Pat Forde says Jim Harbaugh ‘works in mysterious ways,’ questions relationship with AD

Jim Harbaugh, now publicly stated to be the Michigan football coach for the 2023 season, seemingly operates by his own rulebook — one he has never really shared with others. It’s caused a few issues for Michigan football of late, but also led to massive on-field success the past two seasons. And it’s enough to have Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde on the “Paul Finebaum Show” saying as much.

In just the two weeks and three days since Michigan lost to TCU in the College Football Playoff semifinals, Michigan football and Harbaugh have: Received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, been thrown into flux with yet another NFL dalliance for the head coach, and as of Tuesday evening placed co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss on administrative leave for alleged “computer access crimes.” And that’s just since the season ended.

“You know, Harbaugh works in mysterious ways. But he does work! Works for Michigan,” Forde said. “I think this is a good thing for Michigan. We’ll see if he and his athletic director can get along. But keeping him in the fold and I guess putting off the NFL hiring cycle for another year is a good thing for the Wolverines.”

Forde, and others, are also now openly questioning whether a thaw is needed — or coming at all — between Harbaugh and athletic director Warde Manuel. The two were teammates for a brief period on the Michigan football team, but since Manuel cut down Harbaugh’s salary prior to the 2021 season it’s appeared to be frosty.

Only adding to the speculation is the fact that the two parties that communicated publicly about Harbaugh being kept in Ann Arbor were the man himself and relatively new, and far more involved in athletics president, Santa J. Ono. It was Ono who announced that Harbaugh would be back, not Manuel.

“But I don’t think Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel are completely on the same page at this point,” Forde said. “There has been some stress over his contract, he took a pay cut, he got some of that restored last year, but not necessarily to the point where he was expecting it to be. I think there’s been more negotiating about continuing to enhance the contract. And you throw in an NCAA investigation and I think the president kind of stepped in and played intermediary here. Santa Ono is a popular, charismatic guy. And certainly not afraid of being out in front of things. It’s pretty interesting when the president is tweeting out the news.”

The ultimate point to demonstrate Harbaugh’s value and staying power, according to Forde: That Michigan sought to keep him through the NCAA allegations.

“You know, all things can be forgiven if you’re beating the crap out of Ohio State and going to the playoff. Those two things count for a lot. And, yeah, NCAA rules — the thing, people want to gloss over Michigan’s situation here. But this is not an ‘Oh, let NIL happen. Players should be paid sort of situation.’ This was recruiting during a dead period. That was a well-established rule that everybody had agreed to during the Covid period. And people who broke those rules ticked off competitors, that’s for sure.”

Forde spoke with Finebaum prior to the news about Weiss breaking on Tuesday evening.