Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said on Thursday that a mistake was made during the vetting process in the recent hire of Bo Schembechler's son, who resigned last month following offensive social media activity.
Glenn «Shemy» Schembechler, 53, stepped down just three days after he was hired as the team's assistant director of recruiting.
He conceded in a statement that he engaged in «flippant behavior on Twitter,» which included numerous offensive and insensitive posts, including several suggesting slavery and Jim Crow had the positive effect of strengthening Black individuals and families. «Once I became aware of things that were offensive — offensive to me, offensive to other members of our team — [we acted],» Harbaugh said, according to MLive.com. «We didn't want that mindset around.» Harbaugh, who made the comments Thursday at a football camp at Wayne State University in Detroit, said Michigan has since parted ways with the third-party human resources company that screened Schembechler. «I read the report myself,» Harbaugh said. «We have a company that vets that — social media — and they came back and [cleared him].
We've got a new company doing that [now], but they've got to be better. »I'll take responsibility for that," he said. «If somebody can find that in a day, then we have to be better ourselves.» A school spokesman confirmed to ESPN on Thursday that Michigan's athletic department is changing its vendor that handles human resources background checks following the Schembechler resignation. «We currently utilize two background checks for vetting athletic department staff, but are re-evaluating that process moving forward,» said David Ablauf, an associate athletic director for football communications, in a text