Harbaugh letter grade year one

Stop with the Durkin bullshit. The man advanced his career.

Ä I'm going to give him the German letter A.

Blau is German for Blue by the way.

I wish people would stop saying stupid stuff about the Durkin situation. He needed a DC and he needed one quickly. He knew exactly what he was getting and how long he'd likely have him for. If doing a good job and getting a shot at a head job somewhere in a year or two wasn't part of the plan then there would've been no reason for Durkin to leave FL. He would've been the constant there and helped through the transition. This wasn't a miscalculation and if you can't get over losing coordinators then you're not ready to be a fan of a big time football program so please stop with all the unfounded sour grapes.

I think even Harbaugh himself would say that a year where you lose to MSU and OSU and don't win the B1G can never be an "A" at Michigan.

B it is.

B.  Losses to 3/4 teams ranked in the final top 25.  Win the bowl game and it can bump up to a B+

B+. He needed to beat one of the rivals.

The only area I see he could have improved was in our rivalry games. That staee loss still hurts. That's would be the only reason I don't give him a straight "A". I say A-. Even Harbaugh would tell you there's always room for improvement. Should've won that game at home against MSU.

B- compared to program expectations.

A- if grading on the 2014 curve.

B

B. I fully expected them to beat Ohio State, and they... whats the term? Laid an egg. And this year, I thought they would crush them and flip the script for 10 years. But I suppose its more like an A+ when you consider that Hoke left a Hoke-sized hole to dig out of.

B-.  I thought he would be a little more successful flipping a few big time recruits last year.  Way too many penalties.  Team seemed to peak early in the year, most of the B1G wins after Northwestern were ugly.

 

That being said I'm expecting an A or A+ in year 2.

I am feeling it's a B and the bowl could bump a half-grade it in either direction. The results versus OSU were very telling. A competitive loss and the grade could have been an A. I throw out the MSU results because it was the result of a fluke play. Game by game:

• Utah. B - only because the result. I think the team played well
• UNLV/Oregon State - A-. The defense was great, and the offense found it's footing.
• BYU, MD, NW - A+. This is the best I've seen us play in a long time. 
• MSU: No grade
• Minny: B. Result was not indicitive of play. Lucky rodents. 
• Rutgers: A. Pantsed a pantsable outfit fittingly
• IU: C. Can't stop run
• PSU: A. Without the ridiculous reffing, this would have been thourough distruction. 
• OSU: D. SMH. 

He get's an A+ for the off-field stuff. 

Lost to Sparty (in an unfortunate disaster) and lost badly to OSU.  Coulda lost to Minny or IU....  Still the record is as good or better than most anyone predicted. He's recruiting his ass off.  And we haven't had any off-field disasters.  

Next year depends entirely on the QB.  Yeah we have an issue at LB, but every great team has an issue at some position group going into a season.  QB is different though as we would clearly have beaten both Utah and MSU with even decent QB play.

The proof of HARBAUGH will be in 2017 when he will be replacing 4 OL, maybe the best TE in college FB, maybe the best 2 DBs in college FB, likely 3 drafted DL and 2 drafted WR.  He'll be facing this challenge while using in part the lightly regarded (for us) 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes.  

Grade: A+
From 5-7 and no bowl game to a possible 10-win season and a number 1 ranked recruiting class. Hell yeah.

I will grade after this bowl game.

Has to be an A. With a lesser coach, Morris probably would have been the QB this season and you can forget about the magic special teams. Even if the defense had been comparable, M does not beat IU, probably loses to Penn State, and gets blown out by MSU. M is never in the playoff discussion, has no shot at the B1G East, and is trying to assemble a 25-ish recruiting class right now instead of a top 5 class. Oh, and we wouldn't know that a QB should be as hard as hens teeth or that reporters shouldn't try to compare football players to farm animals.

Holy shit, there are a lot of ungrateful, unrealistic assholes on this blog.

He beat Michigan State... The refs just wouldn't allow it... Phantom "Targeting" call, missed offsides on the "block", missed facemask call 1 play prior.

Michigan State, as good a team as they are, was more lucky than "sound". Their record, no matter if they finish 12-2 or 14-1, will have an asterisk. They lost to Michigan. We are 10-2.

Introduction to Program Turnaround? Grade A!

I think he did as well as could be expected with the talent on this team.  Next year's course will be tougher, so it will be harder to get an A.  But I have hope.

And a RB named Walker!

I Like Harbaugh, but no michigan coach deserves an A unless he beats Ohio state. It's the final exam and it's worth 35% of the grade. We should not be grading on a curve based on previous coach incompetence. That would mean we are lowering our standards for excellence, and that is not acceptable. B. Good work. Now get back to it.

Penalizing him for Durkin leaving is ridiculous. He would be a total asshole to not allow him to interview for a power 5 head coaching position and he didn't misread Durkin's commitment to the program. Everyone and their mother knew he'd be a top head coach candidate if he lived up to the hype, and for the most part he did. Without Durkin we wouldn't have been a top 5 defense and the beginning of the season when Rudock was Ruddock would have done much differently.

I can't blame Harbaugh for MSU cud they was the flukiest fluke that ever fluked but something weird happened against OSU and because it was so bad I'd probably give an A- still.

Building program infrastructure is clearly A+ and I won't even grace your "A" with an argument.

He changed the culture, and for that I give him an "A."  Our team had a losers mentality, and that is really difficult to change, no less in one year.  Obviously losing to our two rivals makes me want to dock the grade a bit, but he did what I was hoping he would do in year one.  

B. We lost to MSU and were blown out by OSU. Can't give an A.

You want to grade him when he aint done coaching yet? Let the man finish coaching this year and then issue him a grade. 

He met my expectations considering the weak schedule. Still no marquee wins which is expected considering Michigan isn't where they needed to be in terms of NFL talents.

this seems like an "A" year. But if we beat Florida, by Michigan standards, I would give the year a " B+ / A-" grade. If we lose to Florida it's a "B" coupled with optimism for the staff, recruiting and general direction of the program.

I have good feelings that next year we will be a better team albeit against a tougher schedule. The "A" expectations will be at least one victory over MSU and/or OSU.