On second thought, maybe give him a chance

Submitted by BornInAA on November 16th, 2020 at 9:12 PM

Was thinking about recent ND success.

After RR like disaster of Willingham, then a Hoke-ish Weis, they hired Kelly.

He was basically 8-5 for 5 years except for a 12-1 year.

Year 7 they went 4-8.

Last 3 years have been great.

Maybe things take longer than we believe to turn around.

Mongo

November 16th, 2020 at 10:27 PM ^

Poor recruiting balance.  Like we have way too many RBs and not enough CBs.  Talent evaluation and recruiting is a huge problem for this program. There is no team-wide guy in charge.  Saban is better than Harbaugh mostly due to recruiting.  

Robbie Moore

November 17th, 2020 at 8:37 AM ^

Yes, Saban is a better recruiter. But...he can coach young men regardless of his age. He can adapt his schemes. He can deal with early defections to the pros. He never gets complacent. He can turn over big chunks of his staff every year without missing a beat. Saban is a better coach than Harbaugh just about every way you can look at it. And that is no insult to Harbaugh. Saban is just that damn good.

East German Judge

November 17th, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^

Agree with you 100% on all points.  Saban does not get enough credit for managing the staff turnover - critics will say that is easy when you coach 5 stars, but I do not agree completely with that premise, AND he has seamlessly switched his offensive philosophy.  His teams were the epitome of MANBALL and having a qb be a game manager and he was vocal about the spread being too fast etc.  Now he is as wide open as any program in the country.  Here, OMG, this would be like a colossal sea change and excuses would come out about not the right players fitting a system, blah, blah, blah.

JonnyHintz

November 17th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^

To an extent that would make sense. You still have the issue with attrition and that would still leave holes on your roster. Michigan has lost a few corners to transfer and Ambry opted out. Michigan also lost a couple DTs to transfer. Many would say those are the two biggest holes on our defense, and losing multiple guys at a position would create the same issue if you simply recruit the team every year

jsquigg

November 17th, 2020 at 10:56 PM ^

As bad as it's been, Saban isn't a comparison point for almost any program. He recruits without any oversight because he's in the SEC. Michigan has admissions challenges that make them unique, and uniquely a pain in the ass to recruit for. Saban can adapt his system because he has an extra 25 guys every five years over anyone else, and because of success, can just plug the next blue chipper in.

People love to believe all the narrative garbage. Things wouldn't look as bad if Harbaugh could recruit without restriction. His flaw is that the coaching and development have been abysmal, to the point where they can't have success if they don't have the talent, and even when they do they are a tier below elite.

BoFan

November 17th, 2020 at 1:52 AM ^

They were all calling for Bo’s head in 1984 after going 7-7. His next year he finished #2 in the nation. Part of the 7-7 was the loss of his star freshman QB.  Anyone here have a clue who that might be?

And Yeah, you got my user name right. 

I too am not happy about Harbaugh’s season. There are a lot of problems including coming and having to face the OSU/Meyer juggernaught already in place and not getting a win in the two years he had a chance.  But right now JH has also lost both DEs and both OTs. And he apparently screwed up with his starting QB.   

The only real important difference right now between 1984 and 2020 is that no one called for Bo’s firing until after the season because fans and media weren’t so stupid as to destroy any potential team momentum or to destroy recruiting, which no matter who is the coach the following year would set back things another 2 years.  

TallyWolverine

November 17th, 2020 at 4:17 AM ^

Calling for Bo’s head after going 6-6 (it wasn’t 7-7. They didn’t play 14 game seasons in the 80s) is more clearly an overreaction. 
  
  There is a good chance this team doesn’t win another game, based on the performance the last three games. Calling for JH to be fired for going 2-6, or worse, isn’t an overreaction.

BoFan

November 17th, 2020 at 4:12 PM ^

I was around too and many were calling for Bo’s firing.  It was definitely an over reaction but it happened (after the END of the season).  With no social media back then it was loudest in the press.   It was his first and only non winning season.  No way Canham was firing Bo.  
 

They also lost 26-0 to Iowa if I am correct, and after Harbaugh’s injury they went 3-5 to finish the season and end up at 6-6.  They played an average but undefeated BYU team in the Holiday Bowl in a close game which gave BYU an undeserved NC.  BYU had 3 close games that season, including a lucky victory vs Hawaii, and none of the teams they played ended up in the top 25 at the end of the year. They say that game led to the first bowl championship agreement.  

UMxWolverines

November 17th, 2020 at 5:20 PM ^

Will you get off your high horse and stop blaming the fucking fans for the program's failures? My god. 

1. Alabama is the juggernaut of juggernauts and Auburn finds a way to beat them 1 out of 3 times. 

2. OSU is one game a year, that doesn't have shit to do with giving up 700 yards rushing combined last year and this year to Wisconsin. Or the 2-12 record against the top ten or 10-14 against ranked teams. 

Don

November 17th, 2020 at 7:29 AM ^

"They were all calling for Bo’s head in 1984 after going 7-7."

The record in 1984 was 6-6. The QB who broke his arm—Harbaugh—was not a freshman; he redshirted in 1982, and saw game action in 1983.

Your claim that "they were all calling for Bo's head" is simply wildly wrong.

I was a recent UM grad in 1984 and still lived in Ann Arbor, so I was very familiar with what UM fans and the local A2 and Detroit media were saying. Was everybody disappointed? Absolutely, but in the previous 4 seasons Michigan had won two Big Ten titles, two bowl games, had beaten MSU four straight, and beaten OSU twice. The only people calling for Bo's head were the same tiny minority of chronically disgruntled fans who also wanted to fire Bo after his losses to OSU in the early '70s when I was a UM undergrad.

 

MDwolverine

November 16th, 2020 at 9:19 PM ^

It's the same deal as Franklin...winning something buys you time. If JH had beaten OSU, won the B1G, and made it to the CFP in 2016 he would have more of a leash.

But when you don't achieve any of your top priorities and by year 6 you start regressing even further it becomes hard to look to the future with any optimism. 

Catchafire

November 16th, 2020 at 9:21 PM ^

Harbaugh has only ever had one awful year and that is now... Which, 2020 seems like the best year to do so.  I can only imagine what next season would be like given how horrific a year this is going for Harbaugh.

I believe he would be a man on a mission.  

It is hard to envision, but I hate the quick hurry up solution we have in hiring and firing.  I give Harbaugh a pass for this year but damn it is really hard to see the level of ineptitude.

MSU-Hater

November 16th, 2020 at 9:44 PM ^

Really? 1 awful year? A 23 point beat down by OSU in 2018 (revenge tour), and a 29 point loss at HOME the following year? We aren’t competitive in the came that matters the most!  Look at history, this is what happened to John Cooper when the shoe was on the other foot. At the time he said the Mich game was “just another game.” The biggest single thing that changed was in 2001 when Tressel made “the Game” the focal part of the season, and Meyer took that to the next level.  Nothing has been the same since.