Jim Harbaugh walked off a press conference on Monday evening when the reporters in attendance asked too many questions for his liking. It's a ridiculous reason to for a coach to leave a press conference, but it's a Harbaugh reason as well. If you're surprised by that reaction, you simply haven't been paying attention.
As he is wont to do, Jim Rome criticized Harbaugh for it.
"With that a walk off," he said, via the Detroit Free Press. "With that line of questioning. That is not an unfair question. What that is a jerk move by the coach. That is not an unfair question or an unfair line of questioning. Like coach, you have multiple players unaccounted for, nobody knows where they are or what happened to them.
"You know why they want a second question, a third question Jim? Because you didn’t answer the first question. If you answered the first question, there would be no need for a second question, a third question a fourth question ..."
He continued.
“Maybe you forgot over the summer that it’s their job to cover your team, not ask you what your favorite Drake album is," Rome said. "Just like they’re not there to write another tired story about your latest throwback jersey, or your Walmart khakis, or your latest shirtless photo from satellite camp, or another crackback on the SEC. They’re not on your staff, they do not work for the university. You preside over an alleged national power. If you suspend guys, reporters are going to ask you about it. They’re just doing their job, so you should do yours and answer the question.
“If anybody thought this was going to be a kinder, gentler Harbaugh since he went home to Ann Arbor to rescue the football program, make no mistake, it’s the same exact guy. Nothing’s changed. Same guy. Same insanely intense dude that got run from Frisco, because he was miserable. He runs way too hot and he was wearing people out. Don’t get it twisted now. Great coach, unbelievable coach, I’m sure he’ll do a great job there. But when you have a coach who wins as he wins and nobody is ever sorry to see him leave, that tells you a little something about that guy.”
“So with that 10-win season in the rear view, God help anybody who asks him who his starting quarterback is gonna to be. Or how come he can’t beat Urban Meyer, or when he’s going to beat Urban Meyer, or why he pulled a scholarship from a recruit. Good luck with any of that.
“Michigan fan will love this guy for winning. They’ll love him even more if he gets around to beating Michigan State, and even more than that, if he can finally find a way to get over Ohio State. But anybody who thinks that Harbaugh is wired to grow old in that job is kidding themselves. Enjoy it while it lasts, because even though it’s his alma mater, it probably won’t. This cat runs way too hot. If he can’t get through an August press session, media session, when they’re asking him about guys that are not in a team photo, this guy’s not going to last long.”
Harbaugh, being Harbaugh, responded.
It's become clear by now that Harbaugh is the Donald Trump of college football: an outsized personality that plays well in small doses but lacks the ability to just let anything go. When was the last time Jim Rome was relevant in everyday conversation? 1995? But because, like Trump, Harbaugh stays stuck on attack attack attack mode at all times, a story that didn't make Harbaugh look good in the first place lives a day longer than it should. Update: And now Rome fires back. Because why wouldn't he?