For a Michigan football coach, your toughest challenge isn’t Michigan State or Ohio State. It’s all the other people who wear Maize and Blue but are not cheering for you. Some of them are your bosses.
Leaked DMs from U-M Regent Jordan Acker show what Jim Harbaugh was up against as he rebuilt Michigan into a powerhouse. And they show the biggest barrier to Michigan landing a top coach to replace Sherrone Moore.
In 2018, Acker was dishing to Jeff Moss of Detroit Sports Rag about potential moves on Harbaugh’s offensive coaching staff.
His information wasn’t very good, either. Acker said Harbaugh’s son Jay might be leaving, and that Greg Roman might be coming.
Jay left Michigan when Jim did, years later, after winning the 2023 national championship. Roman never came but is Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers. Oops.
Later, Acker told Moss that he’s “been texting friends with NFL contacts how great Jim is to work with,” followed by two crying-laughing emojis.
“Denise wants to (fire) him so badly,” Acker added, taking it upon himself to speak for fellow Regent Denise Ilitch.
“I told her I’d agree if she’d retire Sergei’s number,” Acker said, referring to Red Wings legend Sergei Federov. The Ilitch family owns the Detroit Red Wings.
The Wings retired Federov’s 91 in August, years after Acker’s attempt at horse-trading, years after Harbaugh left for sunnier pastures.
In another exchange, Acker tells Moss he thought Harbaugh would leave Michigan after 2021.
“For what?” Moss asked. “Right to Life director?”
“NFL coach,” Acker replied.
“Nobody wants him,” Moss said.
If he thought he was confiding in a friend, Acker is a fool. If he thought Moss would leak the messages and that would run Harbaugh off, he’s an idiot.
If Jordan Acker had his way, the magical 2023 season would have never happened. Harbaugh would have left years before he turned Michigan around.
These leaks come at the worst possible time. Michigan is looking for a new head coach after Moore crashed out, with the whole world watching.
Coaches like Kenny Dillingham of Arizona State are kicking the tires on Michigan right now. The pay raise and resources Michigan can offer are immense.
But Michigan is not a school that can boast an aligned leadership right now.
U-M has an interim president and an athletic director on the thinnest of ice. In the absence of clear and unified leadership, a scheming regent like Acker is the loudest voice in the room.
Why does UM have an interim president? Acker played a role in that, too.
Acker was part of a group of four regents who ran off the popular Santa Ono, who led Michigan during the height of the Harbaugh era. When Ono refused to defend DEI (because why would he?), Acker and company took to the pages of the New York Times.
Ono soon left for the University of Florida.
But if Ono’s lack of support for DEI led him to leave Michigan, his past support for DEI cost him Florida. Ono now heads up a research institute founded by U-M donor Larry Ellison.
And why is Athletic Director Warde Manuel in peril?
Tom Mars, a former lawyer for Harbaugh, revealed that after Harbaugh left for the NFL, Acker slid in his DMs looking for negatives to pin on Manuel.
He wanted Mars to say that Harbaugh had complained about Manuel, to make a case that the athletic director is why he left U-M.
Of course, such an explanation would get Acker off the hook for Harbaugh’s departure. Forget the leaky regent. Blame the athletic director!
But Mars wouldn’t play ball, because Harbaugh had no problem with Manuel.
Acker has raised issue with the way Sherrone Moore was fired and called for a D.C. law firm to investigate the “culture” of Michigan athletics. Because what you want to do when you’re trying to hire a football coach is sit criss-cross apple sauce for a culture review from HR.
Jordan Acker has done more to destabilize Michigan than to strengthen it. Not very smart. And not very regent-like.
If Ohio State is one big happy family, winning national championships and beating Michigan again, U-M is the family from “Knives Out.”
Not even Jim Harbaugh, the savior of Michigan Football, could bring everybody together.
Why would Kenny Dillingham, at 35 years old, think he could? Why would Kalen DeBoer leave Alabama for Michigan?
Jordan Acker’s time as a news source has not gone well for Michigan. What success the football program had was in direct contradiction to his efforts to undermine it.
Michigan knows what the wilderness looks like after the Rodriguez-Hoke era. Right now, the football program is closer to that than it is a national championship.
The next football coach needs to be a day one winner. But loose lips sink bluebloods. Jordan Acker’s Twitter fingers are an obstacle that no worthy coach would embrace.
Regent Acker, delete your X account. Do it for the good of Michigan.
James David Dickson is an enjoyer of Michigan and host of the James Dickson Podcast. Join him in conversation on X at @downi75.
