November 28th, 2021 at 4:13 PM ^
I love Jim. As a packer fan, I know the pain of two playoff losses to him. I've been waiting for him to inflict that pain on the buckeyes since the 2014 game when I knew Hoke was out.
Matt Campbell just doesn't hit the same.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
Matt Campbell? His Iowa State Cyclones were ranked in the Top 10 at the beginning of this season.
Not so much this year, finishing with a record of 7 - 5 and not even in the Top 25.
I didn't understand the love affair with him 12 months ago and still don't.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
It was odd how much this blog slobbered over Campbell. I’ve never thought he’d be an upgrade
November 28th, 2021 at 4:30 PM ^
Oh this is something that bugged me. Ace kept calling Matt Campbell "Soup." Michigan football has already had a Soup Campbell. You can't have two. Them's the rules.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:09 PM ^
That's as bad as people trying to pin RoJo on someone today. Please, with all the great teams over the decades it took Haskins to tie one of his records and I note that the single game rushing record stands to this day.
November 28th, 2021 at 6:09 PM ^
THIS is the thing Ace said/did that irked you?
November 28th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^
Even if Iowa State had a better season, the one thing they can never do is beat Iowa.. So, Matt Campbell's MO was 8-10 win coach that can't beat his biggest rival....How was getting another coach that couldn't ever figure out how to beat his biggest rival an upgrade?
November 28th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
I never called for him to be fired. The things that I kept coming back to were that 1) we'd never find another coach with the kind of résumé that Harbaugh himself had when we hired him and 2) even if we didn't achieve everything we wanted so far, outside of the Covid year we were winning much more than we did under RichRod and Hoke. If Harbaugh could keep knocking on the door on the B1G East (as in 2016 and '18) eventually we'd get through.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:41 PM ^
I thought firing him would have hasty. First of all the COVID year should never have been factored in. The B1G cancelled the season, several starters transferred. The other conferences didn't cancel their season's, so the B1G felt pressured to reverse their decision.
Any coach had no control over any of those major factors.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:00 PM ^
Plus, losing Hutch, Cade and several other starters to injury, our safety coach being AWOL, and various other craziness.
It was clear that we needed to move on from Don Brown though. Very glad Harbaugh pulled the trigger and listened to his brother's advice.
November 28th, 2021 at 7:48 PM ^
Would love to see a Wall of Shame of those clowns I fought with at start of season here, who are now quiet and hiding.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:25 PM ^
Well to be fair the saying "hindsight is always 20-20" somewhat comes to mind.
For the record I was glad he stayed and was one of the cockeyed optimists pre-season with my 9-3 prediction for the year.
Nobody and I mean nobody here saw THIS season coming.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:50 PM ^
I picked 9-3 too.. thought maybe 10 at best until yesterday happened and glad I was able to take in my first mich victory over osu.
My dad has had season tickets for 50 years and seen all the best moments and I got to share a win vs osu with him. He said it was the best one ever
November 28th, 2021 at 5:04 PM ^
I didn't predict this season, but I thought the calls for Harbaugh's head were ridiculous.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:53 PM ^
You were one of the lead voices against Harbaugh up until very recently. Don’t kid yourself. I posted this on the day he signed the extension and I received plenty of downvotes and you commented against me:
January 7th, 2021 at 11:38 PM ^
If he signs the extension at the terms in the reports, some of the folks on this tweetblog should really reconsider their position re Michigan. He will have taken a reduction in compensation ultimately for the good of an institution he clearly holds dear to his heart. And many on here have been lighting their keyboards on fire with arm flapping of late. Probably the same people that questioned the Juwan hire.
I, for one, am not ready to write the epitaph of the Michigan Man and think great things are ahead. Others can feel free to pine over some dude in Ames who has yet to beat Iowa.
November 28th, 2021 at 6:48 PM ^
Bruh…
You were calling Michigan “Big Blue”. Everybody was downvoting you for that. And if you think he took a pay cut for the good of the university, I don’t know what to tell you.
November 28th, 2021 at 9:10 PM ^
I called it that one time. Plenty of people call it that. I am proud to be an alum and also feel fine calling it that even if it raises the cackles of a few people I have zero regard for.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:25 PM ^
He deserves his victory lap. Cutting his salary to try to finish the job (I say try because he's not done yet) required some humility on his part. Glad he kept pushing the rock up the mountain.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^
With a couple more wins, it turns out he might not take a pay cut after all . . .
November 28th, 2021 at 6:12 PM ^
Saturday's TV was a six-hour Harbaugh hate-fest. They couldn't go 5 minutes without detailing the negative stats vs OSU or top 10 teams, never a single word about how he brought Michigan back from the dead, was in playoff contention twice before, is the only coach in America who has to beat OSU to be considered successful, and Michigan helped create that recruiting monster to the south by bottoming out under RichRod and Hoke while the playoff system began.
Or you could easily create a narrative where he's a hero just by reversing some egregious referee calls. So yes, Harbaugh should enjoy these next few weeks and use it to keep the train rolling
November 28th, 2021 at 9:20 PM ^
You are so right. If I were Harbaugh, THIS is what would bring me down and depressed.
November 29th, 2021 at 2:32 AM ^
Bingo! Nailed it.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:29 PM ^
Agreed.. and it is time for the Harbaugh haters to bury the hatchet and come back to the fold. Admit you were wrong about firing him, he's our guy.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:03 PM ^
Good luck with that hope.
Few people admit being wrong. Instead what we're more likely to see is artful hindsight readjustment.
• e.g., "I was just speculating but always wanted him to stay ..."
• e.g., "I only mentioned that Harbaugh needed to improve, and if he didn't..."
• e.g. "The past few years the case could be made that UM should keep other options in mind..."
Soon, if things work out, you won't be able to find anyone who admits having wanted him fired.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:27 PM ^
By the off-season, I had said I’d be fine if they parted ways after last season. Not because I thought there was a better option but because there seemed to be baked in problems that weren’t getting fixed like the defense and failing to recruit key positions groups. Not an “unacceptable” type but I was ready for a new approach from a new coach.
ill gladly own up to being proven wrong. Harbaugh had it in him and he pulled together a group of coaches and kids who put together a magical season. I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say we wouldn’t have gone 11-1 and nearly undefeated with whatever coach we hired. Seems incredibly unlikely. More importantly, the program feels alive again and like there May be better years ahead, finally.
that said, Harbaugh was rightfully criticized for not getting it done for half a decade and that season last year looked all-around awful. You can’t be too upset with people for wanting something to change. And being proven “right” in this context doesn’t mean you were right, it means it turned out the way you hoped. A lot of us hoped it would turn out this way year after year. You just lasted a little longer;)
but I’ll eat a big bag of shit and crow and whatever else you want to say I was wrong and it would have been a mistake to replace him, knowing what I know now.
more importantly let’s stop bitching about this idiotic subject and be behind this team who got it done. Taking a victory lap so you can dance on your fellow fans grave is unseemly and dickish. Yes there were some obnoxious Harbaugh haters but they all wanted the same thing you did. This is a big part of what’s wrong in this country right now. Pick each other up instead of othering the people who want the same shit you do. Like a family let’s realize some of us did and said some dumb shit and get back to the task at hand of cheering these boys on, together.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:53 PM ^
Okay, so you did say some dumb shit and you were proven wrong. And now you honestly admit it. Done. No need to eat the bag of shit. Just try to remember all of this going forward and you'll be a better human if you do. :-)
Now ... let's crush Iowa and win all the marbles at the CFP!
Go Blue!
November 28th, 2021 at 6:00 PM ^
+1 my man. Go Blue!
November 28th, 2021 at 6:03 PM ^
Harbaugh was rightfully criticized for not getting it done for half a decade
Serious question: given that in 2014, Michigan went 5-7 and OSU won the national title, how quickly did you expect Harbaugh to get it done (assuming this means beating them and winning the league)?
November 28th, 2021 at 6:38 PM ^
2016, 2017, or 2018. All he needed was a quarterback, which should be his absolute strength. We don’t need to rehash all of the inexplicable decisions and mistakes.
OSU was 6-7 in 2011 while Dantonio had a great program in East Lansing. How quickly did you expect Meyer to turn around OSU?
November 28th, 2021 at 6:48 PM ^
Somewhere between 2-7 years? We were spoiled by his first two years and the success we saw there. The next few years were where most people split in their opinions.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:32 PM ^
I will fess up, after 2020 on top of the thousand cuts that had preceded it, I was pretty much done with Harbaugh because it felt like the team had just quit, as evidenced by the Wisconsin night game. I wasn’t about to buy a torch and pitchfork only because I didn’t see a clear cut better alternative and because if there was ever a year to chalk up as an anomaly, it was last year.
So, based on that tiniest of footholds, I was like ‘sure, let’s roll the dice with another year because it can’t get any worse and maybe this time things will be different ’. Bit by bit, he proved me wrong and I am happy he is our coach.
November 28th, 2021 at 8:06 PM ^
Idk, I will willfully admit I was wrong when I predicted 7-5 before the season and said I wouldn't mind if they parted ways with Harbaugh (though I didn't think they'd really consider firing him until after next year given the extension). I mean, the 2020 team was just *so* bad, how could anyone have predicted this year in their wildest dreams?
However, after the Wisconsin game I did start to come around and admit the team might actually be good. After the MSU game, where Michigan was clearly jobbed, I said I'd wait until PSU and OSU to decide whether it was really "the same old problems" that Harbaugh supposedly couldn't get past. When they beat PSU for their second 4th quarter comeback on the road this year, I firmly decided it would be insane to fire Harbaugh and the OSU game shouldn't be the deciding factor. Even if they had finished 10-2 and lost to MSU and OSU, this year would clearly have exceeded expectations, and that by itself was enough for me to come around to the pro-Harbaugh camp.
November 28th, 2021 at 7:54 PM ^
Fuck them. And good riddance. For it was likely those types who pushed for a new age offense, constantly bitching about ours.
November 28th, 2021 at 8:27 PM ^
Uhhhhh, Michigan's base offense is a split zone spread package with zone read, arc read, RPO, etc. being their bread and butter. They didn't line up under center once yesterday.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:44 AM ^
I've already said I deserve every bit of shit that comes my way. I'm okay with it though. I am thrilled Harbaugh finally found the right combination of coaches and players. He has had more talented teams since he's been here that were not able to do what this team did. You need talent but, you also need heart and will. This team has proved that there is no supposed institutional strings holding Michigan back from competing with the best of the best.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:30 PM ^
Agree. I remember seeing Jim speak to Michigan fans at a Michigan pep rally at the Santa Monica pier for the 2007 Rose Bowl when he was head coach at Stanford, before his time with the 49ners. Told my daughters then I thought he might end up at HC at Michigan some day. Made sense then and makes sense now. Sorry to say Michigan was robbed in the OSU game at Columbus his first year here as well with blown non calls on holds, pi's and the "fictional" spot. This Michigan team just beat a talent laden OSU team full of 5 star recruits with everything on the line by 15 points in one of the best if not best Michigan wins I can remember.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:54 PM ^
I always thought Harbaugh's trajectory would have been completely different if he got the spot in 2016 and beat Ohio State. He likely would have been Big Ten champion and won a slot in the CFP. It would have been off to the races from there.
Well, it took a while, but here we are. He just did beat Ohio State, and has a good shot at the Big Ten championship and a slot in the CFP. Then it's (finally) off to the races.
November 28th, 2021 at 6:16 PM ^
A win there definitely would have changed the narrative around the program. But, we would have still had to deal with the back to back subpar recruiting classes from 2014 and '15. Those two classes created depth problems, which we papered over in Harbaugh's first two years, but then reared their head in '17 and to a lesser degree in '18.
December 6th, 2021 at 2:22 PM ^
I saw Harbs that same year walking into the Rose Bowl stadium in his new white Stanford polo. I wished him luck at his new job from a far and he walked over to shake my hand, thank me, and introduce me to the other 5 he was attending the game with. Who does that?? Speaks volumes to his character outside of football.
I agree whole heartedly with your assessment on the losses to OSU, as well as MSU. I was at the game where Michigan dominated against MSU only to have our Aussie punter fumble the snap due to the cold and make a beautiful lateral to a streaking MSU player. People are looking at wins and losses and not character, effort and reality.
One thing that got me about Harbaugh, especially after that debacle to MSU and seeing how distraught he was, was fully realizing that he cared more than I did! Sounds crazy, right? So many forget this. He's a Michigan Man, ultra competitive, who powered the team in his heyday and bleeds blue through and through. We are so fortunate to have him.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:34 PM ^
Yeah, this is hindsight 20-20 for sure. I never wanted him fired (I’m fairly sure my past posts reflect that) and I damn sure didn’t want Matt Campbell, but after last year and the staff turnover, there was prob a case to be made for it. Very glad it didn’t happen and I’m so happy for him. He deserves all of the enjoyment he is prob getting out of this.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:36 PM ^
Matt Campbell is going to get shit all over in this thread, and I still think he's a great coach. What he's done is akin to having Rutgers ranked more often than not, upsetting top-tier teams, and taking them to the conference title game. He deserves all the credit in the world and could probably go to a bigger job if he wanted to.
That being said, this season has reminded me why I, nor any other fan, am not the one making decisions for the athletic programs. I was DEAD WRONG. Harbaugh is not only the perfect guy to lead Michigan football, but he's got to be a one-of-a-kind coach. After stumbling through the middle years of his time here, he had the sense and the humility to step back, take a pay cut, reinvent himself, rework the staff, and overhaul the culture. He's now gotten this team where we've wanted to see it, and boy is it fun to watch.
Things got tough for Meyer at Florida and Ohio St, and what did he do? He ditched them.
Things got tough for Riley at Oklahoma, and what did he do? He ditched them.
Things got tough for Harbaugh at Michigan, and what did he do? He reinvented himself, redesigned the program, kicked Ohio State's ass, and got us to Indy.
Incredible. We are blessed.
November 28th, 2021 at 4:57 PM ^
Plus one for favorable comparison to Meyer.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:22 PM ^
ISU ain't Rutgers. I tried to tell people this last year, and got down voted to oblivion. Matt Campbell has 10 years as a HC and has never had 10 wins. I'm not saying he's a bad coach. But doing what Harbaugh just did is world's harder than having moderate success at ISU.
November 28th, 2021 at 7:47 PM ^
For sure. Campbell would not have taken 2020 Michigan and done this with it the following year. In fact, I don't think there is another coach on the planet that could have.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
Iowa State historically is worse than Rutgers...by quite a bit. That being said Campbell didnt have an impressive season this year at all after last year. He may need to regroup and change some things.
November 28th, 2021 at 7:15 PM ^
This is the best depiction of Jim Harbaugh at this moment. Thank you for this!
November 28th, 2021 at 4:38 PM ^
I was on the fence about Harbaugh and found myself wondering if the grass was greener on the other side after last season. With the staff changes that were made, and a new-look staff with an invigorated Harbaugh, I was starting to believe. Now, after yesterday, I am all in on the capabilities of Harbaugh. Crazy to think that even with all the incentives hit, he will still make less than overrated Tucker.
Go Blue
November 28th, 2021 at 4:49 PM ^
Hindsight is 20-20. I definitely thought he should have been fired last year. Not just because of last season but because he had not lived up to what everyone expected. This is obviously a huge win, now let's see where it goes.
November 28th, 2021 at 5:22 PM ^
What an asshat. “Let’s see where it goes…”.
Beating OSU was a huge accomplishment. Sure, I’d like a CFP berth and a NC too. Baby steps are OK. As long as they are huge ones like yesterday!
And you aren’t invited along for the ride. Like Zac Zinter said, “For all of you fuck faces that didn’t believe in us, kiss my big o-line sized ass!”. (I’m paraphrasing his tweet of course!)