He hasn’t coached a single game yet, but University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh is already making waves on campus.
After news broke yesterday that the university decided not to screen the movie “American Sniper” because students protested the film’s subject, Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, as a “racist” and “mass killer,” the new coach let his feelings be known.
Coach Harbaugh, who led the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII and was a star quarterback at Michigan in his younger days, took to Twitter to let Michigan students and the world know he wasn’t going to be pressured to be politically correct.
Harbaugh tweeted:
Michigan Football will watch "American Sniper"! Proud of Chris Kyle & Proud to be an American & if that offends anybody then so be it!
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) April 9, 2015
The response was immediate and overwhelmingly favorable.
@CoachJim4UM #GreatestCoachAlive
— Lane Maness (@killavanilla05) April 9, 2015
@CoachJim4UM so proud of your decision. Restored my faith in Michigan
— Jim Schaner (@JimSchaner) April 9, 2015
@CoachJim4UM LOVE this tweet so much! thank you for being bold!
— Toni Reitter (@tonichelleak) April 9, 2015
@CoachJim4UM Wow! You really are the man coach! I have so much respect for this statement!! Go Blue!
— Todd Norman (@StorMin__NorMin) April 9, 2015
@CoachJim4UM Thank you Jim!!! Thank you for being brave and speaking about what is right. You are a true Wolverine. #GoBlue
— Greymarch (@Greymarch) April 9, 2015
@CoachJim4UM Hail! to the victors valiant/Hail! to the conquering heroes!
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 9, 2015
While the response was overwhelmingly positive, it as not uniformly so.
@CoachJim4UM killing is American! #USA
— L Profe (@EastLAChiva) April 9, 2015
@CoachJim4UM Chris Kyle was a racist, psychotic piece of human garbage. I'm glad he's dead.
— Chris Kyle's corpse (@_d_n_verg_) April 9, 2015
Harbaugh’s statement even crossed the aisle to win praise from some of Michigan’s in-state rival Michigan State.
@CoachJim4UM @stusandler Big props from this proud Spartan!
— Tony Daunt (@TonyDaunt) April 9, 2015