Fox Sports podcast w/Joel Klatt -> Jim Harbaugh is the best coach in college football

Submitted by Quail2theVict0r on

http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/baylor-bears-tcu-horned…

Jim Harbaugh portion starts around 25 minutes or so.

Summary: For those who don't/can't listen, the argument is that Jim Harbaugh is the only coach in the game with a high level of success at both levels. 

Goes on to say that 9-4 is certainly not out of the question this year for Michigan. 

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Gofor2

August 19th, 2015 at 1:05 PM ^

Any broadcaster could say. Harbaugh hasn't proven a damn thing yet. Sure, everyone is hopeful, and based on his track record they should be. BUT, nothing has been shown as of yet to say he will do a damn thing at UM. There are many, many unemployed college coaches that were once at the top. Corker, Carr, Paterno, Brown, and others. In the NFL this is extremely common and often has little to do with the actual talent of the coach. But in college it is far more dependent on the individual talent of the HC and very easy to be at the top this year only to find yourself struggling the next. If anyone should know this it's UM fans. As excited as everyone is, and should be, it's important to not count our chickens before they hatch. JH hasn't proven shit yet, and he needs to before anyone starts saying his name in the same sentence with the Meyer's and Sabans of the world. Hasn't proven shit !

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EastCoast Esq.

August 19th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^

That argument seems kind of silly if you are characterizing it accurately.

If the category is best COLLEGE football coach, then NFL success is pretty irrelevant. Saban was mediocre at the NFL level, but he is a phenomenal college coach.

If the category is best football coach period, then I can see it. For that title, all coaching success is relevant.

I like the coverage of Harbaugh, but I think this misses the mark.

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Dawkins

August 19th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^

He's more than just a winning coach at both levels. Despite arguably not being a naturally talented athlete, he still won B10 player of the year, was runner up for Heisman, a first round NFL draft pick, an NFL pro-bowler, and the NFL comeback player of the year. THEN he went on to turn a medicore D2 program into back-to-back conference champions, then took a bunch of 1-11 bookworms and made them competitive in the SEC, then took an NFL franchise that hadn't done shit in a decade to the Superbowl. The guy is simply a fighter, a leader, and a winner. The only job for guys like him 1,000 years ago was military general, and he would have kicked ass at that too. Luckily for humanity there are less-deadly, more constructive professions for guys like him these days. 

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Perkis-Size Me

August 19th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^

If there was an award for overall most successful head coach, regardless of level, it'd probably be Harbaugh, due to his high level of success both in college and the NFL. Very few have that distinction. But to say he's the best coach in college football right now is a real stretch. What he's done in the NFL, technically, is irrelevant to how he will do in college. Saban sucked with the Dolphins, but he's built a dynasty at Alabama. 

I'd put the honor of best in college, right now, on Saban and Meyer. Those guys have titles. Multiple titles. At multiple schools. Harbaugh has zero. At least not major titles, anyway. Granted, Harbaugh's college sample size is smaller than their's, and he had to turn around a Stanford program that was far less glamorous with far less resources than what Florida, Alabama, or OSU have. Who knows what he would've accomplished by now had he never left for the NFL, but still, you're ultimately judged by the hardware you bring home. 

A strong argument can be made for Harbaugh being a top-10 college coach right now. Maaayybe top-5, but in this man's opinion, he's not the best right now. 

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raleighwood

August 19th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^

I think that there's a difference between "best college football coach" (Saban or Meyer) and "best coach in college football".  Harbaugh has "coached" successfully at all levels.  Not many others can say this. 

Think of it this way......if Bill Belichick became a college coach tomorrow, he could probably make a claim to being a Top 5 coach in college even before he ever coaches a game.  That would be based on his success as a coach (not as a college coach).

Anyway, I don't care where people rank Harbaugh now.  He'll rise and fall based on the results on the field.  My guess is that he'll be successful.

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uncleFred

August 19th, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^

in support of his 9 win prediction. That Harbaugh teams win because he makes them into a team that batters their opponents until they break their opponent's will. That he did that at every stop including the 49rs. Harbaugh's teams don't need to be better man for man because his violent brutal unyielding style of football can neutralize some degree of talent disadvantage.

Taken at face value, and I'd be interested in knowledgeable opinions as to the accuracy of that characterization of Harbaugh's teams, I think I'm more hopeful about 2015. If the offensive line doesn't have to execute with near perfection in game one, then maybe our odds are better than I thought. Maybe violent imperfection can win a few games while the coaches perfect the team's play. That said he did characterize the Utah game as Michigan running into a buzz saw, so who really knows.

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DoubleYost

August 19th, 2015 at 10:48 PM ^

Klatt is a boss. Glad he'll be calling the game. Thought of highly in Colorado. Won't show any love towards Utah



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