U-M AD: Harbaugh’s exit won’t impact probes
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Dan Murphy, ESPN Staff Writer
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said Wednesday that he doesn’t expect Jim Harbaugh’s departure will have a significant impact on the two open NCAA investigations into potential rule violations during Harbaugh’s time as the Wolverines’ football coach.
Harbaugh took a job with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers in late January after winning a national title at Michigan to cap his nine-season tenure at his alma mater. The NCAA opened a pair of investigations into Harbaugh’s program during his final two years on the job — one related to alleged recruiting violations during the pandemic and another about an alleged illegal scouting operation. Manuel said he has not received any updates from the NCAA on either case in recent weeks.
“Their investigation is ongoing,” he said. “I don’t think [Harbaugh’s departure] will change any of their investigation. It just will continue to move forward, and we’ll see where it goes from there. We’ll continue to work with them. We’ll continue to support their efforts to investigate.”
Manuel, who spoke to reporters while introducing a new business partnership designed to increase name, image and likeness opportunities for Michigan’s athletes, also said he has been pleased to see the progress that new head coach Sherrone Moore has made in building his coaching staff.
Michigan lost several assistant coaches in the wake of Harbaugh’s departure — including the entire defensive staff and strength coach Ben Herbert, who followed Harbaugh to the Chargers. Manuel said Wednesday that Michigan had already planned on adding “a couple million dollars” to the budget for football assistants before Harbaugh’s departure, and that he and Moore both made efforts to retain as many coaches as possible.
“I won’t go into details, but all those discussions have occurred,” Manuel said. “People made choices to leave. It wasn’t because of a lack of effort on our part to keep people here.”
Manuel said he didn’t begrudge any of those former staff members looking for other opportunities, and that their exit gave Moore a chance to establish an identity for the team that he wants, especially on the defensive side of the ball. According to ESPN sources, Moore recently hired former New York Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to have the same position in Ann Arbor.
Moore promoted quarterbacks coach Kirk Campbell to offensive coordinator and shifted Grant Newsome, the team’s tight ends coach, to overseeing the offensive line, which Moore handled the past three seasons. Michigan also promoted special teams analyst J.B. Brown to special teams coordinator, replacing Jay Harbaugh, who is a son of Jim Harbaugh and took a position with the Seattle Seahawks.
Although Martindale and others are expected to join the staff, Michigan has announced only one outside assistant coach hire so far — tight ends coach Steve Casula, who had been UMass’ offensive coordinator. Moore promoted Justin Tress to replace Herbert and oversee the team’s strength and conditioning.
Along with adding money to the assistant coaches pool, Manuel said he has been working for many months to be as aggressive as possible in pursuing ways for their players to make money through NIL deals. He announced a new partnership Wednesday with Learfield and Altius Sports Partners that will bring an executive general manager to Michigan’s campus to coordinate and increase NIL opportunities for Wolverines athletes in all sports.
Manuel said he “will take” the criticism he has received from Michigan fans who think the school has been too conservative in their approach to NIL thus far, but that he thinks the school has been active in trying to promote opportunities for its athletes. Solly Fulp, who serves as Learfield’s executive vice president for NIL operations, said out of the 100-plus schools his company works with on NIL, Michigan is one of the top five schools in number of deals completed by their athletes.
Manuel said he sees this new partnership as a “long-term investment” to put Michigan in position to make the most of the evolving ways in which college athletes can make money. He said he believes schools will be sharing more revenue with their athletes in the near future.
“The timeline is quickening by the day,” he said. “It’s a realization that we have to continue to think about what we provide for our student-athletes. I think it’s going to happen more quickly than not.”
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.
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Max Olson
Oklahoma defensive tackle David Stone entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, sources told ESPN.
Stone, a former five-star recruit and the No. 6 overall player in the ESPN 300 for the 2024 class, made the surprising decision to enter the portal after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman with the Sooners. The 6-foot-3 313-pounder saw limited playing time, playing 88 snaps and recording 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and 1 sack.
Stone was expected to compete for a more significant role as a sophomore, and Oklahoma coach Brent Venables recently praised him as the Sooners’ most improved defensive tackle this offseason.
The Oklahoma native finished his high school career at IMG Academy in Florida and was a significant recruiting victory for Venables and his coaching staff in August 2023. Stone chose the Sooners over Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Michigan State.
The SEC does not grant immediate eligibility to players who transfer within the conference during the spring transfer window, so Stone would need to sit out the 2025 season if he moves on to another SEC program.
Oklahoma returns its top three defensive tackles from 2024 in Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton and Jayden Jackson. It also added Trent Wilson, the No. 164 recruit in the ESPN 300 for 2025, as an early enrollee this spring.
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Max Olson
Quarterback Ryan Browne has decided to transfer back to Purdue after joining North Carolina earlier this offseason.
Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.
North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.
Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.
Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.
By returning to West Lafayette, Browne will get an opportunity to compete for a starting job with Arkansas transfer Malachi Singleton, Washington State transfer Evans Chuba and Bennett Meredith, a former Arizona State transfer.
The Boilermakers lost one quarterback, EJ Colson, to the transfer portal earlier this week.
Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.
Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.
He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.
“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”
As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.
“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”
Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.
Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.
“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”
Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.
“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.
Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.
‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”
He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.
Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.
Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.
“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”
Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.
“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”
Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.
“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”
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