Well I tried to make this short enough for a forum entry but people prefer brevity there which I fail at in these type of analysis, so I decided to write a long form and will place in diary.

With the erasure of David Brandon from UM athletics and the scuttlebutt about a potential re-marriage with Jim  Harbaugh (the guy who wears a crown says Harbaugh's reps will be in AA next week to meet with Schlissel, but MGo policy is not to link to the crowned one's site) I thought I'd present some data on Harbaugh's Stanford years.  I've done a litany of reviews of most of the major coaching candidates (Mullen, Patterson, Graham, Jones, Mark Stoops) over the past month in a somewhat similar format but  I am going to make this post more narrow, focusing mostly on statistics. (I also looked at how Strong & Franklin compared to this year's candidates)

I did break out Jim's data a lot more in detail - rather than simply looking at total offense/defense each year at Stanford, I went into rush & pass offense/defense and then went another step and looked at the advanced metrics of FEI and S&P+ utilizing Football Outsiders.  Harbaugh coached from 07 to 10, so I've also listed the data for Stanford in the year before and year after he coached for comparison (please note there was no FEI data in 2006)

Here is Harbaugh's data - please note Andrew Luck was QB in 09/10/11:

Here is a deep dig into the data broken down by run / pass

TL;DR version - cool story bro, I dont care, statistics are for losers...give me Harbaugh.  Stop reading here.

Not TL;DR version

DEFENSE

The perception of Stanford football today is tough a$$ defense.  But that was not Harbaugh's defense, or it sure wasn't until his last year there.  What struck me on looking at the data is how sucky the defense was in Harbaugh's first 3 years.  I mean it was really bad, and yes let's allow for 1-11 Stanford but there should have been more tangible improvement by year 2-3.  Jim doesn't seem to be a defensive coach. And yet we saw a massive improvement in his last year.  So I looked closer and we can get an explanation from 2 words -> Vic Fangio.

Here are his D-coordinators by year

• 2007 - Scott Schafer (YTSS)
• 2008 - Andy Buh/Ron Lynn
• 2009 - ditto
• 2010 - Vic Fangio

So who is Vic Fangio and where is he now?  Fangio is a long time NFL coach, who unfortunately was stuck coaching for 2 expansion teams, but had been a D Coordinator  from 95 to 05.  Colts management wanted him fired one year but Jim Mora (YTJM) famously refused to fire him since he didnt think he was a problem, and instead Mora got canned.  Between 06-10, Fangio was a "special assistant" to first Billick and then John Harbaugh at the Ravens.  (Ironically on the same staff as Gregg Mattison from 08-10... small world) 

So obviously he got shuttled from 1 Harbaugh to another and his 1 year in college was his only year.  He has been the DC of San Fran's excellent defense since 2011.  At age 57 - and never being a HC -  he does not seem like one to take over for Jim if he was to leave San Fran (hoping UM fans in San Fran could shed more light on this, I am speculating) but he seems like a NFL guy more than a college guy.  I also could not find his salary with the google fergodsakes, but he did get an extension thru 2015 this past March.

If we are lucky enough to land Harbaugh, it will be interesting to see if Mr. Fangio comes along.  (Nice article here on Fangio for those inclined; paints him as a cerebral, detail oriented coaching lifer)

If not, I would say it is imperitive Harbaugh finds an excellent D-coordinator (maybe Will Muschamp?)  Just being blunt but his first 3 years (again allowing that Stanford sucked in 2006) on defense were pretty awful, like Kevin Sumlin's defense at Houston awful.   Well like Kevin Sumlin everywhere he coaches awful on defense.

OFFENSE

Unlike the defense, Jim's offense improved at a steady pace through his years at Stanford.  Now again, and this is why I like diving into the data - the perception was this was mostly Andrew Luck.  But as we slice the data we can see it was the rushing offense that carried the day.  By the 2nd year Harbaugh had engineered a Mattison in 2011 turnaround of the rush offense from >100 to top 20.  Now that is f***** manball sir.  Somewhere Bo is shedding a tear.   Luck did come around in 2009-2010 (and 2011 after Harbaugh left) and while the passing offense was very good in 2010, the rushing offense was the better unit even that year.  So in terms of fit of style to current player personnel - I mean the shoe fits.  Assuming Rivals was not wrong on every damn UM offensive recruit from 2012-2014.  Harbaugh did what Hoke promised to do.  And did it quickly.  Interestingly the advanced stats (S&P+ and FEI) were kinder to Stanford then the NCAA's "Total Offense" all 4 years, which is probably a nod to the tough conference.

OVERALL

Looking at this data better helped me not only look deeper at Jim Harbaugh but better helped me couch all the other candidates I ran analysis on over the past month.  It makes me appreciate the defensive prowess of Charlie Strong at Louisville and Patterson at TCU, and Graham / Sumlin offensively (and Graham defensively at ASU).  Coming in and quickly turning around programs and getting "top 20" rankings at these schools without top 10-15 recruiting talent is NOT easy.  Many people are critical of many other candidates I (or others) present for not winning big by year 2 at other programs (what?! 5 losses in any year? DO NOT WANT!)  or having one side of the ball with sucky stats. Well Harbaugh evaluated after 2-3 years would have some of those same flags as well. Again - adjusted for taking over a 1-11 tire fire.

Which is why judging a guy like Mark Stoops in year 2 is so difficult - in many ways he is well ahead of where Jim was in year 2 both in W/L and offensive and defensive statistics - taking over a similar 2-10 tire fire.  Of course we'd prefer to see year 3 for him as well! 

Looking at this data, if I removed the name Harbaugh and changed it to Smith and he had played at Nebraska rather than Michigan, "Coach Smith" would not be such a slam dunk based on comments I've seen in many of the CC threads for guys with - frankly - some better data in year 1-3 of their respective stops.

All that said, of course I am not suggessting Jim Harbaugh should not be UM's coach - I would be sent to Bolivia for even the suggestion.  The history, the Michigan roots, the hate for Ohio, the intensity, the intangibles - very few coaches in the country have those.  And he has proven himself even more so at the NFL level than the NCAA.  But he is an offensive minded person who built a manball team and found and tutored a great QB.  Things I am sure he could do here.  But his defensive coordinator hire may be his biggest decision if he does make his way to Ann Arbor.