Where are you with Jim Harbaugh?

Submitted by DennisFithian on

With about 30 days from kick off, where is everybody's head at with the way the coach has got this team geared up for his fourth season in the maize and blue?

 talking michigan on the show till 4 today 

DrMantisToboggan

July 28th, 2018 at 2:47 PM ^

I’d give him a 9 or 9.5 to date. I think, given what he took on and the injuries last year, he’s done a bang up job, and I think we are in for a great season.

JonnyHintz

July 29th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^

Do you think it’s at all possible you could wait until the oldest QB of that description isn’t a redshirt freshman?

Seems really premature to judge how good those QBs perform when we’ve only seen one of them play and he was a redshirt freshman, so EXTREMELY early in his career to just write him off as no good.

aaamichfan

July 28th, 2018 at 3:28 PM ^

Agree. Before the coaching changes this offseason he was about a 5/10, but I actually believe he now has the right coaching pieces in place along with great recruiting infrastructure. The foundation is now fully built, now they just need to have a good season to cement it in place.

Alumnus93

July 28th, 2018 at 8:36 PM ^

He got back to Ohio, which was killing him .Bo crushed the rivalries with a stacked team of Ohio kids and less Michigan kids, spattered with players from around the country .but the core was Ohio then Michigan.   Harbaugh has Drevno and we're going after way too many west coast kids that never came here..

He fixed it this off-season it appears with Warinner, washjngton, and he even tried for Enos .  Now the last step is fixing the tackle position, a problem going on a decade now. 

StraightDave

July 29th, 2018 at 12:13 PM ^

Urban Meyer is killing it with kids not from Ohio.   Why recruit Ohio and Michigan kids who play football three months out of the year when you can recruit kids from football rich regions who play football 12 months out of the year?  

aaamichfan

July 28th, 2018 at 3:52 PM ^

His coaching against Ohio State has been great so far. Has significantly overachieved given the talent differences between the teams.

He has significantly underachieved against MSU. Aussie punter shouldn't have even been put in the situation to blow that game because Michigan was the much better team that year.

schreibee

July 28th, 2018 at 4:07 PM ^

Yeah BUT! We HAD the lead with ~10 ticks left & punting it with a guy who routinely pinned opponents deep.

Now - YOU list any other time the team punting lost any game you've ever seen in that scenario.

I believe Rodgers won a gm with a highly controversial, long reviewed Hail Mary that I can recall - but otherwise? I'm blank...

cobra14

July 28th, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^

They had 5 total yards of offense in 4th quarter against OSU in 16. For some reason that always gets overlooked by everyone. Maybe it’s because the refs cheated and JT was short is all any Michigan fan will shout in discussion of that game but 5 yards is an utter failure. 

Harbaugh right now is 6.5/10. He has made some serious bonehead coaching moves in his first 3 years and he has done some really great things. 

Hopefully he has the right formula now to finish out games and the entire season.

 

 

Rabbit21

July 28th, 2018 at 4:19 PM ^

Entirely reasonable take, the offense is anything but a complete disaster in the 4th quarter in both that game and the Iowa game and we're having very different conversations, but it's been a problem and for more than just last year.

ScooterTooter

July 29th, 2018 at 10:15 AM ^

This is of course, yet another...trying to be polite for the sake of discourse...misinformed take. After Ohio State scored to make it 17-14 (after Mason Cole, Wilton Speight and the officials conspired to give the game back to Ohio State), Michigan passed on first down more than they ran. If you're looking at six minutes as the marker, Michigan had a perfectly reasonable 3rd and 4 that saw Amara Darboh open on a routine open slant that Wilton Speight threw behind him. 

Michigan never got the ball back because the officials decided to call pass interference on an action they would then deem not worthy of a call when it happened to Michigan in overtime. 

But please, let's keep going on about how Michigan tried to run out the clock and turtled or whatever else. 

jabberwock

July 28th, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^

I concur with the 6.5 out of 10.

3 years in and  3rd & 4th places IN THE DIVISION!?  Not even making it to a conference  championship, record vs. MSU, OSU, bowl games?

I think his biggest letdown has been the ONE place everyone assumed would be a no-brainer, QB play.  
It has been at best above average to often downright deplorable.  Much of it on a shaky O-line, young receivers, etc.  But nothing every team doesn't experience so some degree.

I've been thrilled with Harbaugh as a stand-up guy, leader of young men, and face of the program.  Quirky? sure, I don't care.

He held onto Drevno too long but I really can't fault loyalty.  His other hires look very good and Don Brown was not only a home run , but JH leaving him alone to run his D has been an under-appreciated aspect of Harbaugh's coaching style.

In-game coaching seems to be a moving target with solid A's, and the occasional derp C- so I'll give him a B+ for not being allergic to headphones.

I don't think he's always on the mark with everything he's done, but the dude isn't complacent!

 

ScooterTooter

July 29th, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^

They had 5 total yards of offense because Higdon cut into a defender that was blocked and Wilton Speight missed an open slant on 3rd and 4. On top of this, Ohio State was gifted an extension of their final drive on a bogus pass interference call, denying Michigan the ball again. 

The plays that were called had Michigan set up to win that game. The players failed to execute them. Anyone who complains about this is being foolish. 

BuckNekked

July 28th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^

A bit disingenuous to say Michigan was the much better team that year without context. Going into that season nobody would have said Michigan was a much better team than Sparty. Then Sparty beats OSU and goes to the CFP. Disingenuous? Yes indeed.

Lakeyale13

July 28th, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^

Thank Goodness it was Umbig11 that dropped a realistic rating on Harbaugh and his performance.  Anyone else would have been crucified.

 

His record against his rivals has been way below what we imagined.  OL and QB recruiting / development has been well below what we thought.  Harbaugh has had to rely on Transfer QB's to save his arse.  

 

7.5 is a fair rating.  I agree with legendary Umbig11.

cobra14

July 28th, 2018 at 7:33 PM ^

Still a lot of people who haven’t experienced much else in their life but the last 10 years. That’s the real issue imo. So they think Harbaugh is just outstanding because he is better in their minds than Hoke or RR.

Just remember Hoke recruited every one of those draft pics from 16. You want to complain Hoke couldn’t coach I would never disagree with that but Harbaugh didn’t magically get the talent to the NFL like some want to give him credit for. 

ScooterTooter

July 29th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^

I mean, who were the QBs? 

A guy he had to go get from Iowa that became an NFL draft pick after no one would have expected that in 2014, a Borges recruit that he turned into the single greatest Borges QB of all time (which isn't much, but still something), a guy he had to go get from Houston (which seemed perfectly rational at the time, but in hindsight probably screwed up 2017 quite a bit) and a RS FR that he recruited. 

If Patterson looks worse, then sure, maybe his entire track record is a fraud, but come on. We're not talking about Urban Meyer taking over Ohio State with his QB ideal in place in Braxton Miller. 

BoCanHam15

July 28th, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^

I agree.  And at this point people fail to realize how many years the other head coaches tenures have been at each rival schools.  Harbaugh could never be wrong for this job.  However, there also will never be another head coach scrutinized so much.  If he stays around as long as Mork or the other head coach near our states bordering waters south of us, he will definitely succeed.  I wonder sometimes why people don’t realize that all the talk around our program whether it be good or bad eventually will become good in the end.  As one college sports athelete said,”if nobody is talking about you, you ain’t doing nothing!”  Let them talk, eventually we will be GREAT AGAIN!  GO BLUE!

mad magician

July 28th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^

He deserves a ton of credit for culture, stability, and talent upgrade

Has had some tough luck losses

Last season got away from him but if 8-5 is the floor then that’s in line with Bo and Lloyd 

One thing about Bo and Lloyd is they were really good bounce back coaches. Hopefully JH’s offseason adjustments pay off. 

In 25ish years of fandom, I’d rate this year’s preseason roster as probably a top five preseason roster