Michigan's Jim Harbaugh: 'Other people are not idling right now'

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh met with Michigan supporters in Chicago on Monday, when the football program announced the launch of M Power, which the school calls a Brand for Life program. M Power is designed to provide Michigan football players with education and resources for NIL opportunities, internships, mentorships and entrepreneurship, according to a news release.

Harbaugh’s stop in Chicago is one of several the school has planned, in addition to trips to Grand Rapids, Los Angeles, New York, Ann Arbor and Washington, D.C.

The Twitter account for the M Power program shared a video of Harbaugh’s message that Michigan can’t be idle in the modern era of college football.

“There’s other people that aren’t staying idle,” Harbaugh said. “We can sit here and go, ‘Hey, we’re Michigan. Let’s just be idle. We’re in a great spot.’ Other people are not idling right now. And I want you to put yourself in the shoes of – as I think of these guys as my own kids. I mean, if it’s your own kid, they go to college. Yeah, you’re gonna give them a car, right? So they can go do an internship. That’s something we want to give our players. We don’t want them eating the ramen noodles. We want to be able to feed them, want to put them in a position where they can drive and get to where they need to go, just like we would do with our kids. We make sure they’re staying in a nice place.”

Coach Harbaugh with a great message: to remain the leaders and best, we MUST adapt! We cannot stay idle. #MPower #BrandForLife https://t.co/wbznyHt3Ki pic.twitter.com/MVRQPlNbmC

— M Power (@MPowerBFL) June 13, 2023

Michigan promotes NIL collectives during tour

The Twitter account for M Power shared another video of Harbaugh leading Michigan supporters through the singing of “The Victors.” A slideshow in the background promoted the NIL collective Champions Circle, which is one of five NIL collectives or clubs that support the Wolverines.

The bullet points beneath Champions Circle included “case studies,” “retention,” “support non-scholarship athletes,” “travel stipends,” “player marketability index” and “team chemistry/equity.”

The sports marketing agency Valiant Management Group runs Champions Circle. Former Michigan fullback Jared Wangler is the CEO of Valiant Management Group.

The other collectives or clubs that support Michigan athletes include Stadium & Main, Hail! Impact, MGoDAO and the Ann Arbor NIL Club.

Last December, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel released an NIL update in which he acknowledged each of the collectives that support Michigan, following the NIL guidance the NCAA released last October, which made it clear institutions can promote collectives. Hail! Impact was added in April after its launch.

“Updated guidance from the NCAA national office has expanded the scope of NIL offerings to entities known as collectives, which are third-party groups external to Michigan Athletics but who combine resources and expertise to provide NIL opportunities to our students,” Manuel said in the statement. “At this time, Michigan Athletics enjoys the support of five collectives, each notable in their own ways, that are actively working to provide our student-athletes with NIL opportunities.”