Jason Whitlock thinks Harbaugh is massively overrated

Submitted by Decatur Jack on

(LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxdfjOygYQQ)

The reason: He's hasn't beaten a loaded OSU and won a national championship in two years, that's why!!

I mean, forget the fact that Harbaugh was one 4th down call away from going to the Big Ten championship and the college football playoff, he's 0-2 against Urban Meyer so CLEARLY he's not worth the bucketloads of cash we're paying him.

Yeah ok gif.

WHY OH WHY DID CUTCLIFFE TURN US DOWN?!? NOW WE'RE STUCK WITH THIS FAILURE!!

/s

(If you ask me Whitlock is still butthurt over Brady Hoke failing after years of talking him up.)

Whole Milk

August 2nd, 2017 at 8:56 AM ^

A proven D1 starter who played two seasons and then lost his job at Houston. I love O'Korn's attitude about being on this team and helping the squad out, but your opinion that a guy who cannot be the starter at Houston should be able to come in and win automatically at Michigan is flawed.

AA Forever

August 2nd, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^

Nowhere. You made that up. What I said was that a guy who had the physical talent to be a productive starter at a D1 school (which O'Korn did-just look at his freshman numbers) should have been able to step in as a capable replacement after almost TWO YEARS of coaching by Harbaugh.

Whole Milk

August 2nd, 2017 at 11:07 AM ^

Sorry, I put two and two together. If he came in and didn't lead us to a victory, your complaint would be the same. The point is, O'Korn did not give us a better chance to win that game against Iowa than an injured Speight. You are under the impression that he should have been because he was a former starter who had been coached by Harbaugh for two seasons. 

My point was that he was a former D1 starter at Houston who had been replaced. Thinking that he should be able to come in and lead us to a win against Iowa simply based on him starting at an average at best football school for two seasons before being replaced and then being coached by Harbaugh is flawed.

Also, you bring up the MSU and OSU QB situations as reasons why we should have been okay, but let's actually look at it to see if the sitations are comparable. Both Barret and Jones were Meyer recruits who fit the system perfectly and were able to play at a young age because the offense is pretty simple to pick up. Tyler O'Connor was 7-12 for 89 yards when they beat Ohio State, essentially having no impact on them winning that game and was fairly similar to Speight's performance as a whole. 

I realize that Speight had a bad game against Iowa when injured, but we didn't had the luxury of having three QB's all perfect for our system ready to throw out there, or have the good fortune to overcome 89 passing yards like Michigan State did. I assume things would be different this year with two guys Harbaugh feels comfortable with. Building up college football teams takes time. Relax.

AA Forever

August 2nd, 2017 at 9:25 AM ^

important snaps, he would have stayed. If he had intended to transfer all along, he would have done it two years ago. Why spend that year getting coached with a team and in a system that you're never going to play for, instead of spending the off year with your new team? That makes zero sense.

AA Forever

August 2nd, 2017 at 9:55 AM ^

and a scholarship on a guy they knew was not going to contribute, and was going to transfer with eligibility left? Not likely. And as noted, if he wanted to play and succeed, why would he just show up at a new school in August of his last year and have to learn a whole new system in almost no time, instead of spending years there? Harbaugh can't (and shouldn't) coach him in CMU's offense, or get him familiar with their receivers or the defenses they'll face. He can't be coached with CMU game films while he's at Michigan.

UM Fan from Sydney

August 2nd, 2017 at 6:14 AM ^

Oh, so OSU is able to not rebuild and instead reload (see their 2016 team), but not Michigan. It's called recruiting, mate. There are plenty of excellent guys who are ready to play now. Have you forgotten the high level of recruiting Michigan has had in the last 6 years? When you have hrewt recruiting amd elite coaching, your team will be fine. Michigan is not rebuilding - they are reloading. Rebuilding is what happened in 2008 and clearly that went well...

cbrad

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:09 AM ^

Recruiting has not been high level for 6 years. As Brady Hoke's ship sank, recruiting fell through the floor. This is why they're relying on a bunch of frosh and sophs this year. Hoke couldn't recruit Offense in general- QB,WR, RB or OL.

Rage

August 2nd, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^

When I posted a message on a message board and used the phrase, "don't shoot the messenger" to deflect the hate and outrage of the angry mob but later in the same posted message I used a different phrase about "the ledge" to indicate a possible overreaction on my part as well as to invite reassuring post from others, it became obvious that I clearly don't understand the phrase I used.

 

I guess I should also feel bad about myself because my independent thoughts are different from other people's opinions.  

Dustinlo

August 2nd, 2017 at 7:47 AM ^

Perhaps you should let Harbaugh's recruits start going through the system before you are about to jump off of the ledge. He took Hoke's underperformiong recruits and did pretty well? People in today's society always want instant results. Give the guy time. We'll have a good squad this year. But starting next year is when we will start to see perennial Harbaugh teams. 

Rage

August 2nd, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^

I want my team to win as much as you do.  I also realize that 4 years is a pecieved span to give a coach to get his system in place and see results.  My only point is that we lost a lot of talent this year and and will be replacing a lot of starters.  Thus, I feel are chances of winning the conference are statistically less than last year, which we didn't win.

So, if we don't win this year, which is reasonable given the circumstances, that will leave next year as the last year in the 4 year period.  James Franklin won the B1G in three years, so did Urban Meyer who also won the NC.   On MGoBlog, People are outraged that I would think that Harbaugh would be held to the same standard.  I guess I don't understand why.

I would think this would be interesting to discuss on this blog.  It's certainly something I've thought about.  But it seems that having a different opinion on here, even when it's not actually offensive or insulting to anyone, is not welcome on MGOBLOG.  Too much tolerance and moral outrage I guess.  No room for discussing different ideas.      

Hannibal.

August 2nd, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^

The school will give him a very long leash.  RichRod and Hoke, for better or for worse, set the bar on what you need to do to get fired.  I would be shocked if Harbaugh ever sinks to that level, unless he pulls a Bowden or JoePa and coaches until he doesn't know what day of the week it is and regularly shits his pants.  In order for that to happen, he would have to win a NC or two first.

But it's a valid question to ask how many years without a win over OSU or a B1G championship are acceptable.  Two?  Five?  Ten?  That question will likely never figure into Harbaugh's job security, but it will figure into his legacy and whether or not people look back on him as an elite coach. 

 

Rage

August 2nd, 2017 at 4:11 PM ^

That's the kind of reply I was hoping to get.  If Harbaugh went 0-5 or 0-7 with OSU there would have to be some sort of change, right?  That would make us 1-17 or 1-19.  I would assume that won't be the case but also feel like we're still a few years away from being where we all want to be.

Kevin13

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:13 AM ^

the program was a mess when he got here. You realize we were an awful 5-7 football team before he took over. We have gone 20-6 in the two years since he's been here, a dramatic turn around. It usually takes a coach 4-5 years to completely implement what he wants and get his recruits across the board.

Yes we have a bit of a rebuild, but should still have a very good season. Next year we could be competing for the NC. People need to have a little patience.

enlightenedbum

August 2nd, 2017 at 10:15 AM ^

Sometimes the general bloody mindedness of the universe conspires to make you feel sad.  We were zero to six inches from the Big Ten East title, probably beating Wisconsin, and making the CFP last year.  Where I don't think we beat either of the teams who made the title game, but still impressive in year two.

Or if Speight doesn't get hurt, we probably win both of those games.  Remember how close they were.

It's definitely frustrating that we couldn't catch a break after the last decade of pain, but that stuff should even out under Harbaugh long term.  Which means once we're as talented up and down the roster as the true national powers we should win our fair share of championships.  Unfortuantely this year that's going to take phenomenal luck with injuries, we won't have the talented depth until next fall.

Cereal Killer

August 2nd, 2017 at 11:17 AM ^

Not one of which was an O-lineman.  I thank those young men for their service.  But the fact is last year's team was held back only by (1) a deficient offensive line, and (2) a late injury to the starting QB.  Those two things cost M the win at OSU.  When the O-line is back up to Michigan standards, Michigan will have arrived.  But not until.  And two years isn't enough time to turn over an O-line. 

M_Born M_Believer

August 2nd, 2017 at 11:42 AM ^

of the 10 years before Harbaugh.

Lloyd hasn't 'won' anything since '97......

tressel is taking Lloyd to the wood shed too often......

Lloyd is not winning bowl games........

Its time to turn our back on a coach with a .700 winning percentage and start a new era....

 

Yeah that really workd out well....

I am sure that I will figure out a way to wake up in each morning even IF Michigan "only" has a 10-3 or 9-4 season this year without a Big Ten title*****

 

 

 

*****I'm in the camp that Michigan will do a similar repeat of what OSU did last year, the talent is there......  The East Division will come down to The Game and Michigan will prevail....

 

rice4114

August 2nd, 2017 at 3:03 PM ^

Half of Harbaughs tenure at that point? Here I will project for you. Harbaugh makes it to Penn St this year undefeated. This means he still has less losses 34 months after his hire than the 4 months before his hire. Think about that for a second.

Also if we beat Florida and beat who we should all our starters will have a minimum of a half season of experience under their belt going into the tough part of our schedule. That is enough to keep us in our games and give us a good shot to win.

ThadMattasagoblin

August 2nd, 2017 at 2:51 AM ^

Harbaugh has a better record in his first two years than Saban did in 2007 and 2008 at Bama. I don't know what these people expect him to do. Because we haven't beaten osu or won the big ten in two years, it's never going to happen? Saban was run off the field by Utah in his second year. I don't expect us to win a title this year like Saban did in 09 but we could next year.

huntmich

August 2nd, 2017 at 4:11 AM ^

I don't expect us to. But I would put the odds of it happening at higher than us going 8-4. Jim Harbaugh knows how to make the most out of his talent. And he has been recruiting at the highest level for the past two years. We have a team that isn't as green as everyone thinks it is, and the new kids have been hand picked by one of the best in the game at identifying and coaching up talent. 

 

I still think 10 wins is the over/under. A couple breaks @Wisconsin and vs OSU and we could absolutely win the B1G.