EAST LANSING, Mich. — Come on Jim, stop complaining about the officials. I’m sick of hearing about the MSU game. It’s not a good look for you.
And Mel, you gotta coach better.
There.
Equal bashing.
Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh has to be better. Because whining about the officials is not a good look, especially nine days after MSU beat Michigan, 37-33.
And Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker has to coach better. Because his team’s performance Saturday against Purdue was horrendous and some of that falls on the coaching.
Can we just move on?
But no. Harbaugh won’t stop.
On Monday, Harbaugh was asked by a reporter in Ann Arbor if the Big Ten office called him to discuss the officiating in the MSU game.
“Yeah, as we all expected, all saw, mistakes were made,” Harbaugh told reporters during his weekly news conference.
“You heard from them?” the reporter asked.
Harbaugh: “That was the response, they made a mistake.”
Reporter: “On that call?”
Harbaugh: “Yeah. And others.”
Reporter: “So they said they said they made mistakes on other calls?”
Harbaugh: “Yes.”
Reporter: “Just being clear.”
Harbaugh: “Can't be any more clear than that."
Reporter: “Well there were a lot of calls, that's why I wasn't sure.”
Harbaugh: “Yeah, there were. The film doesn’t lie, you know.”
Ugh.
Just stop it already.
Different coaches, totally different responses
Less than an hour later, Tucker stood at a podium in East Lansing, his voice hoarse.
He sounded like a guy who had spent the morning coaching his team.
Not complaining about the officials.
“Obviously, give Purdue credit. But however, the lack of execution on a consistent basis — offensively, defensively and special teams was very, very disappointing and unacceptable," he said, reflecting on Purdue’s 40-29 victory Saturday over MSU." And we need to get it fixed. So we'll do that. And that's what our focus is going to be this week.”
I know Tucker is still building his team, still building a culture, still putting his pieces in place. But when you come out that bad across the board, everybody is to blame: the players, the coaches, everybody.
Tucker spent Monday morning trying to fix what went wrong at Purdue. And there were countless things that went wrong against Purdue. He held meetings with his coaches, trying to find solutions for numerous issues. And he met with a leadership council to set the right tone.
Tucker was brutally honest: The Spartans have to play better.
He didn’t make excuses.
This is how a coach is supposed to act. This is how you build a winning culture.
And when he was asked about a call in the Purdue game, he wouldn’t go there.
“I don't like to talk about bad calls,” Tucker said during his weekly news conference. “That's not part of our culture. We don't like to make excuses about anything. I think that makes your program soft. I think it gives your coaches and your players a way out, so I don’t even like to talk about it that much."
Woah!
Was Tucker talking about Harbaugh? I can’t say for sure. But after the two coaches held news conferences, you couldn’t have a starker contrast between them.
Tucker sounded classy, professional and accepted blame.
Harbaugh sounded stuck in the past, not-so-subtly making excuses for losing to MSU, which is a weak attempt at absolving blame.
Now, I know what you can say: “He was just answering a question.”
But you know what?
Harbaugh didn’t have to answer it. He is a master at news conference deflection, answering questions only the way he wants.
Harbaugh knew what he was doing. He could have turned the discussion to Penn State.
He could have talked about anything but the officiating.
When will we just move on?
Personally, I hate talking about officiating. Complaining about officials is the loser’s lament.
But some fans can’t let this go because Harbaugh won’t let it.
Maybe, you think U-M got hosed against MSU, and I can appreciate your passion.
But your coach should not be talking about it a week and a half later.
Maybe, you’re a Sparty fan and you think Harbaugh looks like a petulant child for obsessing about this, at a time when he should be focused on Penn State.
But I think the Spartans should be more worried about their pass defense.
Maybe, you are a Michigan fan, and you love that Harbaugh is speaking out. But I don’t quite understand that. Because all the complaining in the world won’t change the outcome.
The game is done.
Michigan State won.
Move on.
Both coaches have done a fine job this season. And both teams have a chance to end the season in a magical way. It’s all out in front of them, if they can learn from their mistakes.
Harbaugh needs to stop talking about the refs and Tucker needs to coach better.
Because whining is ugly and that’s what Harbaugh has been doing.
And losing to Purdue the way the Spartans did was ugly, too.
Both sides should be embarrassed.
For different reasons.
