Michigan Football, 2021 Season

[iam416]

Correct

[Jeff Buchanan]

I really don't care how M's 2022 class is ranked. I don't pay attention to this and I'm sure Talent knows the numbers but in Harbaugh's 6 years at M, he's had some very good recruiting classes overall but has missed filling key positions on offense and defense just about every year. That, along with what appears to be poor player development, has produced one of the most inconsistent offenses and defenses by fancy stats in the BIG and because of that M' falls far below teams that are competing nationally for P5 conference championships or CFB play-off spots. I don't see that changing as long as Harbaugh is M's HC.

[iam416]

I haven’t done the numbers, but it seems like his biggest recruits have underperformed — some a little; others drastically. But, Gary, DPJ, Solomon, Peters, Charbonnet—all come to mind. Even Hill and Hinton are on track to underperform (they should both be 3 and done).

And he doesn’t land enough elite recruits to absorb those blows.

[AlabamAlum]

Did Charbonnet underperform or was he underutilized? Admittedly, I don’t follow M that closely, but I was impressed with him in the Bama-Michigan Citrus and was very thankful that they didn’t run him more. The other kid (Haskins?) got more carries and he wasn’t nearly as good.

[WingsFan]

Underutilized, yea he had injury's but was healthy (?) (all be it a short season) last year. Charbonnet was are best RB and its not even close, some say he danced around to much like Barry Sanders. Haskins is serviceable. Runs fairly hard, not great speed - but what can you expect for a converted LB, he doesn't see the holes well, but seems like he give 100% every carry.

[iam416]

AA:

Either way. They didn't play like a 5* in the M program. If you can't capitalize on 5* talent then that's a problem.

I thought ZC had some strong upside. I'm unimpressed with the rest of their RB room. (they have quantity, but....) I'll put it this way -- I expect Donovan Edwards to get the majority of carries by year's end. Unless, he, too, is another wasted 5* talent.

[Tom W]

Not capitalizing on talent isn't "a problem"- it's "THE Problem". It's a bit ludicrous to not just be concerned about, but actually expecting, this team to fall short against the Wisconsins, Iowas and Sparties on their schedule.

[iam416]

Vis-a-vis the rest of the non-OSU B10, that's absolutely true.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Not capitalizing on talent isn't "a problem"- it's "THE Problem". It's a bit ludicrous to not just be concerned about, but actually expecting, this team to fall short against the Wisconsins, Iowas and Sparties on their schedule.

Agree ........ when I read Talent's post up thread where he named 5* talent that M landed and then underperformed it brought home the underperformance of the coaching staff and team over-all during Harbaugh's tenure. Although it's a well-worn take, high-performance organizations reflect the character and energy levels of leadership within it. Since the beginning, despite what appeared like energy all over the place from Harbaugh and his main assistants, I don't think it ever translated to great on-field performance.

I'd like to think Harbaugh has recognized this and the infusion of young, energetic coaches in the latest hiring spree will end up translating to better player development and more consistently good on-field performance. TBH, I'm not optimistic that it will.

[lineygoblue]

I'd like to think Harbaugh has recognized this and the infusion of young, energetic coaches in the latest hiring spree will end up translating to better player development and more consistently good on-field performance. TBH, I'm not optimistic that it will.

Right now, its like pissing on a forest fire. Nice idea, but too little too late. The damage has been done. We're getting a few decent players here and there, but Michigan's reputation as a NC challenger has been destroyed. Its going to take a whole new hierarchy from the university president, down to the equipment managers. I don't see that happening, because the powers that be are comfortable with what they have. The only way we'll ever see major changes that need to be made, is when we see the suites going unsold, and non-Covid crowds consistently showing less than 100K. Then, and only then will we see the kind of changes that are necessary.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Liney, I don't dismiss your argument. It's consistent with mine except the success of other M sports flys in the face of it. The laggard is M football. So, I have to bring it down to Harbaugh. He's a failure as the HC of one of M's otherwise very successful and well coached sports teams. For that reason, I'm surprised he's still on the pay-roll, albeit at 1/2 his original salary.

Now, I do agree with you that not enough pressure from "above" was put on Manuel to fire him last October and it seems the default position was a pay-cut to avoid embarrassing him. But I don't agree that there is this overwhelming culture of not caring about M sports requiring a whole new hierarchy from the university president on down before Michigan football as a part of university returns as the primary step of the front porch to the U.

Right now, Juan Howard and MBB is that first step with Harbaugh and MFB finding itself no where to found on said front porch. I don't think anyone in the leadership hierarchy including the Regents are happy about it ....... Jim is clearly on thin ice and it's pretty clear he was told to shape up or ship out. Not a terrible outcome.

[Mike]

UM needs to take that money they were paying Harbaugh and slide it right across the table to the head basketball coach.

[hack]

But it's been that way under Hoke and RichRod as well, and it was uneven in the last half of Carr's tenure. And it's that way regardless of who the AD is as well. If you think it's really *only* a Harbaugh problem, how you gonna solve that? Coaching search? We all know how those turn out.

[lineygoblue]

I don't really disagree with any of that, Jeff. I guess my main point is that Football still pays the bills. When the fans stop showing up, especially in the nice seats, that will finally get the attention of the people movers, and get Harbaugh out of town. IMO, of course.

As for Howard, if he's not the national coach of the year, they might as well stop giving the award, because it would be silly to give it to anyone else. He's done enough right now to qualify.

[hack]

UM needs to take that money they were paying Harbaugh and slide it right across the table to the head basketball coach.

ASAP. I will chip in whatever it takes to ensure Warde Manuel never has to lead a coaching search again.