Mack Brown gives Harbaugh an A+
Former Texas coach Mack Brown, now a college football analyst for ESPN, gives Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh high marks for all he's done since he was hired the end of last year, even without having coached a game.
"I follow him on Twitter, I watched everything he's done with satellite camps and his confidence, and I think you have to give him an A-plus from the time he's taken the job until now," Brown said.
"The biggest question is to get that quarterback, the right guy, to play consistently well and get the ball to the right people. It'll be fun to watch Michigan especially in that opener."
August 27th, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
Interesting to hear all these opinions from many varied people, especially those with no connection to the program.
I'll take the good vibes, but I bet Mack Brown gave himself an A+ until he got fired.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:22 AM ^
Only one upvote per customer. No exchanges or substitutions, please.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^
That's great and I agree. But I think Mack Brown's current sports pundit job is basically to assure everybody all coaches are great. His comments on Sark this week were all gold stars as well.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:19 AM ^
and I really have no opinion of Sark as a coach, but I also don't think him getting drunk in public and making an ass of himself is that big of a deal. It happens.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:51 AM ^
One moment you're having a good time, and the next you're doing snow angels in a water puddle singing The Taxman by the Beatles. You never quite know when the liquor is going to turn on you.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
I appreciate Lloyd Carr, but Moeller never should've been let go for his one transgression.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^
I know it's been 20 years, but that still pisses me off when I think about it.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
It was a power-play from Duderstadt, who didn't like the influence Bo had in the athletic department and at the university. Roberson was a puppet. He never did anything signficant here.
August 27th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^
Disagree about Sarkesian. This isn't the Moeller incident--Sarkesian didn't get drunk with a spouse and a couple of friends at the local Appleby's. Sarkesian got wasted at a booster function with his entire team and staff present. He dropped drunken f-bombs in front of booster's kids. It showed a stunning lack of self-control, and, from their quotes, he probably lost his team that day. There are already grumblings among the fanbase strongly resembling the discontent found here last August. They're starting to turn on the A.D., Pat Haden, who forced out the very popular Mike Garrett then hired Lane Kiffin. If Sarkesian gets off to a bad start, Haden is probably out, followed by Kiffin in short order.
August 27th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^
people blow shit like this way out of proportion now. Probably because fewer people drink to excess (or at all) than was the case 30 years ago. I think you should get at least one mulligan for making a drunken ass of yourself at a work function.
August 27th, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
This is starting to sound like a cry for help.
August 27th, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^
I rarely drink.
August 27th, 2015 at 2:08 PM ^
Then I just don't get how you can not see Sarkesian's actions as a serious problems and not something that can be written off as a "boys will be boys" thing. Are you reallly into Mad Men? A big Dean Martin fan?
August 27th, 2015 at 2:10 PM ^
I was probably just born 60 years too late. So many things about the modern world just don't make any sense to me.
August 27th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 11:16 AM ^
Lesnar is such a G.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:27 AM ^
Harbaugh made a list grading every head coach and positions coach in all of football (well, just american to start) unfortunately, I don't have that list in front of me.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:28 AM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
August 27th, 2015 at 9:36 AM ^
Well, it's pretty plain that you've never dated Mack Brown's daughter.
Funniest thing is that he would go ballistic if you took the last bagel in the morning. I've never heard such a stream of profanities. And absolutely mental about the sock drawer - "black socks to the left, blue in the middle, and brown on the goddamn right; have you assholes never heard of the goddamn ALPHABET!?!?". A real psychopath, Mack was.
He always kept the linens nice, though.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:39 AM ^
So you are teling me that he is Freddie Jackson.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:55 AM ^
"Harbaugh is like Vince Lombardi... but FAST!"
August 27th, 2015 at 9:56 AM ^
Jim is like Bo, except faster.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^
Fred Jackson gives you an A+, but plusser.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 9:34 AM ^
Really? With Habaugh as coach, all the starters we're returning, a healthy Peppers, and a QB that isn't a turnover machine?
We're going to be damn good this year.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:44 AM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 10:18 AM ^
Brady Hoke won his introductory press conference. Said all the right things. He had to because his track record was short with limited success.
Harbaugh, love the guy, did not wow anyone in his introductory press conference and sounded a bit uncomfortable at halftime of the hoops game. He didn't necessarily "win" those events because of his performance. He won them in advance because of what he did at all of his previous stops.
There are numerous differences between the two. Harbaugh is a proven winner. He left Stanford in great shape. And if San Francisco wasn't run by petulant pre-schoolers, they would have another Super Bowl contending team this year.
August 27th, 2015 at 3:39 PM ^
but they wouldn't be SUper Bowl contenders even with Harbaugh. Too much talent is gone. The number of retirements to good players is astounding.
They are a shell of the team he took over. As good as a coach as he is I don't think he'd be that succesful this year. Granted, he'd still probably do better than the puppet they have coaching.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ^
Or to make that shorter, you're tired of all the talk and just want football to start!
August 27th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 10:42 AM ^
Brady Hoke quickly found out that his job wasn't to be a football coach, but to be David Brandon's sock puppet. Jim Harbaugh has the freedom to run the program the way he wants. Hoke came in with a 47-50 record as a head coach. Harbaugh comes in with a 58-27 record in college, including rebuilding three programs with subpar personnel. There is also that matter of a 44-19-1 record at SF with one Super Bowl appearance and three NFC Championship Game appearances.
You cannot use Brady Hoke as a predictor of how Jim Harbaugh will do as head coach at Michigan.
August 27th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
Quickly found out, huh? Even Hoke should have suspected something was up when he got a call from a very interested Dave Brandon. You don't get the Michigan job with a 47-50 record (in two non-power conferences) unless you're being brought in for reasons other than sincere interest.
August 27th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
I don't disagree with you, but by all accounts coaching Michigan was Brady Hoke's dream job. If you get a booty call text from Kate Upton are you wondering what's up with that or are you sprinting out the door to your car post-haste?
August 27th, 2015 at 1:17 PM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 10:01 AM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^
That's great and all, but I'd love to hear what he thinks of Jim's chances against BYU since he has Taysom Hill all figured out.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^
That's how I rate my employees! I follow them on Twitter and adjust pay grades accordingly. Genius.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
August 27th, 2015 at 10:23 AM ^
Can the season please start today?!?!?
On a side note, the freep article on this has a ton of MSU commenters. Pretty funny and a lot of words like "blowout" and "losing-streak" are used. It provided me a good 15 minute break from my current task at work.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:33 AM ^
I'm sure Harbaugh will be great, but let's see the results on the field before we start handing out any grades, Mack.
While none of this is Harbaugh's doing, Michigan has been nothing but talk the last few years. We've always heard about the team competing hard, having great practices, and being tough and physical, only to get shoved around by the Akron's, UConn's and Rutger's of the world like they were some JV high school football team.
Sorry, the last few years have left me rather skeptical of getting any kind of hopes up until I actually see the results. Even with Harbaugh.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:51 AM ^
I think Mack was only talking about what Harbaugh has done to date. Looking at the amount of time, energy and "on paper" results so far, hard to give him anything other than an A+.
