Paul Finebaum reveals Tom Crean offered to help him 'bury the hatchet' with Jim Harbaugh

Much has been made of Paul Finebaum’s relationship with Jim Harbaugh amid all the criticism. It turns out the ESPN host had a chance to smooth things over with the Michigan coach about three years ago — and an unlikely source was going to help out.

Former Georgia basketball coach Tom Crean — who happens to be Harbaugh’s brother-in-law — offered to be the middle man during the SEC meetings one year. Finebaum was receptive to the idea and waited for the offer.

Crean ended up calling Finebaum to make something happen. Finebaum, however, couldn’t meet with him.

“We started talking, and he goes, ‘This thing with you and Jim has to end,'” Finebaum said. “I said, ‘OK. I am going to take care of it.’ … Crean goes, ‘I’m going to get you guys together.’ It was that summer, Crean called me like right in the middle of the show and I couldn’t answer it. He goes ‘I’m here with Jim, we’re at my father-in-law’s birthday party. I want you to come up here and bury the hatchet.’

“And it turned out, I could not. I was going to California. I’m wondering if the hatchet would’ve been buried between my shoulders had I gone up.”

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Finebaum has been one of Harbaugh’s most outspoken critics since he headed back to Ann Arbor as Michigan’s head coach. That continued this offseason as Harbaugh flirted with the NFL after leading the Wolverines to the College Football Playoff.

In fact, when Harbaugh announce his return to Michigan and got a new contract, Finebaum ripped the new deal.

“I think it’s preposterous,” Finebaum said on ESPN’s Get Up after the announcement. “But it’s also a necessity of college football. To stay ahead in recruiting, you have to keep extending coaches, and that’s how programs get in so much fiscal trouble.”

He also blasted Harbaugh’s talks with NFL teams the same day, saying it could hurt Michigan down the road.

“If you’re Michigan State or Ohio State and you’re going head to head with Jim Harbaugh, all you have to do is show the news from today, ‘Jim Harbaugh does not get job he tries to seek on National Signing Day.’ There’s no way to wash it away,” Finebaum said. “I know Michigan fans get very sensitive about their school and their coach. But this is a very bad look for a great university.

“If you’re a young person in the midwest or somewhere else deciding where do I got to school and exactly what coach do I play for, I think it’s a fairly easy decision to think Michigan may not be your place.”