Fresh Start_2.12: STOP THE HARBAUGH-ing

Joseph Leo
Sep 3, 2018 · 2 min read

Can we pump the breaks on this whole Jim Harbaugh thing for a minute? He’s not a bad coach. It’d be one thing if he didn’t have a winning record at his alma mater, but he doesn’t. After two 10–3 seasons, the Harbaugh lead Wolverines took a step back at 8–5 which included an Outback Bowl loss to South Carolina to make it three straight losses to end the year. And yes, he is 1–6 against Michigan State, Norte Dame, and Ohio State, on top of that he hasn’t beat Ohio State, but put an Asterix on that because of a shady spot two years ago on Thanksgiving weekend that propelled the Buckeyes to an overtime win.

Wolverine fans aren’t singing kumbaya (trust me), they also aren’t kicking Harbaugh to the crib either. Whatever narrative that Harbaugh is a bad coach is just not true. He doesn’t have the success that Saban or Meyer does, but he isn’t Jimbo Fisher. He has been slightly above average in the hardest conference in college football while not having 100% of the players guys he recruited. It is only this season that they team is full of Harbaugh recruits. Granted the loss on Saturday in South Bend wasn’t pretty. The bright lights exposed a quarterback who isn’t truly where he needs to be, a defense that isn’t disciplined, and an offense that is lackadaisical in crunch time, but it did show signs of being a borderline playoff team.

With the loss it will be tough to sneak into the playoff in January but not impossible. Harbaugh needs his guys to buy into the system immediately and start getting everything from his players. It should have happened in that Norte Dame game due to the high preseason ranking that the Wolverines got but the energy was put into all the wrong places and a home crowd aided Irish used that against Michigan.

The true test is upcoming however. Having two true road games against Michigan State and Ohio State (plus going to Northwestern and having a ranked Penn State and Wisconsin on schedule) the season is not lost in week one. The Big 10 is as hard as it has been in recent memory and with a ridged defense the Wolverines will be up to the challenge.

For Harbaugh, can we give him another year or two of failing against Big 10 rivals and a losing season before we start sending him to the slaughter house? It’s not like he’s coaching in the PAC 10 where sliding by with 10–3, 10–3, and 8–5 will get you numerous bowl wins. This is the big time and a guy like Harbaugh grants more leeway then he has been given.

Joseph Leo

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Writer/Creator of The Basement View Host/Producer of The Grind Hours Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grind-hours-podcast/id1361270470?mt=2