Jim Harbaugh has never been one to shy away from world issues and that out front attitude has made friends and enemies. In a recent tweet Harbaugh lent his 140 characters to the violence in Virginia that took place over the weekend.
Anyone who demonstrates through violence, terror or intimidation are embarrassments to our country & are truly disrespectful to our flag.
Harbaugh lent partial support to Colin Kaepernick when the silent protest during the national anthem scandal began initially. Kaepernick’s former head coach in San Francisco supported the right to protest but did not like the way it was done. What happened next is why his players seem to really follow Harbaugh’s hard charging style of leadership. After a number of Michigan players decided to protest during the anthem by raising their fists, Harbaugh spoke to his players and changed his view.
“When you really stop and listen and know where Colin is coming from … he’s trying to do this for his future kids, for my kids, for all of our kids. He’s a special person and a hero, in my opinion.”
In 2015 Harbaugh took to Twitter after the University decided to show the movie American Sniper, which cause a student lead petition drive against this action. Harbaugh tweeted:
“Michigan Football will watch “American Sniper”! Proud of Chris Kyle & Proud to be an American & if that offends anybody then so be it!”
Harbaugh’s influence and power at the University was on display very early as this was only his second year as the head coach. He reached out to the protesting students which lead to a meeting in which those details have not been released. The meeting was described as ‘a good discussion’ between Harbaugh and the small group of Muslim students. University officials decided to show the movie on campus amid the student protest after Harbaugh’s tweet was favorited over 38,000 times and retweeted over 32,000 times. Harbaugh is definitely not afraid to take on opponents on and off the field, and hopefully he understands the power of his influence.