11

Thursday, July 9, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS

Jim Harbaugh ‘never saw’ inappropriate 
conduct committed by Dr. Robert Anderson

Jim 
Harbaugh 
said 
he never saw, or heard, 
anything 
inappropriate 
surrounding Dr. Robert 
Anderson, 
the 
former 
University 
of 
Michigan 
doctor accused of sexual 
abuse by an ever-growing 
number 
of 
people, 
including 
ex-football 
players.
Anderson 
was 
the 
family doctor, Harbaugh 
said, as his father, Jack, 
was 
on 
the 
Michigan 
football 
coaching 
staff 
from 1973-79.
“Also when I played 
here 
at 
Michigan, 
Dr. 
Anderson was the team 
doctor,” Harbaugh said. 
“And took a physical for 
every youth sport that I 
played, and also when I 

was here in college for 
football, a yearly physical. 
Never saw, never anything 
inappropriate. Nor did I 
ever hear anything that 
was inappropriate about 
Dr. Anderson. 
“Never 
experienced 
anything 
inappropriate, 
never 
heard 
anytime 
where 
there 
was 
inappropriate (conduct) by 
Dr. Anderson.”
Anderson is alleged to 
have abused students and 
athletes during medical 
exams. Lawsuits filed by 
survivors 
are 
currently 
pending, as is a University 
investigation done by an 
outside firm, WilmerHale.
The University has said 
it wants to settle claims 
out of court, setting up a 
hotline number for victims 
to call with allegations.
Athletic director Warde 

Manuel has also come 
under fire for his handling 
of a complaint regarding 
the case, forwarding it to 
University lawyers instead 

of Title IX investigators.
In mid-June, Michigan 
reached out via email and 
the postal service to over 
300,000 
students 
who 

attended the University 
while Anderson worked 
there, asking alumni to 
report experiences with 
him.

“I am writing to ask 
you to come forward and 
speak to WilmerHale if 
you had any experience 
with Anderson you wish 
to report or if you have 
any 
other 
information 
you 
believe 
may 
be 
relevant,” 
University 
President Mark Schlissel 
wrote. 
“Safeguarding 
the 
confidentiality 
of 
Dr. 
Anderson’s 
former 
patients is of paramount 
importance. Accordingly, 
WilmerHale 
will 
not 
disclose any identifying 
or 
confidential 
patient 
information 
to 
the 
University, and the identity 
and 
confidentiality 
of 
Dr. Anderson’s patients 
will be protected from 
disclosure to others to the 
fullest extent permitted 
by law.

Contract extension discussions for Harbaugh 
tabled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic

There’s 
no 
reason 
to 
believe 
a 
contract 
extension 
won’t 
come 

for Jim Harbaugh. And, 
according to the Michigan 
football 
coach, 
before 
the 
pandemic 
turned 
everything upside down, 
one was “right there.” 

“Right in last February, 
it was being discussed, and 
then the pandemic hit,” 
Harbaugh said on a Zoom 
call with reporters. “And 
it’s been not as high on the 

priority list.”
Harbaugh’s 
current 
contract, which runs until 
the end of the 2021 season, 
would see him paid $8.05 
million this year if not for 
a 10 percent pay cut agreed 
to due to the financial 
deficit facing the athletic 
department.
There’s little reason to 
think Michigan wouldn’t 
want to retain Harbaugh. 
Though he hasn’t taken 
the 
Wolverines 
to 
a 
College 
Football 
Playoff 
or 
beaten 
Ohio 
State, 
Harbaugh 
has 
piloted 
the football program to 
three 
10-win 
seasons 
after it hit an extreme low 
point under Brady Hoke. 
The 
Wolverines’ 
2021 
recruiting class is also 
eighth in the country, per 
247Sports, after a slew of 
commitments over the last 
few months.

As for his potential to 
move jobs, Harbaugh has 
consistently 
shot 
down 
rumors of going back to 
the NFL, going as far to 
send a letter to parents of 

Michigan football players 
last season to refute a 
report that he was planning 
to leave.
For his part, Harbaugh 
seems 
content 
with 
the 
current 
situation, 
understanding
the 
financial constraints that 
Michigan 
is 
currently 

under. 
There’s 
also 
the 
obvious reality for both 
him and the University 
that a massive contract 
extension for a football 
coach amid a pandemic 
that’s seen the athletic 
department project a $26.1 
million deficit, when no 
one knows whether there 
will be football played in 
September, would be poor 
optics at best and tone deaf 
at worst.
“I 
think 
there’s 
bigger fish to fry for our 
athletic director, for our 
administration, for, really, 
me as a coach,” Harbaugh 
said. “It hasn’t been on the 
top of the priority list. But 
I would expect something. 
That 
would 
be 
an 
announcement at sometime 
when that is said. I’m under 
contract this year and next. 
So we’ll get to that.”

MADDIE HINKLEY/Daily
Jim Harbaugh never heard of any problems with Dr. Anderson in his experiences with the doctor.

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor

MADDIE HINKLEY/Daily
Jim Harbaugh did not sign a contract extension this spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I think 
there’s bigger 
fish to fry

