Gene Chizik on the Harbaugh hire
I have a long drive for work and listen to Sam and Ira on the interwebs in the morning, but have been checking in to Sirius College Sports radio on the way home. Today, after everyone not working an NFL beat acknowledged what Brian and the rest have been telling us for weeks, I thought I would see the national reaction. Gene Chizik was on and they started talking Harbaugh. He made three fairly valid points (after the host was dismissive in the "apparently it's happening" way).
1. They won the fan base back with the hire. Host threw out names such as Wittingham, Schiano, and other Plan F candidates (completely ignoring that Hackett is a straight baller) saying that Harbaugh was the only one that could get all of the fans back on board after the last 7 years.
2. They won the Hire. They knew who they wanted and did whatever they had to do to get him.
3. They will win the Press conference. Clearly, the presser tomorrow is going to be epic, given what we have all seen from Harbaugh pressers.
Talk then got down to the rest of the Big Ten and the star power that is now in the coaching ranks (mentioning Angry Dantonio and Urb, along with Franklin at Penn State and somehow Fitzgerald at NW).
My thought was 1, not enough Harbaugh talk, but I have all morning tomorrow for that, and 2 are any of the above mentioned coaches really on Harbaugh's level?
It was interesting to hear, but I am thankful on a daily basis for Sam and Ira on the way in.
HARBAUGH!!!
December 29th, 2014 at 8:25 PM ^
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December 29th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^
...he could do pretty well with his power spread as HC of the 49ers
Wouldn't that be something?
December 29th, 2014 at 8:31 PM ^
Agreed. You got your comment posted before I could.
Give the man his due. He, also, has "won everywhere he's been." He's won a BCS national championship and had the Buckeyes undefeated in his first year as head coach.
He might be a complete tool, but the man can coach. It is probably also worth mentioning that he descends from the Woody Hayes coaching tree (Earl Bruce branch) as well.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:33 PM ^
Agreed, people dismissing Urban are naive.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:47 PM ^
either blinded by M fandom or unknowledgeable. I dislike Urbs but he is an elite coach, and that is not debateable.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:52 PM ^
If David Brandon had been intelligent enough to subjugate his ego and hire Urban Meyer, this board would have been just as happy as it is going to be after the official announcement tomorrow. Statistically, Meyer is a better coach until Harbaugh wins a couple of National Championships.
I am guessing it will take about five years.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:26 PM ^
Let's not kid ourselves, Urban Meyer has been a star for a long time. He has two titles, has run over the Big Ten since he's gotten here, and they're playing in the College Football Playoff. There's a lot of work to be done.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^
It's Urban, then everyone else in the B1G. But I like our chances to join Urb and eventually surpass him.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:19 PM ^
What's often missing in the discussion about the B1G is how Michigan has created a vacuum into which other players (most notably MSU) have thrived. New sheriff is in town--rules will change.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:38 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 8:27 PM ^
Harbaugh, Meyer, and Dantonio is probably the best trio of coaches in any division in the country. And at least 2 of the 3 recruit at an extremely high level. The Big Ten is on its way back it seems.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:31 PM ^
Agree. Had not seen the good for anyone beyond UM until Chris Spielman commented on it. Presence of Harbaugh floats all boats in the Big Ten, considering BTN alone.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:38 PM ^
Welcome to the board! Perfect timing!
December 29th, 2014 at 8:57 PM ^
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December 29th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^
a very good recruiter and a good coach he will have success with the resources at PSU
Given some more time to recruit I think he can get PSU past MSU.
The East is VERY, VERY tough.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:28 PM ^
Meyer definitely is. Don't think Dantonio is. He has similar resources/less constraints than Harbaugh had at Stanford, and MSU hasn't been Stanford-under-Harbaugh good.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:39 PM ^
Dantonio took a number of years to get the ship going, but he's had a top 15 team over the past 3 years.
Having said that, harbaugh's trajectory has been higher and faster. Additionally, he effectively captured the national media. Clearly dantonio's lack of character has lead to the lack of media attention to MSU.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:48 PM ^
He certainly hasn't helped, but even Pete Carrol could go to East Lansing and we'd probably never hear from him again. Michigan State hasn't done a good job of building any sort of alumni base that continues to care about the football team (actually, most of them probably didn't care about the team even when they were there), and it shows now.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^
he's had a top 15 team over the past 3 years.
Not three years. In 2012 they went 7-6.
Also, while they will definitely finish in the top 15 this year, that could be a product of the schedule - they're 10-0 against unranked opponents and 0-2 against ranked ones.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:35 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 8:44 PM ^
How hasn't he been Stanford good? Harbaugh best seasons were 8-5, and 12-1. Their 2013 season is better than Harbaugh's best season. Their 2011, and 2010 seasons were good as well. He's done a magnificient job rebuilding there let's not take credit away.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:57 PM ^
Harbaugh recruited better and his team was a legit national title contender his last two seasons. MSU has been excellent under Dantonio but those Stanford teams were better than any of MSU's one-loss teams in my opinion.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:02 PM ^
I'm not sure I consider an 8-5 team a legit national title contender, but to each his own.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:05 PM ^
Their 2013 season is better than Harbaugh's best season.Why? I'd say it's tougher to go 12-1 in the Pac-12 than in the B1G.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:08 PM ^
Pac 12 wasn't exactly world beaters that year. He went 1-2 in the games that matter that year losing in the bowl and to oregon, and beating a 10-2 USC team.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:19 PM ^
What season are you talking about? Stanford went 12-1 in 2010. They won the Orange Bowl in a blowout over Va Tech. Their one loss was to an Oregon team that played for the national championship, while 2013 MSU lost to a crappy ND team.
Speaking of Harbaugh's coaching jobs, let's also not forget the consecutive 11-1 seasons he pulled off at a school with no athletic scholarships (San Diego).
December 29th, 2014 at 9:22 PM ^
I looked at the wrong season. But in that season he went 2-1 against ranked teams. MSU went 2-1 against ranked teams beating OSU & Stanford. And the entire Pioneer Football League has no athletic scholarships. No one is saying he isn't a top 5 college coach. But to say only Saban is on his level is idiotic.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:43 PM ^
Did I say Saban is the only coach on his level? Not sure where you're getting that from.
I would say Saban, Meyer and probably Malzahn are on Harbaugh's level. Maybe Jimbo Fisher.
Dantonio is good but not in that group. At his only other job (Cincy) he didn't do too much. At MSU he's had the luxury of his in-state rival imploding and the conference generally being terrible. I doubt he could have done what Harbaugh did at Stanford. Stanford had nothing going for it when he was hired, coming off an 1-11 season and at a time when USC was the best program in the country and Oregon not far behind.
December 29th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
December 30th, 2014 at 12:24 AM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 9:20 PM ^
IMO, had Harbaugh remained at Stanford, the Tree would have very likely been better than MSU in 2013.
And while the transitive property doesn't usually work in football in small sample sizes, keep in mind that Urbz was on top of the ESS-EEE -SEE until Saban showed up. And Saban had no where near Harbaugh's success in the NFL.
Harbaugh will bring an enthusiasm unknown to mankind to Ann Arbor.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:30 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 9:35 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 8:37 PM ^
Big deal, when I coached at Auburn the players made more than that.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:39 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 9:06 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 8:40 PM ^
I have read the Blog heavy for the last month! Welcome home jim! Please forgive our creepy nature...We mean well. Jim if you see a buch mysteriously move, a weirdo following you at the store.. its just idol worship. M fans have changed lately! We are desperate and vaulnerble. We have lost our strut and are now ridiculed in public. Please understand we mean well and are just excited that you might redeem us. I know that you will right the ship and help us bring back
what we lost in 2006...yes its been that long.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:43 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 8:45 PM ^
Thanks for sharing those points in your post. I live in West Michigan (Spring Lake, about 7 miles east of the Lake Michigan Shore/State Park). I commute to work in Grand Rapids Mon-Fridays. I can either listen to the local Spartan Slappy station in Grand Rapids, WBBL (107.3), or listen to Mike and Mike (ESPN 96.1 in Grand Rapids), and listen to Mike Greenberg drone on and on about the NY Jets, and the teams that he seems to favor. Neither show broadcasts anything of relivance or quality regarding U of M sports teams.
I finally tuned into WTKA this morningon my smartphone. I listened to the entire show, and enjoyed every segment of the broadcast. It is tough living in a market where the majority of the broadcasts are geared towards Sparty and their obnoxious fans.
On my drive home at approx. 5:30 pm on WBBL, The HUGE Show is broadcast throughout the state of Michigan. I have no idea why this show has such a big following. Bill Simonson, AKA "HUGE" (I think he gave himself that name) is terrible at broadcasting sports. He laughs at his own jokes, and seems to have an over-inflated ego. I have never heard a radio host, with such poor diction. He sounds like he has about a fifth grade education.
Most of the time, I listen to Michael Savidge and Mark Levin on my drive home.
I look forward to the press conference tomorrow. Should be lots of excitement in Schembechler Hall. GO BLUE
December 29th, 2014 at 8:47 PM ^
I feel he will bring toughness, re instill the winning culture, and, will be honest with players expecting them to play above their abilities(or not play).
If I put Harbaugh at the helm the past couple of years I say we win 2-3 more games per year than we did. I do think he has a recruiting and development challenge to get us to 10+ wins and BIG championship/playoff contender. I believe he will find and develop kids that we may not have recruited or won over the past 8 years.
There are some more wins with this roster but he inherits a group of under achievers and a depth chart with holes at QB, WR, O line and DBs.
I hope he can work some Bo like magic and get many of the players on this roster performing at a much higher level and can motivate some to dominate at their positions. I think we have some players who could be dominant with a different level of expectation and development then under the past two regimes.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:24 PM ^
(But letting RichRod go led to Harbaugh. WooHoo!)
December 29th, 2014 at 8:48 PM ^
Harbaugh's good for us and the Big Ten. He raises the profile of the conference; he will make Michigan excel again, which benefits viewership on the network and attendance at games; he will lead Michigan to prestige bowls with payouts that will be shared among the conference members; and he will be hard nosed and at times controversial, and that brings in fans as well.
It also benefits the rivalries. The whole thing is just juicy good for everyone.
But it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:49 PM ^
I friggin' loathe Dantonio on a personal level, but come on, he's been to the B1G Championship Game twice already, and won it once.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^
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December 29th, 2014 at 8:59 PM ^
Oh, me too. Someone who can finally meet his hate level...can maybe be half as petty about it too. Though that one may be a stretch.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:06 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 11:11 PM ^
December 29th, 2014 at 11:24 PM ^
You are thinking of a tick. Because as we all know, there is ticks laying in the weeds.
December 29th, 2014 at 8:51 PM ^
I have to think that throughout this process we were all more or less agreed that the one person who basically would sell himself universally in the Michigan fanbase was Jim Harbaugh. There were a few that would have been soft sells perhaps, but this was the one name that sold itself - not only on this site, but among all the people that I talked to throughout the last four weeks. By extension, I think you win the hire when you can do this.
December 29th, 2014 at 9:04 PM ^