Jim Harbaugh had a press conference with the media on Tuesday night to discuss the progress that Michigan Football has made in fall camp and some of the players that stood about, but spent a good portion of the end of his presser to address the story in The Athletic where Cincinnati head coach took issue with the way the transfer of James Hudson was handled.
Harbaugh was asked about it and responded on Tuesday night and says that it seems as if Fickell was trying to “coach him” into saying something differently than what happened.
Harbaugh went on for a good seven minutes or so on the topic, which we have in full and can be viewed below.
Here were Fickell’s comments to The Athletic:
“Here’s what I believe in the whole waiver process: the number one, most important thing, and all the power, comes from the school that a kid is leaving. No matter what. (Michigan) didn’t back the waiver. They can say what they want to say, but the only thing they said that was positive was that if the NCAA chooses to make (Hudson) eligible, then they would accept it — that they didn’t have an angle. They are just trying to cover their ass. And I’m really, completely disappointed in it.
“They can say they didn’t undermine it, but they didn’t work to help the kid out.”
“I called him to say that I don’t know what’s going on with all these waivers, but I know James is here,” Fickell said. “Are you guys going to be vindictive against him, or do you want to help this kid? ...
“All (Harbaugh) said to me was, ‘I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to lie. And I don’t know why we’re talking.’ It was really cold. I talked to Nick Saban because we have a transfer from Alabama. I talked to Ryan Day because we have a kid from Ohio State. We have a kid from Michigan, so I wanted to reach out, not to ask about the kid, but acknowledging that this kid has some issues and are you willing to help him? Or what are you willing to do? And it was pretty cold.”
Now, we await what’s next, but it seems as if this story is back in the spotlight for the time being.