Harbaugh’s winning percentage at UM
Just an interesting note. With our 10 game winning streak, Harbaugh now stands at 38-12 for a winning percentage of .760. In the past 2 games he has eclipsed Lloyd Carr (.753) and Gary Moeller (.758). He’s got a long way to go to catch up to Bo. Obviously a loss or two can change it going back the other direction, but it goes to show what he has been able to do here in 4 years. Also worth noting that the Big 10 is obviously stronger as a whole then it was 15-25 years ago. So..he’s doing just fine.
Now to take the next stop and knock off the evil empire down south.
November 19th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
He is doing just fine and is doing quite predictable IMO. He is making progress and things are looking good. But, a win against OSU is needed regardless to keep the fanbase happy.
November 19th, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
I'm on board.
But we as a fan base are always one rival loss from committing ritual fan seppuku and looking for the next best thing.
I know I sound like a dead horse, but we went 8-4 a couple times when I was there, and while it wasn't ideal we were okay. I think the internet has made things that much worse. And I have relatives who are casual fans who subscribe to the latest hawt take who like to chime in from time to time.
I had to talk one down over the summer because of the international trips. 'It's taking away from football....'
November 19th, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^
Isn't going 8-4 in the context of a bunch of 10-2 and 9-3 seasons being the norm completely different than going 8-4 (2017 regular season) at the end of the worst 10 year period in the history of Michigan football?
No reason to despair over an 8-4 year when you reasonably expect to rebound to 10-2 the next year.
But 8-4 after a terrible decade just makes one think the program can't turn the corner, that it could become a terrible 2 decades, and that it would be overly optimistic to think next year will be 10-2 or better.
Anyway, very glad to see M at 10-1 in late November.
November 21st, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^
But... it wasn't that way.
Bo's last three years would have had people today screaming. Moeller likely would have people screaming for his head by year 4, and definitely by year 5. Car was about the same till '97.
Here, we had people getting their undies in a bunchy after going 20-6 for Harbaughs first two years, after having gone 12-13 the previous two seasons under Hoke!
This is part of the reason I get so frustrated with Marcus Ray. He was on the 97 team but he was also on alot of teams that didn't have as good of records, against an arguably weaker B1G field.
I was there from '91-95.
1987 Bo Schembechler 8-4-
1988 Bo Schembechler 9-2
1989 Bo Schembechler 10-2
1990 Gary Moeller 9-3
1991 Gary Moeller 10-2
1992 Gary Moeller 9-0-3
1993 Gary Moeller 8-4
1994 Gary Moeller 8-4
1995 Lloyd Carr 9-4
1996 Lloyd Carr 8-4
November 19th, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
The other thing I love about this year is many Ohio State fans are talking negative about him again. I can't tell you how many of their fans told me that he wasn't the right fit for us. When opposing fans begin to hate your coach, it means he is doing something right. Will report back to MGoBlog after this weekend to let you know if they are still in that same mind frame.
Go Blue!
November 19th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
He doesn't really have a long way to catch up. If Harbaugh finishes this year 2-1, then goes 5-0 against Middle Tennessee, Army, Wisconsin, Rutgers and Iowa he's ahead of Bo.
And I may be in the minority, but can we not call Ohio State something lame like "Evil Empire Down South"? It's Ohio State hate week, we don't need something to combat TTUN, let's just call em like it is.
November 19th, 2018 at 12:40 PM ^
If Harbaugh can wear glasses that pay homage to Woody Hayes, we can call Ohio State by name.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
I noticed that he isn't wearing the Woody glasses anymore. This year's version has full rims.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
Exactly. O$U, Ohio, Evil Empire Down South, Suckeyes/Fuckeyes, and every other nick name is just lame. They're Ohio State. And I fucking hate Ohio State.
November 19th, 2018 at 2:20 PM ^
I agree. Seeing other fanbases call us scUM, Meatchicken, skunkweasals, etc., is pretty damn cringeworthy.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
Bo had a win percentage of .796 at Michigan. Harbaugh would have to win the national title and then start 6-0 to pass him. I’m all for it, but not an easy task.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
Good call. Did the math wrong.
November 19th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
Harbaugh is also playing a harder schedule given the B1G East and 9 conference games.
As much as the world was screaming about 8-5 last year, it's hilarious to contrast that with the total lack of national reaction to MSU going 6-5 two years after 3-9. Nobody cares.
November 19th, 2018 at 12:51 PM ^
MSU crested in 2013 and 2015. They are 19-17 the last 3 years. They overachieved in those years but have to give them credit, they won a couple B1G Titles and a Rose Bowl. But going to be tough sledding for them now that M and PSU are strong again. I suspect Nebraska will become good again under Frost. Hard for MSU to compete with traditional powers when they get a good coach in place.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
MSU has peaked and will not be like they were again, but I’m not quite ready to throw dirt on them yet. They don’t have the depth to withstand the injuries they have had this year but next year they return a ton of starters again. I would suspect Penn St will fall back even further next year and I doubt Wisconsin will be great, so I wouldn’t be surprised is MSU is the third best team behind UM and OSU.
November 19th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
Good to post stuff like this since fans (or, a vocal minority of fans?) are kind of crazy. Just watch as Coach H goes 11-2 or similar the next so many years and people start complaining...
November 19th, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
I don’t think people are going to complain about 11-2 or even 10-3 so long as Harbaugh bats at least .500 against OSU, ND and MSU. I think the past failures against those teams has been the cause of much angst. Don’t get me wrong, I think Harbaugh is the ideal coach for Michigan, and a couple of those games were just flukes (or stolen by refs), but he needs to beat OSU and maybe string a few wins against rivals together to make people happy. Moeller had his 8-4 years, but he had winning records against both OSU and MSU.
November 19th, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
We haven’t had three 10 win seasons in a four year stretch since 97-99. And that’s with two of those years being 12 game seasons. We’ve had a rough couple decades compared to a lot of other blue blood programs. People whining about JH last year needed some perspective (28 wins in 3 year stretch hadn’t happened since 02-04 for instance) . And even if we lose on Saturday, doesn’t mean we are not in a good spot overall.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
I approve of the way Harbaugh is running the team. And I'll go on to say that, IMO, his best single game coaching feat was the NY6 game against FSU. He lost a Heisman finalist at game time (replaced by a true freshman in his first extended PT), and the Mackey Award winner relatively early in the game. The first quarter was a bomb shell that destroyed everything. Nonetheless, that team battled its way back and actually had the lead with barely more than a minute left.
One missed KO return tackle at the ten... That was a helluva coaching job, that game.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
So, it’s happening?
November 19th, 2018 at 1:07 PM ^
Three ten win seasons in four years. Took over a beaten down program that was probably at it's worst point in the history of the school. Or top two at least. This train is just getting started and if they make the playoff, this recruiting class will more than likely be awesome. It's already pretty damn good. A win this saturday and this train is building a ton of steam. No slowing it down.
November 19th, 2018 at 1:07 PM ^
Uggg, this reminds me that I’m going to have to deal with my “we should fire Harbaugh” relative this week.
I’ll have to drown my brain in CBS or KBS before he comes over this year
November 19th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
This has been a great year for sure. I think almost all of us here would have GLADLY taken the one loss with one to game to go back in August. As long as that one loss hadn’t been to MSU. 8~)
Congrats to Harbaugh for getting it done. A true Michigan man. Go Blue!
November 19th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
I shake my head every time I read someone call for Harbaugh to be fired (although I haven’t read it in a while, obviously).
Stanford’s record the year before Harbaugh was hired: 1-11;
Stanford’s record four years later: 12-1.
49ers record in the eight seasons immediately preceding the hiring of Jim Harbaugh (7 losing seasons and one .500 year): 46-82, with zero playoff appearances.
49ers record in the four seasons Harbaugh was the head coach: 44-19-1, with three consecutive NFC Championship Game appearances and one trip to the Super Bowl.
49ers record in the four seasons since Harbaugh was fired: 15-43, with zero playoff appearances.
Michigan’s record in the seven seasons immediately preceding Harbaugh’s hiring: 46-46.
Michigan’s record in the four seasons since Harbaugh was hired: 38-12.
November 19th, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
Winning definitely changes the narrative.
beating MSU this year changes it from 1-2 to 2-2 with "the punt" as one of MSU's wins and John O'Korn as the other.
beating OSU this year changes it from 0-3 to 1-3, but "the spot" is one of OSU's wins and John O'Korn is the other. It will take another year or two, but the narrative will flip soon enough.
Saturday is a must win.
November 19th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
I have 100% knocked him for not winning the big games but if/ when they beat OSU and NW I’ll eat crow and be totally on the JH train.
November 19th, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
All Harbaugh needs to do to catch Bo (0.796) is win his next 4 games and go 5-0 to start next season, which would put him at 0.797.
This of course implies doing a certain thing that Bo never did, as well as another thing that no coach in any conference has ever done, and that's go 10-0 in conference play in a single season.
November 19th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
Bo was .796 at Michigan. (Ties count as half a win.)
November 19th, 2018 at 2:40 PM ^
Corrected. Actually I initially used overall career numbers, not record at Michigan, for Bo.
November 19th, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^
On a related note, since Harbaugh came to UM, Dantonio has a 62% winning percentage at MSU. B10 winning percentage-Dantonio at an amazing 56% while Harbaugh is at a horrible 76%