Wojo on Harbaugh: "This is what you signed up for"
There are some very interesting comments in this piece. Luginbill has a few solid comments as well.
“You have to recognize the landscape has changed, the process has changed, tactics have changed,” Tom Luginbill, ESPN’s national recruiting director, said Tuesday. “Just because you’re Michigan, you can’t do it like you did five, 10, 15 years ago. If you do, you’re gonna be left behind. Harbaugh isn’t crossing a line. This is what he is — he’s quirky, he’s unique, and when I talk to kids, the most important reaction is, he’s authentic.”
That cuts right to Wojo's point: The holier-than-them attitude made fans feel good, and they enjoyed sniffing at the undignified ways of Urban Meyer and Nick Saban, even as the Wolverines got their behinds bashed in.
January 27th, 2016 at 6:18 AM ^
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January 27th, 2016 at 8:35 AM ^
we have been pulling in top five classes year in, year out for decades. Wojo just accepts the hackneyed premise that it's a jungle out there, ya gotta compete, blood will be spilled, etc. Not breakthrough thinking, in my view. Better coaching, less idiotic admins, and we are right there with more representative teams these last one-and-a-half decades as well.
Don't think that what Harbaugh has done to date is really all that bad--and I think that the dog and pony show, the chaos, is likely a bug not a long-term feature. Generating some excitement around here is paying dividends. But he/they will need to be a little more careful, mostly explaining to kids up front that a) they have to keep up their end, and b) that some verbal commitments can shift.
There's this dumb meme out there that once we win no one will care--sorry, but no. The crazies will always be out there, screaming for blood. When there is blood they will scream for more blood. The fairly sane people who run the UNIVERSITY are not looking at it that way. Win consistently. Contend. Two, three, sometimes even four losses in a season (in a rebuilding scenario) will be okay. We're on track for that, and will be for some time to come. A lot of this is just the dust flying by in the present moment; important to remind ourselves of that.
January 27th, 2016 at 8:51 AM ^
Yes, M has always pulled in very strong classes over the years. Even the worst Hoke and RRod classes were top 25 or 30ish.
But M has not really consistently pulled in the kinds of classes that can compete with what Alabama and OSU have done over the last decade. Even with the now superb coaching staff, it will also take a higher level of recruting than M has has in the last 10 years to get to Alabama/OSU level.
Not clear whether it is possible for M to pull in OSU/Alabama level classes right now without some things that are withing the rules but look bad, at least in JH's first full recruiting cycle. Maybe it is possible. Maybe not.
I agree with your general point, however, and also with the idea that in the next cycle JH should/will do a better job with timing, optics, and shuffling around different types of offers (commitable. comittable but subject to review after senior HS film, non-comittable, etc.).
January 27th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 12:51 PM ^
Other than paying kids like Bama or OSU, Michigan is recruiting on the highest level possible with Harbaugh. Add Harbaugh's coaching in and we are looking at potential National Championships soon.
January 27th, 2016 at 3:33 PM ^
is team mom getting paid?
January 27th, 2016 at 8:51 AM ^
Yes, M has always pulled in very strong classes over the years. Even the worst Hoke and RRod classes were top 25 or 30ish.
But M has not really consistently pulled in the kinds of classes that can compete with what Alabama and OSU have done over the last decade. Even with the now superb coaching staff, it will also take a higher level of recruting than M has has in the last 10 years to get to Alabama/OSU level.
Not clear whether it is possible for M to pull in OSU/Alabama level classes right now without some things that are withing the rules but look bad, at least in JH's first full recruiting cycle. Maybe it is possible. Maybe not.
I agree with your general point, however, and also with the idea that in the next cycle JH should/will do a better job with timing, optics, and shuffling around different types of offers (commitable. comittable but subject to review after senior HS film, non-comittable, etc.).
January 27th, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^
but think the point remains--sustained success, without the stupid, is within reach. Yearly NCs are not, and I am okay with that. Thoughtful people are, too.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^
So, unless people agree with you they are thougtless? Good gravy, tha't some serious hubris you've worked up. BTW, count Harbaugh as thoughtless then cause he's not OK with not winning.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
This is the internet, where everything can be interpreted in various ways, but I read "thoughtful people are okay with [sustained success]" to mean that accepting consistent winning without perennial top-five status is hardly a crazy position. You can accept less than elite athletic standing without being thoughtless--since there are other goods to be preserved. That doesn't mean that the OP is insisting that his position is the only thoughtful position--thoughtful people can also exist on the other side of the debate.
Of course, I could be wrong...
January 27th, 2016 at 12:12 PM ^
I can see your poinit.
January 27th, 2016 at 2:37 PM ^
every year. As I said.
January 27th, 2016 at 10:56 AM ^
by taking the recruiting from very good to truely elite. And going forward he can do that without opening the door to bad press (whatever the full truth of the Swenson & camp recruits story may be).
I think for this cycle JH ansd staff chose to take the risk of a litte bad internet buzz for a week in order to improve the overall quality of the '16 class.
After a pretty good first season and thumping Florida, they were able to be in on a level and number of recruits that they would have thought unlikely last June/July (when camp offers started to go out).
And so they chose to ease out lower level camp commits and a Hoke commit that had not developed and/or been 100% cooperative in order to accelerate pushing M's recruiting from very good to elite.
Now that they see what kind of prospects are possible, they will have to adjust for the next cycle.
But it does not seem compatible with JH's hyper-competive nature, or with M actually unseating OSU at the top of the Big Ten hierarchy, to forgo thae chance to get an overall better class than they thought possible last June...even if it create some bad short term optics.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^
In order to be on par with Alabama and OSU, we need top 5 classes EVERY year for 3 or 4 years. That's why they're so good right now. Obviously, they also do an excellent job developing players and getting more out of them. Michigan has had several teams over the years that had enough talent to win a NC, but didn't.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:00 AM ^
we have been pulling in top five classes year in, year out for decades.
Can you back that up at all? Because it just isn't even close to true.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:11 AM ^
that have failed to live up to potential. The problem, in the end, has not been recruiting. And it has especially not been the rank of our classes. My point, really, is that Harbaugh is on track for sustained success. And that the crazy swirling on all sides--outside AND inside--needs to be identified as crazy, and isn't going away. Noise will always be with us.
January 27th, 2016 at 10:21 AM ^
Anyone who watched Bama curb stomp Sparty in the playoffs this year saw what happens when great coaches face each other with a disparity in talent. That's not what I want Michigan to be. I don't want us to recruit the way Bama does, and I don't think that's what we're doing. I also don't want to settle for the "success" that Sparty has had the past five years.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:01 AM ^
WoW...just WoW...three or four losses, eh? You are right, that is perfectly acceptable...if you're Northwestern. That was a lot of typing to just simply walk off a cliff at the end.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:09 AM ^
say so? No. That is my point. Yes, a four-loss team in a rebuilding scenario WILL be acceptable to the sane Schlissels of this world once or twice in a decade. Crazy people will not be asked. I think NW is doing a little worse than that.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^
Don't mind me. I'm thoughtless and rabid.
January 27th, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^
you are. :)
January 27th, 2016 at 10:53 AM ^
Actually, the're ok but that's not why I have it down. I have it because that is followed with "I got something to say..." You know posting on the blog and stuff. Up voted you for recognizing it.
January 27th, 2016 at 10:05 AM ^
with regard to Lloyd Carr. If I'm not mistaken he averaged 3. something losses a year and, on retirement, was the winningest active coach, maybe with Fulmer of Tennessee. A guy who also had rabid--and stupid--fans shouting for his blood continually. Rabid people on message boards will not be invited to make final determinations, firing Hall of Fame coaches, in such cases. Thankfully.
January 27th, 2016 at 10:25 AM ^
Was a great coach, and a better representative for the university. However, he underachieved relative to the talent he had available to him. Is that what we're aspiring to?
I really think you're in the minority on this.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:12 AM ^
we don't get to decide. As an alum of the school I care about academics and its rep, and will always be on the side of sanity. And in this case I am happy about that.
Think Lloyd may have underachieved at the end. Complacency probably brought us Appy State. But the howl for his blood was an embarrassment. I am quite cool with being in the minority, if that's the case. But I don't think I am. He's in the Hall of Fame. History will record him as a great coach and greater person. I'm pretty sure that he wins, in almost every damned thing that matters.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^
Of course the academic mission is the most important thing, but lets not act like the football program doesn't impact that in a meaningful way. Your comment about being on the side of sanity is questionable. Are you saying I'm on the side of insanity? I don't think I am.
I definitely agree that the calls for Lloyd's head were embarassing. I was not one of those voices, at all. I'm a big Carr fan, so don't take me the wrong way on my comments about his tenure here. Not everything is completely black and white. The world is full of nuance.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:11 AM ^
We actually haven't landed that many top-five classes over the years. Top 10-15 has been more like it. But at any rate, it's undeniable that what was considered abnormal just a few years ago on the recruiting trail has become normal. The whole concept of verbal commitments has changed quite dramatically, to the point that one of our "committed" players is going to announce which college he'll attend, and despite his having having given us a "hard" commitment, apparently no one actually expects him to enroll here. We've come a long way even from the days of Rich Rodriguez being accused of selling snake oil to pull Roy Roundtree away from Purdue.
January 27th, 2016 at 6:18 AM ^
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January 27th, 2016 at 8:15 AM ^
"It was all personal to me." ~Liam Neeson, "Taken"
January 27th, 2016 at 9:03 AM ^
Fuck you, fuck you and fuck you. Who's next?-- Coming to America
January 27th, 2016 at 9:08 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 9:22 AM ^
no Martin Luther the King.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:50 AM ^
Hey Stu, your rent's due mother fucker
January 27th, 2016 at 10:09 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^
I have no idea what's going on here.
January 27th, 2016 at 10:53 AM ^
The apartment scene was the first time it *clicked* what the meaning of a chalk outline meant...it still makes me laugh:
January 27th, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
dog's tail or cane?
January 27th, 2016 at 8:59 AM ^
"This ain't business, bitch. It's personal."
January 27th, 2016 at 6:23 AM ^
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January 27th, 2016 at 7:10 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 8:08 AM ^
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January 27th, 2016 at 6:23 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 8:40 AM ^
I agree with everything you said. The way you wrote it makes me want to disagree though.
January 27th, 2016 at 9:50 AM ^
I am like you. I'm sick of losing to MSU and especially OSU. I know beating MSU consistently will start this coming football season, but OSU is just on a whole different level talent-wise. I know Jim can get us there, but I'm at the point that I just don't care how it's done. Just start beating them more often. It's not too much to ask for to beat OSU 50% of the time. It's a rivalry. Wins happen on both sides - but we have not consistently won since the 90s and that period of time is long gone. I knew Michigan was going to get their asses kicked in November. Everyone was saying that Michigan was going to win or at least have a very good shot, but I said the opposite. We are just not ready to compete with OSU right now.
January 27th, 2016 at 6:27 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 6:28 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 6:40 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 6:55 AM ^
but yet in the sec they can do it every year and noone says a word.....