The State of Our Program
I’ve been disgusted and horrified by Harbaugh and the Wolverines as much or more than the next guy, but it made me think about several things about the program.
First, this seems larger than just the coach.
UM has gone through Rich Rod who could not field a defense period, Hoke who by the end of his tenure looked lost, and Jim Harbaugh who has finally flamed out entirely.
The boosters/administration can often be controlling and there’s almost a defeatist mindset around the program. The UM job is tough and requires winning the fan base/boosters and the administration in addition to the players.
Clemson had similar issues and was so bad under Terry Bowden that the fan base feared to get optimistic about the team and had a defeatist attitude ie “Clemsoning”. Dabo at Clemson had to completely retool the culture and win over both players and the fan base and administration.
Second, some of the blue bloods jobs have so many politics going on behind the scenes. Is there something going on behind the scenes at UM? FSU had major booster meddling and administration conflict with the head coach before Jimbo Fisher ultimately left.
Can Michigan even find a guy to turn the program culture around and that would be able to handle the peripherals of the job?
November 28th, 2020 at 9:03 PM ^
Any insight into the politics/factions in the Harbaugh era?
November 28th, 2020 at 9:52 PM ^
I hear Harbaugh isn’t having the greatest year.
November 28th, 2020 at 10:00 PM ^
Bold statement!
To answer this post, the state of our program? Illinois. On a good day.
November 28th, 2020 at 10:00 PM ^
Yeah, the “factions” that all the Harbaugh apologists claim are undermining him is complete BS. No UM football coach hire was more universally embraced than he was and he was anointed as a demi God before he even set foot in the field.
The only faction that has developed in the last few months is that enough fans have finally realized how badly he has underperformed and what awful shape the program is currently in.
November 28th, 2020 at 10:55 PM ^
It was in awful shape before Harbaugh.
The problem is much bigger than a single coach, something fans don’t want to admit to.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:09 AM ^
Don’t know why you’re getting downvoted, after 3 coaches and several mediocre final years under Carr, fans still thinks it’s all we need is the right “head coach.” Just like all we needed was a DC like Brown and an OC like Gattis.
Also? No B1G championships since 2004.
November 29th, 2020 at 6:17 AM ^
He’s getting downvotes because it’s utterly ridiculous to suggest that factions and political infighting have brought Harbaugh and the program to their current point.
The Harbaugh hire was universally hailed and, until the last few weeks, he’s enjoyed widespread support, bordering on unanimous at some points, across the UM community.
People want to debate the role these things played in the careers of Moeller, Carr, RichRod and Hoke, then that’s fair game, but Harbaugh was indisputably the one coach who almost everyone was 100% for. And, for someone with no major achievements in 6 years and some pretty big embarrassments, he’s enjoyed a degree of latitude from fans, boosters and administration that is pretty much unheard of at a major college program.
He got united support from the get go and it’s been his performance that has caused those groups to once again start to splinter. Not vice versa.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:54 AM ^
Very well put. Nobody but Harbaugh would have been able to still garner support this long given the amount of embarrassing losses that have started to pile up in the last three years. Usually a coach that is given this much leash has won a championship of some kind (i.e. why James Franklin isn't quite on the hot seat).
November 29th, 2020 at 12:32 PM ^
After all the hoopla of hiring him, and he can't deliver then.......it's time
November 28th, 2020 at 9:03 PM ^
Michigan is broken from the inside.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:05 PM ^
Michigan Football = Fucking Pathetic
November 28th, 2020 at 9:43 PM ^
Dude get a grip, you’re just being a douche posting this a million times.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:49 PM ^
Spot the lie
November 28th, 2020 at 10:04 PM ^
Mongo, shut the fuck up and go back to punching horses.
November 28th, 2020 at 11:46 PM ^
Mongo just a pawn...
November 28th, 2020 at 11:50 PM ^
Mongo not know where choo choo go.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:00 AM ^
Can someone just give this asshole a piece of candy to shit him up.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:07 PM ^
I totally, fully understand the culture thing- it is definitely part of the equation.
The best we can hope for is that the administration is willing to take a chance on a coach that we wouldn't expect (ie, Urban- even though this ain't happening). I think those types of coaches can overcome the bullshit within the program and make it work.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:08 PM ^
Harbaugh was given the keys to basically do whatever he wanted when he got here. He slept over at recruits houses, he oversigned, he called out other coaches on twitter. He said "who's got it better than us?" before actually winning a single thing.
Harbaugh is not failing because of anything behind the scenes. He has mismanaged the QBs, left holes in the roster, hired bad position coaches, and decided he wants to play Bo ball despite not having the talent to do so.
Some coach will have success here, but not unless they decide to do it the best and most efficient way, and not the "the way they've always done it" or "the michigan way".
November 28th, 2020 at 9:10 PM ^
To be honest, I don't even know if he is playing "Bo Ball." I don't know what the hell this team is supposed to be.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:16 PM ^
True, even with Rich Rod trying to shoe horn in the spread in 2008 you could see what he wanted to do.
I've never seen gameplans so bad as that these coaches seem to put together.
We have a running back that's mauling Penn State and we substitute him out...it's unreal.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:43 PM ^
Agreed. The offense has no identity, no rhythm, and seems like a complete mess. Do you think it’s Harbaugh meddling? Is it Gattis? Maybe a combination of the two?
November 28th, 2020 at 11:50 PM ^
I think that’s how Harbaugh is wired. He has a game plan in mind and, goddamn it, that’s what he’s going to do.
If he plans on subbing an RB out at a certain point, it doesn’t matter if he’s tearing it up, the RB is going to sit.
If the run up the middle isn’t working, it doesn’t matter. He’s doing to stay with it until he makes it work.
We’ve seen his total lack of in game adjustments too many times for it to be anything other than a complete inability and/or unwillingness to alter his master game plan.
Like you said, with RR you could see what he wanted to do, he just wasn’t successful. At this point with Harbaugh I have no clue what his coaching strategy/philosophy is.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:28 AM ^
He tried and he couldn’t recruit the linemen to make it work.
All the stuff happening at Michigan is happening at his old place Stanford, it’s just Stanford is so much under the radar and the pac 12 doesn’t have a program like Ohio State to humiliate them every year. Wisconsin/Iowa have been able to maintain the line development to keep being stubbornly old school, but they’ve been doing what they do for an extremely long time with no broken continuity.
Harbaugh basically threw in the towel on even trying to Stanfordize halfway into his run when he fired Drevno.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:44 PM ^
There seems to be a big sense of "this is how it's always been done" around the program.
It's never easy to accept changes in life but if the past results are unacceptable, you have to move on. If it were your business and you were paying somebody a big salary but getting substandard results, you'd make a change.
A lot of people are paying a lot of money into this football program. At some point, those people will decide that there are other, far less frustrating ways to spend a lot of money.
Had there been fans in the stands to watch and stew over these 3 losses at home, there'd be greater demand for a change.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:52 PM ^
This.
Jim Harbaugh was given carte blanche, in a way that few coaches at any school ever get, from the moment he stepped on campus. There weren’t any “factions” or “politics” that were trying to undermine him. He was, quite simply, the most universally supported football coach hire in school history.
Even NOW, after six years of no titles or wins over OSU, there is still a strong contingent within the UM community that believe he deserves another season to “turn it around.” There is absolutely no other individual currently alive who would be given that kind of latitude by the UM fan base after six years of these results.
We had a living legend in hockey retire and our best basketball coach in school history unexpectedly leave, yet those teams have found ways to continue to be successful. So clearly it’s not a “culture” thing in our sports programs like Harbaugh and his apologists want us to believe.
The reason the program is in its current state is because of his leadership, period. Not because of some secret university cabal that has been trying to destroy him from within. He’s had his more than a fair shot, he hasn’t gotten it done, and there is NOTHING to indicate he’s on an upward trajectory for future success.
It’s heartbreaking and sucks beyond belief that it’s going to end this way, but six years is long enough and it’s time for him to go. End of story.
November 28th, 2020 at 10:05 PM ^
Plus $8 million a year for No Big Ten titles or Rose Bowl trips or wins against OSU get him outta here as soon as possible!
November 28th, 2020 at 10:39 PM ^
I absolutely agree with everything you said. Harbaugh has to go. That’s the easy part. What is harder is trying to analyze why Hoke and Rich Rod and Harbaugh all have not worked. You can’t find three more different football coaches and yet all of them failed. Why ? How do we not make another mistake by hiring another future failure. There is no football Juwan Howard out there
November 29th, 2020 at 4:26 PM ^
Pretty sure Jim finished higher than 9th in the conference his first year
November 28th, 2020 at 10:40 PM ^
Yes. Very well said.
November 28th, 2020 at 10:55 PM ^
Blaming the M culture is like blaming the "Deep State."
November 28th, 2020 at 9:10 PM ^
You won’t know if it can be fixed unless you try - but you’ve got to get the right coach. Think of all the suffering ND did between Holtz and Kelly. Now it’s time for us to give Matt Campbell his shot.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:15 PM ^
Matt Campbell is my first choice, but I’m worried our administration or boosters would hamstring him just because he is an outsider.
Although, I think the failure of JH and Hoke will seriously stomp out the Michigan Man thing. It hasn’t worked at all. There are literally no Michigan Men left to go to.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:26 PM ^
Oh Scott Loeffler is still out there who just had 5 guys kicked off the team for drugs
November 29th, 2020 at 12:31 AM ^
Meyer. Or Hafley.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:10 PM ^
2 Words: Dan, fucking, Villari
November 28th, 2020 at 9:48 PM ^
That’s 3 words.
November 28th, 2020 at 11:17 PM ^
And two commas but mysteriously, no period.
November 28th, 2020 at 11:59 PM ^
yes, I am sure true freshman QB, DFV is the answer to all our problems
November 28th, 2020 at 9:15 PM ^
I thought "Clemsoning" used to mean Clemson playing poorly when favored or in key games?
November 28th, 2020 at 9:17 PM ^
Yes, but the point remains that the fan base and administration had a negative perception of things. Clemson sucked under Terry Bowden, Dabo was in his shadow, and them sucking in big games didn’t help.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:15 PM ^
Not good. Kinda like Delaware
November 28th, 2020 at 9:15 PM ^
Here is the truth and the context people should be judging the offense in. Today, three true freshman, four RS freshman, four true sophomores, two RS sophomores played. Eleven of these thirteen men have no experience or almost no experience before this year. There are 5 upperclassmen who played today, and one of them is a first year starter. Two of the upperclassmen, Evans and Eubanks, are role players. Every offensive lineman is a new starter and only one of them has been on the team for more than two years. There is no way anyone should be expecting greatness or even any type of consistency from this group. This offense is performing about as well as any reasonable person could expect, especially when the defense lets the other team dominate time of possession and they only get to run 55 plays.
The defense is a much bigger disappointment. But again, there is a lot of inexperience. One true freshmen, two true sophomores, and five RS sophomores played today. Four of those players had no playing time or only very little before the start of the season. We had six upperclassmen play, but two were walk-ons with almost no experience, and Paye was not playing at 100%. At the beginning of Fall camp Don Brown had no idea he'd have to field a defense without Ambry Thomas, Aiden Hutchinson, Cam Magrone, and Brad Hawkins for most or all of the season. Having to reinvent the defense with mostly first and second year players in the time of COVID was going to be a high mountain to climb.
None of that is to excuse the poor play of the experienced players or the five stars who should be playing at a higher level, but part of their disappointing play comes from being asked to compensate for the inexperience and backup level talent of most of the rest of the people on their squad. They aren't being put in a position to succeed because they are being asked to do too much or are taking on too much because of the rest of their young and inexperienced teammates aren't ready to pick up the slack.
All of which is to say, yes this sucks to watch. But it mostly makes sense, and it isn't only or even primarily about the coaching. This team is very, very young and inexperienced, and it has been bitten badly by the injury bug and key opt outs. The secondary has made great strides in the last few weeks and the running game has started to look much better as well. There are green shoots amidst the manure. This team, if it sticks together, will be much better next season, and could be on par with the 2016 team in two years.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:29 PM ^
This team was playing at a terrible level before they lost players...they blew the MSU game. MSU who had to band aid their team together this year with a first year coach has a better team than us. That is not acceptable in year six under any circumstances. Sorry. This team has tuned out the coaches and you can tell as soon as they run out of the tunnel. It's over.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:35 PM ^
Indeed. Not wanting to wait until year 8 to see a few good wins and several shitty losses. Time to move on.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:44 PM ^
They were playing badly early because they had even less experience than they do now. The injuries only made the lack of experience worse, and yet they've looked better the last two weeks than they did against State. The team is getting better, it will be much better next season, even without any coaching changes.
I'm fine if they replace Brown. I think the game has passed him by, and teams have learned to use his defenses aggressiveness against it. But even if he stayed on, they'd improve a lot next year.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:05 AM ^
Are you the person who game after game says, “but if these 23 things happened differently Michigan would have won”?
November 28th, 2020 at 9:34 PM ^
I'm so sick of these excuses, who manages the roster?
Many teams have issues and players opting out and injuries.
Many teams have freshmen and young guys playing and making an impact.
A RS Sophomore is someone who has been with the program 3 years.
A QB hasn't been developed or played consistently as the season matriculated since Rudock.
We're tired of this clusterfuck we have on the sidelines, it ain't working.
Oh, I forgot to mention running off potentially solid players who basically gave Harbaugh the finger on the way out.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:52 PM ^
Players don’t like Harbaugh. He doesn’t develop them and a lot leave. The culture has sucked for a while. Think I’m wrong, how about the quarterbacks: Shea, O’Korn, Speight, Peters, and that was supposed to be what he was best at
November 28th, 2020 at 9:50 PM ^
STOP.
STOP.
WE ARE IN YEAR FUCKING SIX.
I hate this shit. I hate people justifying, over and over again, why this team is not where it is supposed to be. We have said this OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER again. WAIT UNTIL HE GETS HIS GUYS AND THEY ARE OLDER.
It's done. I'm so fucking sick of this rationale.