Michigan undeterred by scandal, continuing with shocking Jim Harbaugh plan

Leave it up to Jim Harbaugh to power through the awkwardness anyway... It is not awkward if you don't think it is. Well, it is. In the wake of former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions dying on the sword, probably against his will, on Friday evening, Michigan is still somehow going to find a way to proceed with the massive Jim Harbaugh contract extension. The rest of the college football world is sickened.

New Big Ten commission Tony Petitti has met with Big Ten coaches, athletic directors and university presidents about the shady ways of Harbaugh's program. He and everyone involved with Michigan will deny any such illegal sign-stealing activities ever occurred, but this is just screaming a complete lack of institutional control. Petitti has jurisdiction to suspend Harbaugh over a sportsmanship clause.

If Harbaugh were to be found not guilty, as he really had no knowledge of what all was going on, Michigan is just going to pay the man top dollar anyway. Despicable. Remember when Rick Pitino tried to deny that he had any knowledge of an on-campus brothel at the University of Louisville? It is not as gross as that, but this does evoke similar feelings of disgust. They cannot be doing this, right?!

Well, Michigan insider John U. Bacon says the Wolverines will power through the awkwardness...

You gotta let this thing cool down for one hot minute, man. Harbaugh is not a room reader, clearly.

Michigan plans to go ahead and extend Jim Harbaugh on a massive deal

The biggest problem with this besides complete and utter tactlessness by Michigan is this massive contract Harbaugh will be supposedly garnering will come from, you guessed it, taxpayer's money! How do you think Michigan State fans or anybody else who doesn't bleed blue and maize would feel about this? A coach of Harbaugh's caliber should get paid millions, but keep it on the down-low, y'all.

You know the old adage of absolute power corrupts absolutely? Yeah, we could be getting there with this. Furthermore, the other really interesting wrinkle in this is who Michigan's athletic director is. Warde Manuel is not only on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, a year in which Michigan can actually win a national championship, but he and Harbaugh do not see eye-to-eye at all.

Not saying he will resign if Harbaugh gets his massive bump in pay anyway amid a scandal like this, but this move is clearly about the Michigan head coach, university president Santa Ono and maybe a few big-pocketed boosters to boot. This emerging scandal is sizzling in the frying pan and is about to fall out into the fire. The fire does not care who gets burned because it will do what it is going to do...

College sports have a tendency to be incredibly insular, but you cannot be this tactless when it comes to the compensation of a state's highest-earning employee. This is a government job after all.