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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Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
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Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
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