By Rock Westfall
On Dec. 12, 2020, the Michigan Wolverines were scheduled for a road game against the then #4-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes at the Horseshoe in Columbus. Michigan was to limp in with a record of 2-4 with four losses in their previous five games.
Among the indignities was a 27-24 home loss to a putrid and outclassed Michigan State team, a 38-21 debacle at Indiana, which the Wolverines have historically dominated, and a 49-11 blowout home soul-crusher to Wisconsin on Saturday night prime-time TV. Even when Michigan won it was an embarrassment, as evidenced by a 48-42 triple overtime win at Rutgers, a team that usually needed the mercy rule against Michigan.
As Dec. 12 approached, it was clear that Michigan and its donors had turned against head coach Jim Harbaugh . The fans were tired of his antics and his zombie-like state ever since a painful overtime loss at Ohio State in 2016. As it was wherever he was before, Harbaugh wore out his welcome.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day vowed to “ hang 100 ” on Michigan earlier in the year. The game at the Shoe was expected to be the dagger to Harbaugh’s Michigan tenure. There was little doubt that Ohio State would obliterate and ruin Michigan and Harbaugh.
Facing the prospects of his career being wiped clean by a virtual college football nuclear mushroom cloud, Harbaugh played the one card he had left. On behalf of his feckless, checked-out team, he called in sick .
COVID Cover - An Inconvenient Truth or Lie?
At that time, the University of Michigan was led by President Mark Schlissel , a reputed epidemiology expert. Initially, Schlissel led the charge for the ultimate “look at me” virtue-signaling moment in wanting to cancel the season. But President Donald Trump , most of the Big Ten faithful, and the networks pressed then- Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren to have the Big Ten play. Warren took his case to the completely out-of-touch Big Ten presidents, who, caught off guard by the peasants with pitchforks revolt, relented.
Michigan’s disastrous season and impending doom at Ohio State made its reputation for being above the rest a perfect cover to use COVID as an excuse to take a powder at Columbus.
Certainly, there may have been some COVID issues on the team, but other teams, including Ohio State, played through them. Indeed, one has to ask if Michigan was in contention for the Big Ten title, would they have found a way to play the game? Any realist would say there is no way Michigan would have canceled. But with their season in ruins and facing demolition, they cut and ran for the tall grass with their tails tucked.
Harbaugh was spared a final indignity. Michigan could declare the 2020 campaign as a one-off because of COVID. Most important of all, it was a golden opportunity for the Michigan brass to reign in their out-of-control head coach.
No Safe Harbor for Harbs
Immediately after the season, Harbaugh called everyone he knew in the NFL, begging for a life raft. There were no takers. Harbaugh’s reputation had been badly damaged in 2020. Also a factor was the decline of his program in the preceding years.
With nowhere to go, Harbaugh was forced hat in hand back to his old job at Michigan. The Michigan administration, exhausted by its coach, put the screws on him with an adjusted contract and reduced rate of pay.
Harbaugh said he would bet on himself, dramatically altered his coaching staff, and prepared to save his career and rebuild reputation for the NFL.
If You “Can’t Beat the Cheaters” Join Them
When Harbaugh arrived in 2015, it was like the Second Coming. He could do no wrong and was hailed as Michigan’s savior. Harbaugh put together 10-3 seasons in his first two years as Michigan was in the national title hunt in both campaigns.
Off the field, Harbaugh made perpetual headlines with shenanigans of climbing trees and staying overnight at recruits' homes, holding star-studded signing day events, orchestrating team trips overseas, and gaining plenty of endorsements.
But the initial surge was followed by mediocrity. Harbaugh went 8-5, 10-3, 9-4, and 2-4. As the losses and futility against Ohio State mounted, Harbaugh whined, “You can’t beat the cheaters.” It was the typical Michigan Man alibi of why the so-called winningest program in college football had only and-and-one-half national championships since 1949. Michigan always used its supposed higher academic and moral standards as a high-minded excuse for its perpetual failures of the past.
Harbaugh decided if he couldn’t beat them, he’d join them. It began with hosting an illegal recruiting visit during COVID protocols that was blown off as being all about having a cheeseburger. Yet Arizona State coach Herm Edwards was fired for a similar incident. Most annoying, after Michigan had its nose in the air about COVID, it willingly looked the other way at its football coach breaking the rules.
Reinvigorated with a younger coaching staff, better recruiting, and a Marine spy who learned his craft as a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Connor Stalions , Harbaugh’s program finally took off. In the next three seasons, Michigan won the Big Ten title, beat Ohio State, made the College Football Playoff, and won a national championship.
All of this was made possible by calling in sick for the 2020 game at Ohio State.
The fallout has been profound.
The Day After
With one simple sick call, the lives and careers of numerous interested parties changed forever.
Harbaugh is now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, with the control of personnel that is the envy of most NFL coaches. Three years prior, such a scenario was unfathomable for him.
Ryan Day’s life has turned into a living hell, going from infallible to on the hot seat. Day won't survive a loss to a depleted 2024 Michigan team and its new coach, career assistant Sherrone Moore . Had Harbaugh not called in sick, Day would likely be riding high as a comparable hero to Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel .
Moore was one of the heroes in 2023, admirably filling in for Harbaugh when the coach was suspended for six games. Moore ascended to the head coach position when Harbaugh left for LA, but most key players, assistants, and support staff followed Harbaugh out of Ann Arbor. Now Moore is under NCAA investigation, holding a smoking gun and an empty bag.
Countless players were affected by the sick call, as were Michigan administrators, donors and fans.
In the process, Michigan and its fans, who once huffed they were better than the rest of us, proved to be lower instead. But Michigan got its dream season and will likely escape without much punishment. Most revealing of all, its administrators and fans don’t give a damn about any violation of rules or principles. In fact, they are laughing at and mocking the situation. The championship, as they say in the SEC that Michigan so sneeringly reviles, “Just Means More.”
All told, Jim Harbaugh executed one of the most profound play-action fakes in football history.
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