Jim Harbaugh describes how his passion for coaching compares to past years

The Michigan Wolverines and head coach Jim Harbaugh is currently embroiled in a sign-stealing scandal, putting the future in doubt for the Michigan head coach.

With that in mind, Harbaugh shared how his passion for coaching has changed over the years. In doing so, he noted that he’s always been passionate and loved competition, and he has particularly loved the opportunity to coach various players at Michigan.

“It’s always been high. I love the competition,” Jim Harbaugh said. “Or, at least I thought it was high. I can tell you this, just these players, how they’ve been raised, their families, there’s definitely a boost, an invigoration, just being around those guys.”

The sign-stealing scandal at Michigan involves a staffer, Connor Stalions, who is alleged to have bought tickets at various Big Ten games, sending people to scout and videotape the games for the purpose of stealing signs from opponents.

Naturally, this upset a lot of Michigan’s rivals within the Big Ten and there has been a push to punish both Jim Harbaugh and the program. Now, some kind of punishment is expected to be handed down from the Big Ten commissioner, Tony Petitti. It’s also been reported that Harbaugh could be suspended longer than two games, with executive board approval.

Amid all of this, there have also been rumors that Jim Harbaugh may seek out an NFL job moving forward. Despite that, it’s also been reported that the NFL may not be the safe harbor for Harbaugh that many have assumed it to be. On top of that, his potential contract extension with Michigan is currently on hold.

Paul Finebaum explains why Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti must suspend Jim Harbaugh ‘indefinitely’

Amid the scandal at Michigan, one person who thinks that Jim Harbaugh needs to be suspended is Paul Finebaum.

“I think all eyes are on the Big Ten commissioner, Tony Petitti, because someone has to show some leadership here. Someone has to be an adult, because right now, what we have in the Big Ten is what every conference commissioner fears, a food fight. We saw this 35 years ago in the Southwest Conference and SMU ended up getting the death penalty and the league was dissolved. So what can he do? He has to do something. What he is doing is investigating it,” Finebaum said.

“You don’t want to rush to judgment, but I don’t see how he can’t rush to judgment and, based on the information that he’s getting and sources are indicating, that he doesn’t suspend Jim Harbaugh indefinitely. Without doing that, everything that happens from here on with the University of Michigan is going to be tainted. I think that’s the real issue here for college football. There’s so many other things going wrong for the sport, and so many other allegations being levied. But can you imagine on Jan. 8 if Michigan wins the national championship and Jim Harbaugh is given that trophy? I think the rest of the sports world is going to turn its nose in disgust. That’s a real issue, I fear.”