Criticizing the officials is a sure-fire way to draw the ire of commissioners from little league to the big leagues and all points in between.
So it should come as no surprise that Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh is officially being reprimanded and the school is being fined $10,000 by the Big Ten conference. This punishment comes following his tirade against the officials in his post-game press conference after his team lost to Ohio State in double overtime on Saturday, ending the Wolverines’ hopes of playing for the Big Ten title and, possibly, a national title.
Jim Harbaugh's postgame tirades earns reprimand from Big Ten, $10,000 fine for Michigan. pic.twitter.com/39XpFIvpOH
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 28, 2016
No doubt the emotions were running high for the Michigan man after a loss to their bitter rivals, but Harbaugh crossed a major line with his blatant disrespect of officials.
In his tirade, Harbaugh accused officials of not knowing the rules after getting hit for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for slamming his play chart to the ground.
If you throw a hat, if you throw your script toward your sideline, that’s a penalty? The lineman said ‘it is in basketball.’ I said ‘this isn’t basketball.’ He told me that he officiates basketball. I don’t know the relevance. He said it would have been a technical in basketball.
The Michigan head coach took it another step further, accusing the refs of favoritism in dealing with sideline warnings and the like.
“The official on my side … is concerned about whether our coaches are in the white or not in the white – not on the field,” said Harbaugh. “Their coaches were on the field, practically in the huddle at times.”
Oh, and he started the whole press conference with a “they were awful” blast.
Harbaugh had to see this coming the second he opened his mouth though, so we’re guessing he’s already fired off the $10,000 check to the league office and had his “come to Jesus” meeting with administrators and league officials.
Luckily for him, that tirade will have time to cool off because his Wolverines won’t see a Big Ten officiating crew until spring football rolls around, thanks to the loss to OSU this past weekend.
