Jim Harbaugh Takes Shot at Luke Fickell Over James Hudson Transfer Waiver Saga
By Michael Luciano
The James Hudson transfer saga is getting messier and messier, as now coaches have resorted to taking shots at one another.
The offensive tackle transferred from Michigan, opting to join Cincinnati and citing mental health as one of the reasons for leaving the program on his transfer waiver application. Hudson was denied immediate eligibility following his transfer. Harbaugh, who has previously accused players of using mental health as a bogus reason to get a waiver approved, took a shot at Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell after he claimed that Michigan did not do their part to get the waiver approved.
Harbaugh said he spoke to Fickell in March: "I said, ‘Coach, my understanding of this is you seem to think there’s something that this is some kind of coach-to-coach, we’re going to work a deal here, and that’s not my understanding of how this process works.’ "
— angelique (@chengelis) August 14, 2019
Harbaugh's diatribe against the former Ohio State defensive coordinator didn't stop there, as he accused Fickell outright of lying and calling him "erroneous" for stating that Michigan blocked the waiver.
Harbaugh when asked where it's coming from that Michigan blocked Hudson waiver: "Coming from Luke Fickell. He’s erroneous erroneous. Michigan did not block the waiver. We wish James Hudson well. ... The way the process works right now, those waivers are decided by the NCAA.
— angelique (@chengelis) August 14, 2019
And with this we have literally a worst-case scenario. Two grown adults get into a pissing match over which person was "more wrong" while a kid suffering from mental health is forced to sit out a year away from the game he loves.
From top to bottom, this situation is a mess and underscores college football's problems with both coaches' egos, the transfer system, and how it deals with mental health.