Michigan football’s Jim Harbaugh blames failed vetting process for the doomed hiring of legendary Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler’s son, who quit over offensive tweets just days after joining the athletic department last month.
“Once I became aware of offensive things – offensive to me, offensive to other members of our team – [we acted]” Harbaugh said, as quoted by MLive.com. “We didn’t want that mindset.”
Glenn ‘Shemy’ Schembechler resigned on May 20, just days after being hired as assistant recruiting director on Harbaugh’s staff. The Detroit News reported at the time that Schembechler’s Twitter feed contained offensive messages and content, some of which suggested that slavery and Jim Crow were positive for strengthening African American individuals and families.
“You should practice preparation/understanding,” read one post, liked by Shemy. “And yes, slavery and Jim Crow forced the black family to struggle and build businesses and cultivate a base of wealth for themselves and their offspring.”
Entering his ninth season as head coach at his alma mater, Harbaugh said the program outsourced verification to a contractor, who failed to detect offensive social media posts.
Harbaugh blames vetting process failures for doomed Schembechler hiring
The late Bo Schembechler (left) is pictured alongside his son, Shemy (right)
Schembechler didn’t write all the offensive tweets, but did “like” several controversial posts
“I read the report myself,” Harbaugh said. “We have a business that checks that – social media – and they’ve come back and [cleared him]. We have a new company that does this 1685709306but they must be better.
‘I will take responsibility for it. If anyone can figure that out in a day, then we have to improve ourselves.
Harbaugh played quarterback under Bo Schembechler at Michigan before embarking on an NFL career and then becoming a coach.
Schembechler played for his father, who coached Michigan from 1969 to 1989, and later served as an NFL scout. In a statement released Sunday evening, Schembechler said his life, along with that of his father and his family, has been dedicated to serving the best in people, regardless of race or religion. He said he had “inexplicably and irresponsibly” liked posts on social media.
“What I do for a living is far less important than for people to know what is in my heart that was… instilled in me by my pioneering father,” said Schembechler’s statement released by the relationship company. public Rose + Allyn. .
“By inexplicably and irresponsibly liking things on social media, I owe a shameless and unequivocal apology to my hundreds of friends and fellow coaches in the black community, all communities…. Any words or philosophies that seek in any way to downplay the immeasurable suffering and long-term economic and social inequality that hundreds of years of slavery and the “Jim Crow” era have caused to black Americans are fake. I was wrong.’
Bo Schembechler talks to his quarterback Jim Harbaugh during a Michigan game in 1984
Schembechler went on to apologize “profusely” to anyone he had offended and said he hoped for “a pardon based on my long life’s work, not a moment of indiscretion.”
“We are aware of certain comments and likes on social media that have caused concern and pain among members of our community,” Harbaugh and sporting director Warde Manuel said in a statement after the young Schembechler’s resignation. “Michigan Athletics is fully committed to a place where our coaches, staff and student-athletes feel welcome and where we fully support the university and athletic department’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”
The Schembechler family has made headlines in recent years for two scandals.
In addition to Shemy’s emails, there are allegations that Bo ignored sexual abuse complaints against then-team doctor Robert Anderson, allowing the doctor to abuse hundreds of men and some women between 1966 and 2003.
In January 2022, the school finalized $490 million in settlements with more than 1,000 people who say they were sexually assaulted by a former sports doctor.
Anderson worked at the university from 1966 until his retirement in 2003 and served as director of the university’s health service and physician for several sports teams, including football. A number of football players and other athletes have come forward to accuse Anderson, who died in 2008, of sexually abusing them.
The issue rocked campus, where many felt Bo could have stopped Anderson decades earlier.
In November 2021, a statue of Schembechler was vandalized with red paint and a message supporting victims of sexual assault.
Written in black on the steps were “Bo knew” and “#hailtothevictims,” which references the school fight song, “[Hail to] Winners.’
This file photo shows Dr. Robert E. Anderson, who has been accused of sexual abuse for decades
In November 2021, a statue of Bo Schembechler was defaced amid Anderson’s uproar
Former Michigan football players said they spoke to Bo Schembechler in the 1970s about Anderson’s behavior during physical exams.
Schembechler’s other son, Matt, said he told his father that Anderson molested him as a child.
However, both Glenn Schembechler and Harbaugh remain skeptical that Bo knew Anderson was doing something wrong during the exams.
Schembechler, who died in 2006, is hailed as the greatest coach in college football’s winningest program. He led the Wolverines from 1969 to 1989, won 194 games in school and had 234 wins, including wins in six seasons at Miami of Ohio.
