Michigan Football, the 2020 Abbreviated COVID Season

[WM Wolverine]

Win 9-10 games and he's here for life.

[paul daugherity]

If that is what is fine with the athletic department, then they need to stop touting being a championship program, etc. I would also expect that a lot of the fan base will tune out the team and stop the rabid following.

[Jeff Buchanan]

My take on "overblown" is that if there was anything over blown it was fan expectations from the start of the Harbaugh era. Talk of firing Harbaugh was dumb on so many levels. I was upset initially. I threw some shade out there but was done with it after 24h.

Maybe people skimmed through some of the posts in the week after the Wisconsin loss. In case anyone missed it:

(1) Harbaugh was arguably never an elite coach. He's been very good everywhere he has been but not winning championships on the regular. One nice run with SF where he took over a stacked SF defense and played to it got him an NFC championship there. But he was always outclassed by one coach and one team in the divisions/leagues he played in. It was unrealistic to think he would come in and dominate the BT, though, that is what the majority of the fan base expected once he arrived.

(2) Harbaugh is not an elite recruiter and it is that assessment that creates the wide talent gap between Michigan, osu in the BT and Clemson, UGA and Albama outside the BT. It's that talent gap that separates Michigan from those teams who are regularly excelling and winning championships.

(3) He will probably continue to win 9-10 games every season with an outlier season where he beats osu and gets to 11 wins. He is a perfect fit for Michigan. Can anyone name a coach that is a better fit, would get all the boxes checked for a job as HC of M football and can win 11-12 games every season? I can't so, dumb to even think about it.

I'd call that a slam dunk defense of the position that intense post game criticism of his coaching record and talk he be fired overblown.

[paul daugherity]

[iam416]

res ipsa liquiter.

[hack]

Still on board for a coaching search, unless it's absolutely fact that Harbaugh was told to go hire Gattis or someone like him.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I........However, I do know he has not lived up to his billing and he has not delivered anything of note. Again, if the AD is ok with the 9-10 wins a year, fine, but then stop with the puffery about being a championship level program.

(1) Who's billing? His "billing" was as a good, not an elite coach. The elite characterization was imagined and largely undeserved attribute assigned to Jim Harbaugh by the M fan base. That set expectations for what he was going to accomplish with the football program too high.

(2) I don't see Warde Manuel going before the press and claiming M is a championship football team under Jim Harbaugh. Historically, I suppose you could claim that if you include the pre-war M football teams and he may have done so. Michigan sports, all of them considered, are definitely championship caliber and if he has said that before the press its not puffery.

[paul daugherity]

[paul daugherity]

[drok]

Gotta agree with Paul here. He wasn't hired with expectations of 9-10 wins and not even a division championship by year 5. That is bullshit revisionist history. And he's not paid for 9-10 wins. Franklin has a B1G championship in that time span.

[hack]

The elite characterization was imagined and largely undeserved attribute assigned to Jim Harbaugh by the M fan base.

I can't understand this comment at all. Makes no sense. Would refer you back to talent's very thorough and thoughtful post on the topic.

[lineygoblue]

Harbaugh doesn't have to be elite to go .500 against our main rivals.

And where did the so-called 'elite' coaches come from?

Clemson took a chance on a guy named "Dabo" and now they have two NC's.

Who ever heard of Lincoln Riley before he went to Oklahoma? And speaking of Oklahoma, where did Bob Stoops come from?

Even the feared Urban Meyer started off in the vast metropolis of Bowling Green Ohio.

Nick Saban gave up on coaching at Michigan State and fled to the recruiting rich state of Lousy-anna so he could avoid recruiting against Big Ten teams. Now he's the measuring stick for "elite" college football coaches.

Where did Wisconsin find Paul Chryst? He just keeps finding linemen and RB's like he's picking them off trees. And he wins consistently against tough competition.

Michigan needs a coach that is really good at coaching football. They don't have to rob a bank, or open a vault, or whatever to get it done. Just do the same homework the competition has obviously been doing, and the right guy will be right in front of their noses.

[froot loops]

The only question you need to concern yourself with is whether Harbaugh is the best coach going forward for you guys. You don't need to know the history of every other coach and program.

Harbaugh hit the sweet spot with the following attributes:
1. Harbaugh was a former well known NFL quarterback who became successful head coach. That makes him a media darling.
2. He had a great resume.
3. Most importantly, he was a Michigan Man.

A guy like Urban Meyer was thought to be the next great coach when he was at BG. He wasn't unknown, he was the hottest prospect to the point where he would turn down offers from bigger schools.

None of it matters though, what do you think is the best guy going forward.

Also important to know that going .500 against OSU in this millennium is going to be a tall task as they are on another plane of existence.

[drok]

I don't think anyone is asking for .500 against OSU right now. Most here have said .300-.400 a decade would be reasonable given their current state.

[hack]

If really true that Harbaugh had that offensive overhaul forced on him, I'm not sure how much difference another coach would make. You have to be able to hire experts and let them do their thing. I thought Harbaugh would be the right combination of ability and influence to keep the program free from meddling.