watch that game. But I don’t know if I’m gonna watch on TV (or) if I won’t be able to watch it. I can’t know what it’s gonna be at the time. This is — it’s uncharted waters.

When Harbaugh says this is uncharted waters for him, he means it. Even during his Michigan football and NFL playing days as a star quarterback, Jim Harbaugh was never one to miss time.

“For me, you know as a college player, I had my arm broken — missed six games, I think it was,” Jim Harbaugh said. “As a pro player, I don’t think I ever missed three in a row. I had all kinds of injuries, ribs, broken fingers, things like that. Concussions never kept me out of the game. Had an MCL (injury) — put a brace on, and played. Had a shoulder separation — I think that might have been two games, might have been three, was at the end of the season…”

Jim Harbaugh clearly devastated by suspension news for the 2023 season

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh is not a fan of people downplaying his suspension for the 2023 season. While some think that it is not enough punishment, it is clear that Harbaugh is devastated that he will be missing time on game days.

“When people say it’s — I’ve heard people comment that, ‘It’s a slap on the wrist.’ It’s more like a baseball bat to the kneecaps … I’ve never missed three games unless it was for a broken arm.”

Jim Harbaugh will return to the Michigan football sideline in Week 4 when the Rutgers Scarlet Knights come to down for the Wolverines’ Big Ten opener.

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