If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And it’s tiresome. But it’s probably what Michigan signed up for when it got Jim Harbaugh.

The past month or so has been exhausting from a dispelling myths standpoint. That’s not to say that Harbaugh has helped himself at every step along the way, but the constant state of perpetual outrage surrounding the Wolverines head coach tends to mean that the slightest utterance will turn into something much bigger, much more controversial.

It started the first day of Big Ten Media Days, when Harbaugh appeared on Tim Kawakami’s podcast, via The Athletic. Kawakami asked him about Urban Meyer’s legacy — something that’s hard to comment on when he still has a head coaching job. How does one assess the breadth of one’s career while it’s still ongoing? Regardless, Harbaugh simply stated:

“Urban Meyer has had a great record, really phenomenal record everywhere he’s been,” Harbaugh said. “Also, controversy follows everywhere he’s been.”

The national reaction varied wildly. Some agreed with him, while others — seemingly the bigger group — saw it as sour grapes. That was our initial reaction, too. But the very next day, Harbaugh noted that people often ask him to speak his mind, and accuse him of obfuscating when he doesn’t. So this time around, he did, and people lost their minds.

Regardless, as he noted, what he said was true.

“No context you should know about,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t think it was anything that was anything new or anything of a bombshell. It was (something) many of you all have (understood) and have written about.”

Then there was a lot of nitpicking. ‘Well, he didn’t have problems at Utah and Bowling Green!’ Sure, but don’t we all know the history of Meyer at Florida and Ohio State? He had an obscene amount of troubled players down in Gainesville, and ultimately retired from the Buckeyes post after the Zach Smith fiasco. Yet, Harbaugh points it out, after being asked, and he was nationally ridiculed. ‘Why don’t you worry about beating Ohio State?’ tended to be the not-so-witty retort.

Never before has the ability to state an opinion, a fact or a truth been so contingent on a game’s outcome.

Then came the James Hudson transfer saga, which came into the spotlight that very night after Harbaugh inelegantly stated some of the issues with the current NCAA transfer rules. We still believe that he could have said what he clarified himself to mean better, as he went onto SiriusXM and said that players could claim to have mental health issues just to be deemed eligible after transferring. What wasn’t included was his proposal that the NCAA give all student-athletes a one-time transfer exception, and that part of his point was that players wouldn’t have to disclose mental health issues to coaching staffs if they weren’t so inclined — it could be dealt with privately, and they could still move on if that was in their best interests.

We spoke to two individuals who work in mental health, and they both agreed that Harbaugh is a strong advocate for the player and for mental wellness. Both either know Harbaugh, or had spoken to him in the immediate aftermath. But that didn’t keep people from dunking on him.

The Hudson saga got worse, as Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell claimed that Harbaugh had done things to hamper Hudson’s ability to become eligible. Harbaugh responded vehemently, noting that he has no say when it comes to the departing player, as the choice lies in the hands of the NCAA.

As it turns out, as prominent lawyer and NCAA transfer expert Tom Mars told The Detroit News, Harbaugh was 100% right.

“The myth that the enthusiastic support of the player’s former school can or will affect the outcome of a waiver request appears to be the result of sports writers, coaches, and the fans confusing the requirements for a ‘mitigating circumstances’ waiver and nearly all the other categories of waivers – none of which include a requirement that the former school ‘not object,’ but which contain specific documentation requirements that are not necessary for a ‘mitigating circumstances’ waiver,” Mars said. “It’s been my experience that the level of support from the player’s former school only affects the outcome when the waiver is sought under the ‘mitigating circumstances’ exception to the ‘year in residence’ requirement, or is sought under what’s commonly referred to as the ‘run off rule.’ I’m not aware of any waiver requests filed under the ‘family hardship’ or ‘athlete injury/illness’ exceptions where the level of support from the former school had any bearing on the NCAA staff’s decision to grant or deny the waiver.”

But soon after, the parents of former Michigan CB Myles Sims — who transferred to Georgia Tech this spring — took to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to echo what the Hudson family and Luke Fickell said about Michigan, after Sims was ruled ineligible by the NCAA. Jeremy Pruitt of Tennessee wondered aloud about transfer Aubrey Solomon’s case, as the ruling has yet to be decided upon.

The facts are this: there is an NCAA rule stipulating that a transfer who hasn’t yet graduated from school must sit out a year, unless an exception is made by the NCAA. Some are ruled eligible — Shea Patterson at Michigan, former Michigan LB Drew Singleton at Rutgers. Others, not so much, for various reasons. But to place the blame on Harbaugh is asinine. That actually is sour grapes. Harbaugh didn’t make the rules. He’s in no position to change them. And he’s the only FBS-level college coach advocating publicly and openly for a change to said rules to benefit the student-athlete. Yet, it’s convenient to put a surge of electricity into the lightning rod. In the Sims case, there were two other student-athletes denied immediate eligibility at Georgia Tech, yet, Harbaugh is singled out — not Dan Mullen at Florida or Manny Diaz at Miami, despite the other two players coming from those institutions.

Just as egregious is the newfound drama circulating a quote that Harbaugh said. In John U. Bacon’s newest book, Overtime, there’s a chapter about the rampant bending or skirting of the recruiting rules in the NCAA, which features several different viewpoints. That includes now-former players, not just from Michigan, current Michigan director of recruiting Matt Dudek, Bacon himself, and then Harbaugh, when he has a simple quote: ‘It’s hard to beat the cheaters.’

The Dudek portion of the chapter discusses his personal past, as well as how Michigan has to abide multiple factors in recruiting — not everyone who wants to come to Michigan can get in. If you’ve followed recruiting for some time, then you’ll remember the Wolverines securing the pledge of five-star corner Demar Dorsey on National Signing Day, but he would never enroll, as he couldn’t be admitted. That’s a fact and a truth, and something Dudek goes into, though not that case specifically. Bacon spends a large portion of said book explaining the ways in which Michigan strongly works to stay above the fray of recruiting impropriety, and in Chapter 32, near the end of the book, he ties it all together. Pretty harmless, right?

Sure, until multiple outlets put words in Jim Harbaugh’s mouth.

It started with a Forbes review, which highlighted said chapter, while adding commentary of their own on the state of recruiting and how much money goes into it. It’s a big business that exists outside of the traditional college football game day experience, after all. But then, multiple outlets went to aggregate the review, itself an aggregate of a book, and added, not just context that didn’t exist in the book, but words.

Headlines started appearing like ‘Jim Harbaugh says ‘It’s hard to beat the cheaters’ in the SEC.’ Or: ‘Frustrated Jim Harbaugh takes a shot at SEC ‘cheaters’.’ Guess what Jim Harbaugh never did, though? Single out a school, a region or a conference.

It’s been oft-discussed on TV and radio all week-long, with multiple outlets — and by proxy, fans of football, especially detractors of Harbaugh — as sour grapes. Naturally, because of the lack of context, given that none of the above have read the book (we have, our review is here, and it will be out Sept. 3), thus, they use the quote to mean whatever fits their narrative. They call Harbaugh a whiner, say he should worry about beating Ohio State and Florida, and that he needs to stop spouting off and talking too much.

But that’s just the thing: Harbaugh spoke his mind, and he isn’t wrong. The context in which he said ‘it’s hard to beat the cheaters’ wasn’t whining, it wasn’t complaining. It wasn’t talking about games on the field. It wasn’t calling any single institution or conference out. It was a simple fact, something that’s already been written about, opined about, and often discussed, albeit not openly.

But again — the vitriol for Harbaugh outweighed common sense. Outlets and fans who dislike him rushed to judgment, and the narrative has been set. Despite Bacon, the person who wrote the actual book who Harbaugh directly said the quote to, publicly dispelling all of the misinformation out there, what some wish he said has now become canon. It will follow him around forever now, even after the book is released. Because some interpreted what he said, based off incredibly limited information available to them, as the sensational thing they wanted to hear, and ran with it as they pleased. Months from now, assuredly, this and all of the aforementioned will be said in the same breath as Harbaugh and Michigan.

Nevermind that Harbaugh didn’t whine or say what some say he did.

Nevermind that he has nothing to do with the NCAA’s transfer process.

Nevermind that he’s been strongly advocating for change that would actually benefit those who are slamming him.

Nevermind that Urban Meyer has actually had controversy follow him, at least as long as he’s risen to college football prominence.

The truth is the truth, and, as Harbaugh said two weeks ago, that’s what he’s most interested in. It’s a shame that when it comes to him, that many in the media and in the college football landscape aren’t so honest.

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