Jim Harbaugh coaching the QB position...good, bad or ?

Submitted by UMProud on January 28th, 2021 at 1:05 PM

With Jim Harbaugh reportedly taking control of coaching the QB position how do you feel this will impact QB development?  

Do you think we should we expect improvements, more of the same or maybe even a decline in QB performance?  I believe Harbaugh coached the position in 2015 with fairly good results particularly in the area of visible improvements over the course of the season but I'm unsure of what other seasons he coached it directly...possibly 16 & 17?

Trevor Woods had a nice article over at Maize and Brew yesterday on this topic if you're interested:

https://www.maizenbrew.com/football/2021/1/27/22250886/michigan-football-jim-harbaugh-quarterbacks-coach-2021-mcnmara-milton-mccarthy-villari

 

Football
Harbaugh
quarterbacks

kapplerr

January 28th, 2021 at 1:51 PM ^

so this one time I was in Mexico for work with my boss and another co-worker we were leaving the hotel to fly home and we neared the Queretaro airport I realized I forgot my passport in the safe of my hotel room.  we made it back about 20 minutes before the flight, and it's a very small airport so we thought we might still make it.  we didn't.  they offered to re-schedule us later in the day to fly into Monterrey then home for like and extra $1000.  we declined, decided to re-rent a car, having turned in our previous rental 15 minutes earlier, and determined we would drive 2.5 hours down to Mexico City and get a direct flight home.  We got about a half hour down the expressway and came to a sudden stop, for hours, we didn't move.  Well the whole highway was shut down due to an accident ahead.  I started to get the urge to find a bano.  We waited and waited and watched any chance of us catching the direct flight we intended to board pass us by.  We finally got moving and found a Pemex (gas station) on the side of the road and I ran to the bathroom only to be rebuffed at the door by a security guard who insisted I pay 5 pesos to take a dump.  cheeks clenched i ran back to the car to grab a piece of metal worth approximately 3/4 of a penny and made it into my hover just in time.  i then got on the phone with our corporate travel agency to re-book yet another flight as we continued on our way to mexico city.  Mexico City has A LOT of traffic.  we didn't make that flight.  i re-booked.  we didn't make that flight.  at this point we're literally within a mile of the airport for well over an hour.  there's only one flight left they can get us on but not all three of us.  the other guy gets the ticket and my boss and i are in the airport with no plan except to wait until tomorrow.  i notice a flight to chicago, we talk to the gate agent and they get us switched onto that flight, and at 1am we rent a car and i drove the whole way home to detroit.

 

many times that day i uttered the phrase "it can't get any worse", so yes, it can always get worse.

 

but I'm excited about the coaching changes, glad Harbaugh is sticking around and am optimistic for next season!

Joined: 04/20/2010

MGoPoints: 167

UMProud

January 28th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^

That is an amazing story and glad I never experienced having to go #2 in a foreign country stuck in a traffic jam and, finally finding a toilet, can't use it!  

I had a flight from Florida that landed in Chicago at midnight and they cancelled my Flint flight due to snow so I rented a car at 1 a.m. to drive back home like you had to.

Joined: 12/18/2014

MGoPoints: 2705

Tokyo Blue

January 29th, 2021 at 3:23 AM ^

Your boss seemed pretty cool. I've had bosses who would have fired me for leaving my passport back in the hotel safe, and putting him and the other co-worker through all of that. 

I have a few great Mexico stories but I don't have your writing stamina at the moment. I'll tell a bit about one, it was a true Mexican standoff with two Mexican cops. I was pulled over for going the wrong way on a one way street. I knew I was going the wrong way and I was one block from the street I needed to be on. I said fuck it, what are the chances I'll get pulled over. The cops pulled the good cop/bad cop routine on me. They kept saying they were taking me to jail. After the fifth time of saying that, I said let's go, I'm getting tired of your bullshit. After a long drawn out conversation I finally gave them $50 that was in my wallet. They made me put it on the seat in the car and told me to walk away from the car. I guess it was so they could say I didn't give them the money. They let me go after that. I put $200 in one of my shoes when they first pulled me over. I knew they would work me over and take whatever I had on me. It's past midnight here. I'll leave it at that.

 

 

Joined: 12/12/2012

MGoPoints: 2426

pescadero

January 29th, 2021 at 1:17 PM ^

" Pemex (gas station) on the side of the road and I ran to the bathroom only to be rebuffed at the door by a security guard who insisted I pay 5 pesos to take a dump. "

We were in Mexico several years ago, and my wife needed to use the bathroom.

She walks across the street to the Pemex, and disappears for about 30 minutes.

 

When she gets back - I ask what happened:

She got to the bathroom door, and it was locked.

She paid the bathroom attendant her 5 pesos, and went in.

The attendant locked the door behind her, and wandered off.

After using the bathroom - my wife spent 20 minutes, locked int he bathroom banging on the door hoping the attendant would come back. She was just getting ready to climb out a bathroom window when the attendant showed back up.

Joined: 03/28/2013

MGoPoints: 12127

Stay.Classy.An…

January 28th, 2021 at 1:42 PM ^

Do we as a society feel the need to coddle people's feelings by using the phrase "not trying to be a jerk" when simply correcting them on a simple issue? Raises the question that if we don't say "not trying to be a jerk", will the person being corrected still think the corrector is a jerk....? 

 

Am I doing this right....?

Joined: 11/27/2012

MGoPoints: 19972

Toasted Yosties

January 28th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^

That was largely the reason I was excited about Harbaugh coming in the first place. It seemed safe to assume he’d be working with the QBs, and that that position would always be one of our strengths. Never assume anything, kids.
 

Why didn’t he step in years ago? Especially with Shea, who even if he just fixed his overthrowing issue, might have been incredible. As it is, I can’t think of a QB with better statistics who underwhelmed more.

Joined: 06/05/2013

MGoPoints: 9261

yossarians tree

January 28th, 2021 at 1:21 PM ^

I like it if for no other reason than it means he will be more hands on, which means he understands that his back is against the wall. JH had become too much the father figure, CEO type coach and that is not what got him to the top of the NFL. I want the maniacal, hair-on-fire Jim Harbaugh we thought we were getting.

Joined: 08/19/2010

MGoPoints: 22306

Sten Carlson

January 28th, 2021 at 1:23 PM ^

It’s pretty clear that Harbaugh did a deep, soul-searching “self-scouting” and acted decisively by getting a younger, better recruiting staff, and made to decision to become MORE hands on with QB’s — arguably the most important position and the most under performing.

While many will reactive negatively and level criticism at the timing, I think this will work out well and QB’s — and QB recruiting — will develop nicely.  

Give ‘Em Hell, Coach!

Go Blue!

Joined: 11/16/2009

MGoPoints: -56

TIMMMAAY

January 28th, 2021 at 1:53 PM ^

Agreed. Most people just want to react, vent, and have someone to blame. Sometimes things just don't work, for whatever reason, and it isn't always so simple as "he sucks lulz". 

Harbaugh is a well proven coach. He hasn't forgotten how to coach football. His offenses in 15/16 were pretty great IMO, especially given what we had at the QB position. People need to chill. Let it play out. 

Joined: 09/08/2008

MGoPoints: 56289

michengin87

January 28th, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^

I wholly disagree.  My boss spends a lot more time with me than his boss.  I talk to my boss nearly daily (definitely daily before COVID).  I talk to his boss occasionally.  I realize this is just an analogy, but I think there are a lot of accurate parallels.

I am very glad to see the young leaders of our team getting direct input and regular direction from the leader of the organization.  It's obvious in hindsight now that the entire organization had gotten all out of whack, and I give Harbaugh a lot of credit for blowing it up and starting with a clean slate.  It's not a lot of fun to admit your mistakes, tear it all apart, and then rebuild.

 

Joined: 07/14/2009

MGoPoints: 4139

1VaBlue1

January 28th, 2021 at 1:31 PM ^

Three ways this can be read:

  1. If we take the stance that he directly coached Rudock and Speight, but then went hands off from 2017-present (giving it over to Hamilton and McDaniels), then I would say this is unquestionably good news.
  2. If we believe he's always had the primary role with QB's, then it's not such good news.
  3. The middle ground - where Pep and Ben did most of the hands on work, but Harbaugh meddled at various times, is probably the most accurate.  In this case, I'd say this is still good news.

He's had above average QB play his entire coaching career, until the last few years.  I believe he's a good QB coach, and that if he's back on his own teaching them then they'll be okay.  One thing he needs to modernize, though, is his cantankerousness about interceptions.  I believe he teaches to minimize them at all costs - go for safe instead of the risk regardless of the payoff.  That needs to change - today's offense has to be about the payoff.  Manageable risk is not death...

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127369