8 — Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Harbaugh comments on California NLI law

Jim Harbaugh was asked an 
open-ended question Monday, as 
reporters searched for his thoughts 
on the California bill that was 
passed last week allowing players 
to profit off their name, image and 
likeness. 
As the hot-button topic of the 
college sports landscape, it’s more 
than a reasonable question to ask of 
the highest-paid figure in the state 
of Michigan.
Harbaugh used the chance 
to expound upon — even flesh 
out — his own thoughts about 
amateurism, 
pay-for-play 
and 
potential reform options.
“My feeling would be that 
college football is an amateur 
status,” Harbaugh said, before 
detailing 
several 
hypothetical 
options to alter the system. “I think 
the fair thing to do would be, not 
to restrict players to have to stay in 
college for three years. They could 
be drafted after their freshman 
year, they could be drafted after 
their sophomore year, they can be 
drafted after their junior year, their 
senior year. I would also make a 
rule that if they weren’t drafted, 
they could return. 
“And they could also be very 
productive, if somebody were 
to leave after their freshman or 
sophomore or junior year and they 
hadn’t finished their degree, they’d 
have the ability within a certain 
timespan to come back and finish 
their degree. That would be what I 
would suggest or propose.”
After being pressed with a 
follow-up, Harbaugh said that he 
would, indeed, consider proposing 
that to the NCAA. That potential 
system would model that of college 
basketball, which is also rife with 
criticism at the moment. 
Still, though Harbaugh’s long-
winded 
answers 
opened 
new 
avenues worth exploring, he hardly 
touched on the central thematic 
tension: 
compensation. 
Asked 
in a more direct manner about 
payment, he offered a different 
potential reform.

“I 
wouldn’t 
be 
against 
(payment),” 
Harbaugh 
said. 
“There could be a system that, like 
the scholarship, it’s really worth 
upwards of $100,000 or more, 
when you factor in room, board, 
food, travel, the many things. And 
that’s per scholarship, 85 players. 
You could have a system that cuts 
all scholarships in half — instead 
of 85 scholarships, there’s 42 
scholarships. Forty-two players 
would play the scholarship plus 
the $100,000. If you did that across 
all sports, the budget could stay 
the same. It could be financially 
feasible. Kind of think the other 
way would be better. There’s 
amateur and there’s pro, and there’s 
no restriction for someone to take 
their shot at playing football.”
Harbaugh’s off-the-cuff musings 
are relatively representative of the 
national conversation writ large; 
one in which, while the rumblings 
continue to grow, the concrete 
ideas of amending — or abolishing 
— amateurism remain in the 
introductory phase.
Players, of course, will have 
their say in the matter as well. 
Asked throughout the week about 
the California bill, most Michigan 
players largely deflected answers. 
They pointed out that any reform 
would have no impact on their 
careers, and as such, they hadn’t 

invested too deeply in the outcomes. 
Without push from athletes, 
though, there could be no such 
major reform. Many, specifically 
more 
experienced 
players, 
understand their role in that — if 
still stopping short of being the 
harbingers of change.
“It’s really something that I’ve 
never 
really 
actually 
thought 
hard about,” said senior left tackle 
Jon Runyan. “But I think that 
basketball, and how they have it 
set up, where you can declare for 
the draft, go through the whole 
process, as long as you don’t sign an 
agent, and you can make a decision 
to come back to school … seems 
something that I guess is pretty 
reasonable.”
In college basketball, players 
must remain in school for one year 
prior to entering the draft, and 
can declare any year thereafter. 
The rule to which Runyan is 
referring, which permits player 
to enter their names in the NBA 
draft and participate in workouts 
before determining whether to 
leave or return to school, has 
been met with near-unanimous 
approval from players. It does bring 
about difficulties for coaches in 
formalizing rosters in advance of 
the season, and has had a marked 
impact on the transfer market as 
a result. Players, in that scenario, 

moved the needle.
Players 
like 
Runyan 
will 
undoubtedly have a say in the 
future of the sport. But it remains 
Harbaugh’s opinion which wields 
the most power. 
His presence drives hundreds 
of millions in revenue each year. 
His salary exceeds $8 million 
annually. Throughout his career, 
his traditionalist reputation has 
frequently been misplaced — he is, 
in many respects, a player’s coach. 
Harbaugh’s openness to reform, 
if still vague, serves as an example 
of the rising tides readying to flood 
the landscape. Coaches, it seems, 
should prepare themselves or be 
washed away.
“If you’re a tennis player and 
you’d like to be a professional 
tennis player at 17, you can be 
a professional tennis player at 
17,” Harbaugh said. “To give the 
opportunity to somebody to be a 
professional football player when 
they’re 19, 20, 21. It’s not a long time. 
But the window to be a professional 
football player, if somebody’s good 
enough to do that, and then return 
and finish their degree probably 
would be appreciated and not taken 
for granted, and looked at for the 
value that it is — it’s hundreds of 
thousands of dollars for a college 
education these days, plus room 
and board, books and tuition.”

H

ave you ever looked 
down on the the rink 
at Yost Ice Arena, 
watching the Michigan hockey 
team skate from red line to red 
line and wondered, “Maybe I’m 
faster than one of the guys on 
the team?”
Well, the short answer is 
no.
Odds are, you cannot skate 
faster than a Division I hockey 
player. 
And I’ll 
give you 
a hint, 
the long 
answer is 
also no, 
and I tried 
with more 
embarrass-
ing insight 
and head-
shaking 
perfor-
mances.
On Sunday night, 
immediately after the 
exhibition game against 
Windsor, the Wolverines 
hosted a “Skate With the 
Wolverines” event. It’s pretty 
self-explanatory, but in case 
you’re as slow on the uptake as 
I was on the ice, players met 
with fans in the rink to take 
pictures and sign autographs.
Except for me. I didn’t wait 
in line to ask for pictures or 
autographs. I made my way to 
the unsuspecting players, ask-
ing for just one thing — speed.
***
To give you some context on 
how fast the players were in 
our race, I’ll tell you about my 
skating ability first, for a point 
of comparison.
I’m going to be honest and 
say straight up, I’m an average 
skater — and I work at an ice 
rink. 
In Memphis, Tenn., though, 
where I’m from, there were no 
nearby ice rinks. Before 2011, 
when a local suburb built an 
ice house about an hour away, 
the closest rink was a two-
hour drive to Mississippi.
So my first time ice skating 
was December of my fresh-
man year at Michigan, during 
a public skate session of Yost. 
I went on a weekly basis my 
sophomore and junior year and 

got pretty decent.
And to give you an even bet-
ter read, I went back out to 
Yost Monday to time myself in 

peak 
con-
ditions 
— no breakfast, no lunch and 
no sleep. Averaged on three 
attempts, here were my times:
From blue line to blue line: 
3.38 seconds.
From the tip of the face-off 
circle to the far blue line: 4.70 
seconds.
A full lap around the rink: a 
mere 21.07 seconds.
The fastest lap time with a 
standing start in the NHL is 
Connor McDavid’s 13.31 sec-
onds. I guess you can say I’m 
pretty elite.
***
The people behind the skate 
rental booth pointed to the 
hallway at the entrance of the 
arena.
“We left all the skates over 
there,” they said, in spite of my 

pleas that I couldn’t find them.
I had dropped off my pair of 
CCM skates at the booth before 
the game, and anticipating that 
the players would be preoccu-
pied with the fans until the 
end, I waited until 
the last 

five minutes 
of the open skate before 
making my way down. 
But I couldn’t find my 
skates.
By the time the workers 
found them, there was only one 
minute running on the over-
head clock — indicating the 
time left for the event. I threw 
on my skates and made my way 
to the ice. 
Out of breath and out of 
time, I start circling around 
looking for the perfect prey. 
I stopped in front of goalten-
der Jack Leavy and looked up. 
My fellow Daily hockey writers 
were camped at the top of the 
press box on floor five and had 
been peering over the ledge to 
watch me.
“Him?” I mouthed to them, 
pointing in his direction.
One of them shook their 
head. Smart. He’s 6-foot-5; 

those strides would be lethal.
I then shifted my attention 
to senior goaltender Hayden 
Lavigne. Again, I pointed and 
looked up quizzically. 
Two of them crossed their 
arms to make an ‘X’. Smart. 
He’s 6-foot-3; still too tall for 
comfort.
Then my 

eyes 
laid on 
Strauss 
Mann. 
Three thumbs 
up from my co-
writers carried me to 
the front of the line where I 
challenged him to a race.
“Hey, yo listen,” I explained 
to him. “I lost a bet with my 
editors, and so now I have to 
ask one of y’all to race me and 
write a story on it. You cool 
with that?”
That was a lie, by the way. 
But he looked at me confusing-
ly before seeing the credential 
I pointed to. He then nodded in 
understanding before smiling.
“Wow, so you ask the goal-
ie?” he retorted. “Alright, give 

me a moment.”
He finished up taking pic-
tures before skating to the blue 
line.
“Alright, let’s do blue line to 
blue line,” Mann said, pointing 
end to end.
I guess he 

wasn’t 
ready 
for that 
full 
ice lap. 
People 
often tell 
me I can be 
intimidating 
on open ice. 
And it probably 
didn’t help that 
while Mann 
was getting 
ready, I kept 
telling to 
Alex, the 
Daily pho-
tographer 
next to 
me, that 
I was 
the 
great-
est 
of all 
time.

But we 
lined up on the blue line and 
readied ourselves. And then we 
raced.
Stride for stride, I honestly 
held my own. To be fair, Mann 
had to race after a game, in full 
pads and maybe (definitely) 
didn’t put full effort, but I’ll 
take a win.
We crossed mid-ice at the 
same rate, but it’s the second 
half where I always make my 

mark. With four strides, I 
pushed my way past Mann to 
beat him by centimeters. He 
leaned forward and stretched 
out his hand, but to no avail.
I was a winner.
Curling around the ice 
with me, he 
stretched out 
his hand, 
again, this 
time for a 
fist bump.
“I’m tired 
from the game,” 
Mann said.
I let him leave with 
his dignity, of course. Feel-
ing a little bit more confident 
in myself, I spotted my next 
victim. Jake Slaker was leaning 
against the opposing bench. I 
looked up again for affirma-
tion and was met with vicious 
nodding.
“Hey Jake, how are you feel-
ing about a race?” I asked.
“Sure thing, just let me tie 
my skates,” Slaker said.
He skated to the side and 
bent over to tie his skates.
“Am I letting you win?” Slak-
er said, smiling.
“Nah, go all out,” I said. “All 
out.”
“Like should I give you a 
head start and then beat you, 
or should…?” Slaker said.
“All out.”
At first, we had decided on 
a full lap, with different start 
points, but after realizing how 
it would turn out, we both 
agreed to a blue-line-to-blue-
line race — for me. Slaker 
would start from the top of the 
faceoff circle, a maybe-20 foot 
handicap.
“Let me know when to go,” 
Slaker said after the two of us 
lined up.
“Alright. 3, 2, 1,” I said. “ 
Go.”
It took him 3.36 seconds to 
beat me. He closed half the gap 
by the time we crossed mid-ice, 
and in the last few strides, he 
passed me, curling around with 
a smile.
“That all you need?” he 
asked.
Yeah, he had answered my 
question.

Le can be reached at tntle@

umich.edu or on Twitter at @tientrle.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh believes in a separation of amateur and professional athletics on the subject of compensation.

MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Writer

‘M’ keeps high energy

In its second game in 26 hours, 
the 
Michigan 
women’s 
field 
hockey team put up eight straight 
goals and shut out Michigan State 
in a dominating fashion.
The 
complete 
game 
was 
made impressive by the quick 
turnaround from its game a day 
prior. Michigan had only a day 
to rest, gameplan and prepare 
for Michigan State after its 1-0 
victory over Appalachian State on 
Saturday.
The team game-planned for 
the back-to-back matches to be 
ready for the Spartans the next 
day. Though the score was close 
Saturday, Pankratz stuck to the 
plan and kept rotating players to 
keep their legs fresh. It was part of 
her game design — everybody had 
to be balanced and rested for their 
important matchup the day after.
The Wolverines proved this 
strategy worked. There was zero 
hint of fatigue in Sunday’s outing. 
In fact, the opposite rang true, with 
the team buzzing with energy. 
The ninth-ranked Wolverines 
(8-3 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) routed 
the 24th-ranked Spartans (5-6 
Overall, 0-4 Big Ten), 8-0. The win 
included a hat trick by sophomore 
midfielder Sofia Southam and 
the first career goal for freshman 
midfielder Nina Apoola. 
Perhaps the most impressive 
thing about the match was the 
amount 
of 
energy 
Michigan 
brought from beginning to end. 
The 
Wolverines 
dominated 

possession 
by 
out-hustling 
Michigan 
State, 
resulting 
in 
multiple offensive opportunities 
and out-shooting their opponents, 
35-1.
Michigan consistently swarmed 
the Michigan State offense,rarely 
giving them an opportunity to 
control the ball. The Wolverine 
defense challenged the Spartans 
almost immediately every time 
they received the ball.
“Every game we have to come 
out with the same energy, and just 
really go from the start,” Apoola 
said. “Then we can get more goals 
and get more wins.”
Beginning games with high 
energy 
continues 
to 
be 
an 
important mission for Michigan. 
The Wolverines feel confident in 
their ability to win as long as they 
play hard for the full 60 minutes.
“We call it ‘60 in 60,’ ” said coach 
Marcia Pankratz. “We’re always 
striving to do that.”
This philosophy — giving full 
effort the entire match — led to 
the relentless attack deep into the 
match, with the final goal coming 
with just 21 seconds remaining in 
the fourth quarter. 
The 
strong 
finish 
in 
the 
energy-filled match is a good sign 
for Michigan and its ability to 
compete deeper into the season 
when back-to-back games become 
more common — including in the 
Big Ten Tournament.
The Wolverines, fourth in the 
conference, have shown their 
ability to stay fresh between games 
— an asset that will prove useful 
down the stretch.

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz helped her team recover from a short turnaround.

NICHOLAS STOLL
For The Daily

TIEN
LE

