U-M's Jim Harbaugh fires back at Jim Rome for mocking him
It may be the middle of fall camp, but Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh's Twitter battles are alive and well.
A day after syndicated CBS Sports radio host Jim Rome mocked him, Harbaugh fired back with a tweet, pointing out Rome's lowest moment, when former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jim Everett flipped a table over on him during an ESPN2 television interview in the 1990s.
Everett played at Purdue and Harbaugh obviously played at Michigan. Rome took notice later this morning.
Rome's Tuesday rant on "The Jim Rome Show" was inspired by Harbaugh walking out of his Monday night session with reporters. Harbaugh was asked about the three U-M freshmen missing from the team photo on media day and their status.
He said two were suspended, but declined to say which two or how long the suspensions were, saying the team would handle it internally. Then he ended the 11.5-minute session.
Rome felt this was a topic for his radio show and spent a few minutes in the second hour of his show going after Harbaugh and defending the reporters.
►Related:
Jim Harbaugh emerges from submarine, provides fall camp update
"Jim Harbaugh, Michigan coach, is already in midseason form," he began. "He stormed out of a media session. Kind of shocking. Shocking that Harbaugh would get fed up, irritated, aggravated, in a media session. But he did so because reporters had the nerve to ask him a real football question. He pulled his walk off when reporters pressed him about three players that were missing from a team photo."
One of the missing players from the photo, running back Kareem Walker, was not suspended, a U-M spokesman said later, leaving Shelton Johnson and Ahmir Mitchell as the suspended players.
Rome played the sound of the questions, which started by the Free Press and were followed up by an ESPN reporter and ended with him leaving.
"With that a walk off," he said. "With that line of questioning. That is not an unfair question. What that is a jerk move by the coach. That is not an unfair question or an unfair line of questioning. Like coach, you have multiple players unaccounted for, nobody knows where they are or what happened to them.
"You know why they want a second question, a third question Jim? Because you didn’t answer the first question. If you answered the first question, there would be no need for a second question, a third question a fourth question ..."
►Related:
Michigan freshmen stepping up in fall camp
Rome used it as a platform to mock Harbaugh's adventurous off-season and public interests beyond football.
“Maybe you forgot over the summer that it’s their job to cover your team, not ask you what your favorite Drake album is," Rome said. "Just like they’re not there to write another tired story about your latest throwback jersey, or your Walmart khakis, or your latest shirtless photo from satellite camp, or another crackback on the SEC. They’re not on your staff, they do not work for the university. You preside over an alleged national power. If you suspend guys, reporters are going to ask you about it. They’re just doing their job, so you should do yours and answer the question.
“If anybody thought this was going to be a kinder, gentler Harbaugh since he went home to Ann Arbor to rescue the football program, make no mistake, it’s the same exact guy. Nothing’s changed. Same guy. Same insanely intense dude that got run from Frisco, because he was miserable. He runs way too hot and he was wearing people out. Don’t get it twisted now. Great coach, unbelievable coach, I’m sure he’ll do a great job there. But when you have a coach who wins as he wins and nobody is ever sorry to see him leave, that tells you a little something about that guy.”
“So with that 10-win season in the rear view, God help anybody who asks him who his starting quarterback is gonna to be. Or how come he can’t beat Urban Meyer, or when he’s going to beat Urban Meyer, or why he pulled a scholarship from a recruit. Good luck with any of that.
“Michigan fans will love this guy for winning. They’ll love him even more if he gets around to beating Michigan State, and even more than that, if he can finally find a way to get over Ohio State. But anybody who thinks that Harbaugh is wired to grow old in that job is kidding themselves. Enjoy it while it lasts, because even though it’s his alma mater, it probably won’t. This cat runs way too hot. If he can’t get through an August press session, media session, when they’re asking him about guys that are not in a team photo, this guy’s not going to last long.”
Rome said Harbaugh was "in midseason form."
Though Harbaugh has a history with awkward radio interactions --
he had a difficult interview with then-ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd in the summer of 2015 and Cowherd ended it early -- he was actually on Cowherd's show when that happened. This was Rome weighing in on Harbaugh's interactions with local reporters without Harbaugh present.
