“We’re all robbing the same train here”: $35M worth Jim Harbaugh urges revenue sharing in CFB as uncertainty looms around Michigan contract extension

College sports, and college football more specifically, has been dealing with a massive shift as players are getting paid. However, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has been one of the people on the forefront of helping college football players get monetized for their play.

During his media availability ahead of the 2024 National Championship Game on Monday evening against the Washington Huskies, Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh discussed the opportunity to help players get money based off television deals and salaries.

While it may seem a little farfetched and difficult to envision after college sports not allowing payment to student-athletes, this would be an interesting wrinkle but could also create some unnecessary headaches.

One issue would be if that would officially create students as employees to either the NCAA or to the conferences and programs they are part of when they are recruited.

Another issue would be how they determine what players would make each salary and how that differentiates from one another. It's a step in the right direction for college players and would help incentivize them to remain in college instead of declaring for the NFL draft before they end their NCAA eligibility.

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Is Jim Harbaugh the only coach to have this idea about paying college football players?

The simple answer is no, as Jim Harbaugh, worth $35 million, is far from the first person who believes college football players should be paid. There have been a handful of coaches over the years who have brought up the idea.

In 2012, the then-coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks Steve Spurrier addressed the same dilemma and brought up the possibility of coaches foregoing a percentage of their salaries for players to receive a monetary stipend.

However, Harbaugh brought that thought process more than a decade after Spurrier. He said:

"If stuff can happen this quick, like we've seen this year, then I'm hopeful that theres' a wrong that could be righted quickly as well. There used to be a saying: Old coaches - my dad's used it, my brohter's used it - like, hey, we're all robbing the same train here. Coaches, administrators, media, television stations, conferences, NCAA. The ones that are really robbing the train - the ones that could really get hurt 0 are getting a very small piece."

"It's one thing for somebody to say, well, they're getting NIL, but the billions that are getting generated, they're not getting much of, a very small percentage. They're getting the same amount as I got in the '80s. You're getting a scholarship, room, board, books and tuition. So it's like, come on, man, let's do the right thing here." h/t ESPN

There has been a lot of talk surrounding paying players. With one of the top coaches in the country saying this idea, it could happen in the not-so-distant future.