Jim Harbaugh has mastered the art of passive-aggressive subtweeting, and he seems to have given us another example of it on Wednesday.
Harbaugh and Michigan intend to hold spring break practices in Bradenton, Florida. As you might imagine, this has not been met with enthusiasm from the SEC and its member schools, and the league asked the NCAA to prohibit spring practices during spring break. League commissioner Greg Sankey claimed to CBS Sports on Tuesday that their objections were under the guise of taking student free time away for athletic purposes. There are likely competitive reasons in play here too, of course – Michigan is pretty blatantly infringing on SEC territory here and it could be seen as a competitive advantage.
On Wednesday, Harbaugh sent out a tweet that many interpreted as a dig at the SEC.
Question of the day: Does anyone find whining to be attractive? Just curious.
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) February 10, 2016
Plenty of respondents pointed out that this could be seen as mildly ironic.
.@CoachJim4UM pic.twitter.com/S7sOcwIwjR
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) February 10, 2016
.@CoachJim4UM Walt Coleman sure doesn't pic.twitter.com/cLVQLf1kAB
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) February 10, 2016
.@CoachJim4UM pic.twitter.com/ah00Mmsjh6
— Dear Old Clemson (@DearOldClemson) February 10, 2016
In fairness, Harbaugh isn’t breaking any presently standing rules here, and any rule change would almost certainly come too late to scuttle his current spring break plans.
The 49ers have also gotten the subtweet treatment from Harbaugh, while Harbaugh himself has allegedly received it from Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio. Passive-aggression runs in the rivalry.
