OT: Congrats to Jim Harbaugh
In certain aspects, I'm still a little angry at Jim Harbaugh, but I'm happy that a "Michigan Man" has done so well in his first year as a coach in the NFL. It's incredibly rare to do what he has done, and he has done it the Michigan way, running the ball effectively, and playing stiffling defense. So again, congrats Coach Harbaugh, a lot of Michigan men are pulling for you.
Edit: For those that didn't see or hear about it, the 49ers beat the Saints in a fantastic game, 36-32.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:35 PM ^
All of this I agree with. He'd have been a hassle at UM; it is good for him to coach the pros where I think his style (which is very successful) and ego works best.
January 14th, 2012 at 11:53 PM ^
He was no hassle at Stanford. If he would have caused problems at Michigan, it says more about UM than it does about him.
January 15th, 2012 at 8:33 AM ^
Stanford is not a big time football school, and my guess is that he had more autonomy than he would have had at UM. He was there for 4 years, and while he helped turn them around I'd like to see how he would have handled boosters, alumni, etc. over the long haul. RR was a great college coach as well, yet he struggled handling the ancillary elements of being a HC at UM.
January 14th, 2012 at 11:35 PM ^
How is Harbaugh "making the NFL fun to watch"? His team's style if effective but they play ugly as sin.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:23 PM ^
I'm weary of people treating football aesthetics as a matter of fact and not opinion. I for one have a strong preference for 10-7 over 73-62 and I enjoy watching a power running game more than watching somebody throw 70 passes. I'm sure I'm in the minority but it isn't a minority of one.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:32 PM ^
I hope he has to come to Lambeau next week, the happy little season ends there
January 14th, 2012 at 8:35 PM ^
I hope I get to go to Lambeau next week too. Packers need to win tomorrow that is so I can go to the game next week.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:37 PM ^
Too bad the Packers season ends tomorrow.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:43 PM ^
January 14th, 2012 at 9:28 PM ^
I love the straight disrespect toward the Packers all week. Statement game tomorrow by Rodgers
January 15th, 2012 at 10:31 PM ^
He made a statement, that's for sure.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:38 PM ^
i would have been happy to have him as our coach, but i'm glad we have a coach that truly wants to be here, and we didn't have to lure here with promises of a big pay check.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:41 PM ^
Concur. I find him hard to root for. There's a certain lack of class, fergodsakes. I didn't know it at the time the search was underway, but I'm glad we did not get him. And, of course, I am very pleased with coach Hoke.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:54 PM ^
I see your point. Jh is the guy when he is on your team, you love him, when he is on the opposing team, you hate him.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:51 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh will always be one of several famous faces of Michigan. Some of you are no better than the fans who support OHIO.
January 14th, 2012 at 9:09 PM ^
Indeed. Having an opinion is a bad thing? Mike Hart has little room to define who is and is not a Michigan Man particularly given his chest thumping "little brother" comment.
Harbaugh is a loose cannon due to his emotions but I consider him more of Michigan Man than David Brandon who ignored our MVP during the coaching search and couldn't even buy rings for the coaching staff for the Gator Bowl. You want to rip on Harbaugh for class, you can couple his antics with Brandon. But, haters gonna hate.
January 14th, 2012 at 9:29 PM ^
Wait, you are going to compare a man who made a comment and a man who didnt have time to meet with Denard and failure to buy rings with someone who ripped the university for pushing people to easier majors while he was doing similar things.
Hart, unfortunate with his comments, loves the school and never said one bad word about the school.. David Brandon while trying to search for a coach should have listen to Denard, but i think DB doesnt really listen to many students. The ring thing is a a disgrace, but he has never uttered anything against the university.
January 14th, 2012 at 11:26 PM ^
Harbaugh felt what was on his mind, I don't shy away from folks having an opinion.
I don't like Yes Men and I don't like folks who don't like others to have an opinion.
Btw, did Harbaugh's comments hurt Harbaugh or U of M? If you answer U of M then our alma mater is in bad shape to be harmed be 1 man.
January 14th, 2012 at 11:36 PM ^
I think the University was cast in a bad light, dont think it was a major setback. How do you think the people in the AD felt. If you think the people in the AD were happy with you, fair enough. He had all the power to effect a change without having made it so public. Ok, he did, and let everyone see our business out in public.
What was also hypocritical, he did some of the same things he accused our university of. If he had such a problem, why not change it as the head coach of Stanford. Was he really trying to incorporate change in our university, and the best way was to do it so in a public fashion.
It's not about yes men, he could have done it in private. And who said anything about opinions.
January 15th, 2012 at 2:46 PM ^
David Brandon while trying to search for a coach should have listen to Denard, but i think DB doesnt really listen to many students.Listening to players' advice on hiring a coach is how you end up with guys like Brian Ellerbe. I love Denard but he wasn't in a position to know whom the best coach for the job was. He probably wouldn't have named Hoke if asked, but now I bet he's happy to have him as his coach.
January 14th, 2012 at 9:38 PM ^
January 14th, 2012 at 9:41 PM ^
Hatin' on Brandon, what's up with that? Brandon is executive of the year for firing RR and replacing him with Brady Hoke. Home Run.
January 15th, 2012 at 12:11 AM ^
Early returns on Hoke are great. The ultimate verdict is still out as it is on most coaches (for one, we need to see at least a few years of Hoke's Michigan vs. Meyer's OSU on the field and the recruiting trail). We have good reason to feel confident but saying "home run" after one season is really jumping the gun.
January 14th, 2012 at 11:31 PM ^
Apart from 3 and Out revelations, Brandon's blind drive to raise $$ for Michigan's AD department at any cost to tradition, plus his uncommon meddling in the football operations and media comments (eg complaining about OSU dual-coaching situation) is indicative of an imperial AD. But hey, others have differing opinion.
PS- hiring Hoke, if we all remember, was option 3 behind Harbs and Miles - remember that kitten "I can Haz Hoke?" on the MGo header? Yeah, very few saw a SDSU coach as a Sugar Bowl winning favorite.
January 15th, 2012 at 2:42 PM ^
The fact that few people saw Hoke's potential should be all the more credit to Brandon, who did. He didn't make the obvious hire; he made the smart hire.
Also, I don't think there is any evidence that we wanted Miles. It's not even clear if we offered Harbaugh the job or not.
January 15th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
Brandon was never going to offer either Harbaugh or Miles. At the time, LSU was under investigation by the NCAA for Miles' recruitment of a kid out of Sacramento, for which the NCAA found major violations last summer that cost LSU 2 scholarships and a year of probation. With Michigan being on probation, Brandon wasn't touching Miles with a 1,200 mile pole.
Brandon did his due diligence on Harbaugh too and found baggage too big to bring to Michigan. So he never offered Harbaugh either. Harbaugh made it clear that the NFL was his goal, and the 49ers obliged.
Brandon made only one offer, to our current coach. Hoke wasn't #3, he was #1.
January 14th, 2012 at 8:58 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh.
January 14th, 2012 at 9:00 PM ^
Agreed
January 14th, 2012 at 9:05 PM ^
Harbaugh didn't answer the call. I spit on his sansabelt slacks.
January 15th, 2012 at 12:15 AM ^
He wanted to be an NFL coach. He took a job at one of the league's top franchises. And he didn't even have to leave the Bay. If he had stayed at Stanford or spurned us for another college job, I would have been done with him. But I can't blame the man for follwing his dream.
January 15th, 2012 at 10:42 AM ^
With Hoke, we got someone who will be here for the long run. With Harbaugh, we would've had talk of a guy who might leave for the NFL for a while. The main difference between Harbaugh and Hoke was that Harbaugh is younger and still has a lot of ambition as far as coaching. Hoke knew where he wanted to be. I think it worked out for all parties because Hoke came here and was successful. Harbaugh has had success and he did not have to uproot his family.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^
...is that the part of the job Hoke likes best is the teaching aspect and the part Harbaugh likes best is the chess match against the other team's coaching staff. Each of them is coaching at the level he'd prefer and for which he's best suited.
January 14th, 2012 at 9:08 PM ^
Harbaugh has done a whole lot to change the culture of the team. I don't know how many philosophical difference he had with Mike Singletary, but he's really instilled confidence in Alex Smith and made his players play hard for him and each other. I can't speak highly enough about what he's done with the Niners. It'll be very interesting to see how they do next week.
January 14th, 2012 at 9:35 PM ^
I feel as though the only real incident that changed our opinions of him was the Shwartz handshake. If that had never happened, I definitely would have been rooting for him.
January 14th, 2012 at 9:36 PM ^
I don't get it, the man insults our program and everyone still loves him. eff Harbaugh!
January 14th, 2012 at 9:43 PM ^
You have to take the bad with the good with Jim, because he doesn't care about any of that political or social custom stuff. He's a really cocky guy and could probably use some humbling. (if that is even possible) His critics are right and his supporters are right. It's a testimony to his ability that the most fanatically loyal people are his players, or when he played, his teammates. The fans of the team he is associated with, love him too.
Despite his boorish tendencies at times, I still love the guy and he is definitely in my top 5 all time favorite Michigan players.
January 14th, 2012 at 11:45 PM ^
His critics can only be so right when his results are what they are. How people can knock his personality when he is so beloved by his players is beyond me.
Stanford players aren't dummies. Those guys have a lot on the ball. If Harbaugh was really this bad person his idiot critics say he is, I doubt he would have been able to earn such obvious admiration from those guys.
January 15th, 2012 at 10:45 AM ^
It's because he's a competitor. He cares about his players and he builds the team concept, but he's also a competitor and wants the most out of his team. I love that. Furthermore, his work with Alex Smith this year has been nothing short of phenomenal. Smith was a guy who was lacking in confidence and Harbaugh has him built up. Smith's performance yesterday was fantastic. He led that team. A lot of that has come from being coached up.
January 15th, 2012 at 12:10 AM ^
Watching him on the sidelines, you can tell just by reading his lips that every other word coming out of his mouth is a curse, both when he's upset and when he's happy.
January 14th, 2012 at 10:22 PM ^
i thought he actually kind of looked nervous all day, very un-Harbaugh like. But they snuck out a win, so good for him. He has done well, way beyond expectations.
That said, he still is obviously a butt head (and that was better when he was *our* butt head).
January 14th, 2012 at 11:30 PM ^
has made it in the big city. *sniff* I can't say I am fond of the man but he has followed his NFL aspirations and is making a name for himself.
January 15th, 2012 at 12:08 AM ^
Harbaugh is who he is. He's an uber-competitive, loudmouth blowhard with a frat boy attitude, but that's part of what makes him a great coach. No matter what he may have said, at the end of the day he's a Michigan Man who did a lot of great things for us.
I'm happy for him, and I'll be happy to see him dominate the league in the future (though this year, I would rather see Tom Brady get his fourth ring).
January 15th, 2012 at 9:01 AM ^
He is a leader of men wherever he goes. Can't deny that. Also he is similar to coach Hoke. Both took over teams who did not perform well for prior coaching staffs and led them to post season success. Go Michigan Men
January 15th, 2012 at 10:41 AM ^
January 15th, 2012 at 12:23 PM ^
Allow me to concur and present my summation of your well written passage.
Jim Harbaugh can talk the talk because he walks the walk.
Brady Hoke. brings much joy and gladness to my heart, but I so wanted Michigan to successfully court Harbaugh, who knew that he would become so white hot at the end of the last season. I am very glad Coach Hoke leads Michigan he gets it, looking back on the whole thing Brady Hoke is what Michigan needs and vice versa.
I figured that Harbaugh's Rah Rah style wouldn't carry over to the pro's, boy was I wrong.
I thought the 49ers would be in the running for the Andrew Luck bowl instead they are in the NFC championship game.
Congrats Jim you are always true blue in my heart!
January 15th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
January 16th, 2012 at 11:48 AM ^
Also steers players. And those numbers just weren't true-
http://mgoblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/destroy-harbaugh.html
Stanford players mainly are in less demanding classes too.
And I find your story a little implausible that you'd ask a question that a major paper would just happen to ask the next day.
Not holding it against Harbaugh overall, and he's good at what he does, but it was a dick move.
January 15th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^