Jim Harbaugh Speaks For Paying Players By Making The Cuts Required

During the College Football Playoff National Championship media day on Saturday, Jim Harbaugh brushed off any inquiries regarding his future and instead used his time to promote revenue sharing for collegiate athletes.

Jim Harbaugh Speaks For Paying Players By Making The Cuts Required

The Michigan coach expressed his optimism that the sport’s quick evolution will enable revenue sharing to eventually become a reality in university athletics, not just football, because he believes that coaches, administrators, and broadcast networks are all “robbing the same train” by profiting on underpaid college athletes.

In order to make the proposal materialize, Harbaugh, 60, argued for 5-to 10% reductions in the wages of coaches and administrators as well as broadcast contracts, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Jim Harbaugh on paying college athletes: “The billions that are being generated, they’re not getting much of.”

Suggests everyone profiting off college athletes, himself included, should take a 5-10% pay cut and put it toward the players. pic.twitter.com/nqtEb8rYiT

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) January 6, 2024

“There used to be a saying: Old coaches — my dad’s used it, my brother’s used it — like, hey, ‘We’re all robbing the same train here,” Harbaugh said, per ESPN. “Like coaches, administrators, media, television stations, conferences, NCAA. And the ones that are really robbing the train, the ones that could really get hurt are getting a very small piece. So that needs to change, too. That needs to change.

“It’s one thing for somebody to say, well, they’re getting NIL, but the billions that are being generated, they’re not getting much of, a very small percentage. They’re getting the same amount as I got in the ’80s. You’re getting a scholarship, room, board, books and tuition. So it’s like, come on, man, let’s do the  right thing here.”

Once again, Jim Harbaugh says that everyone profiting off of college athletes — himself included — should take a 5-10% pay cut and split it with players.

"It's time to share." pic.twitter.com/pqQm0G086V

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 6, 2024

He spent the greatest time and thought in his responses, however, discussing the “ever-growing, ever-increasing revenue that it’d be right for the student-athletes, not just football, all student-athletes, to share in.”

In 2012, Steve Spurrier, the head coach of South Carolina at the time, stated that if players could get a little stipend, coaches would be ready to forfeit a tiny portion of their pay.

Though it never materialized, Harbaugh stated more than ten years later that he believes there is increased optimism as changes are occurring throughout the sport.

Jim Harbaugh makes plea for major cuts to pay college players: ‘Robbing the same train’ https://t.co/bRiPPdlmhT pic.twitter.com/gP9NlaXC2y

— New York Post (@nypost) January 6, 2024

Reportedly earning a base salary of $7.63 million, Harbaugh stated in November that he would accept a lower income under his contract if it meant that players would get compensation.

In his remarks on Saturday, Harbaugh mentioned how the Pac-12 conference as a whole effectively entered the transfer portal this year, altering the college football scene.

Ironically, that change will place Michigan’s CFP opponent in the Big Ten the following season.

“We’re all robbing the same train here.”

Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh believes that everyone profiting off of college athletes should take a 5-10% pay cut and split it with players — himself included.

"It's time to share.” 💯 pic.twitter.com/ypKoEUEDL0

— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) January 6, 2024

Even while Harbaugh acknowledged that he wasn’t the one to come up with the idea, he did add that there are capable individuals who could arrange for income sharing.

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