Peach Bowl Postgame Presser: Jim Harbaugh
It's been a while since I transcribed a presser, and thanks to David and the Peach Bowl's PR people and something called ASAP Sports it's going to be a little longer. A transcript of Jim Harbaugh's postgame comments was emailed out and is contained below. I'll be throwing in the ol' earbuds to transcribe player audio, though, so look for that in a couple days. That way you can pretend Michigan's New Year's Six game was actually played on New Year's Day.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, take a short opening comment, then we'll go right to questions.
JIM HARBAUGH: We can go right to questions.
THE MODERATOR: Okay.
Q. Jim, looking back, do you feel like maybe your team was not emotionally ready, maybe coming off the Ohio State game, maybe players sitting out, did you feel like they weren't quite ready for this?
JIM HARBAUGH: I thought they were ready.
Q. Emotionally?
JIM HARBAUGH: I thought they were emotionally ready, yeah.
THE MODERATOR: Next question.
Q. Overall what went wrong offensively and what made it so hard to move the ball today and put points on the board?
JIM HARBAUGH: Combination of things. Started out not picking up in the third and short and the fourth and very short. That hurt. That hurt one drive. We were moving the ball at times and close to getting into a rhythm, but we didn't get the run game going effectively enough. Or the passing game, the protection, and the rhythm in that area to make it -- we got outplayed, really, on that side of the ball. Florida did a nice job defensively.
Defensively, it was really the same story. We didn't play as well. Had some -- had missed calls, adjustments. We left a couple receivers wide open, some things that we don't normally do.
[More after THE JUMP]
JIM HARBAUGH: It was a very good season. It would have been a great season had we won this game. Didn't get that done.
My feeling about the team is we're right there to the top, but we have to put it over the top. Especially in the big games at the end of the year.
Q. Last year, after the bowl game, you made a lot of changes. Do you anticipate making a lot of changes after this, or what are you going to take from this and change?
JIM HARBAUGH: I think we're going to take what we have and reload. A new season and tighten up. But keep working. Keep working to put it over the top.
Q. I have two. So piggybacking on that, so you don't anticipate any changes on the staff going into next season?
JIM HARBAUGH: No.
Q. Also, Kwity Paye and Devin Gil, a couple injuries. Can you share what those were?
JIM HARBAUGH: Yeah. They were both hamstrings.
Q. Just to follow up, you said you're right there, just can't get over the top, especially in the big games. What do you think has been missing in the big games late in the season?
JIM HARBAUGH: We're beaten by -- on those days, we were beaten by better teams. So we have to persevere, be persistent, keep working, and put it over the top.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
December 31st, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
It's not the record so far that's the issue. Maybe Michigan was in a bigger hole than we thought.
It's the complacent, flat, "everything is fine" trajectory where nothing seems to be changing that's the issue.
Everything is not fine.
More of the same is not going to beat Ohio State and win the Big Ten.
December 31st, 2018 at 2:45 PM ^
I don’t know about this dude anymore. I say warm his seat up.
The lack of urgency when down in the 4th is #1 reason why for me. The O just turtles against good competition/coaching. Huddling and running up the gut can’t be plan A, B and C anymore. It’s not 1982.
If he is really gonna double down on that O-system, so be it, but he needs to sense some urgency in more ways than one.
December 31st, 2018 at 2:45 PM ^
This is the Brady Hoke-ish "everything is fine, we just didn't execute" speech.
Does not bode very well for the future . . .
December 31st, 2018 at 3:44 PM ^
Not you too, M-Dog!
As an MGoFriend, a fellow Michigan Man, I fear you've slipped and really think you need to take a break from posting and obsessing about Michigan football. I know how much you love it, and I know that you know -- deep down inside -- that Michigan's task of becoming elite is a very difficult one. Sadly though, all I see from you lately is snark, negativity and venom.
Changes have been made every season, and will continue to be made. Do we always have to have a collective freakout about it every season and predict nothing but complete mediocrity? Beat OSU is hard, and that is our task ...EVERY season. I know you know ... I've read enough of the Good M-Dog to know you know. But not you too, M-Dog ... not you too!
December 31st, 2018 at 5:27 PM ^
I'm worn down, my friend.
I'm usually pretty patient, but I'm concerned about the constant "everything is fine" just wait until next year message.
Maybe that will prove to be true, I hope so.
But I've run out of empirical evidence to hang my hat on, so I'm now down to just cross-my-fingers hope.
Makes me gloomy.
January 1st, 2019 at 3:59 PM ^
December 31st, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
Wow! We should all go kill ourselves because our football team under performed. Could be worse, could be Clemson. If they win it's tainted. Can we examine the film first?
December 31st, 2018 at 5:05 PM ^
There will be changes because there have been every season. Harbaugh is neither dumb, nor near as stubborn as many like to characterize him to be.
He has no compunction about not sharing any of those thoughts and plans with the media or the fans.
We need to deal with that and stop begging for him to mirror our opinions when talking to the media.
He's by far the best person we could get. And outside of a handful of "never going to happen" candidates, he is the best man for the job. And he's proven that on the field frankly.
December 31st, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
Where does Harbaugh rate on the list of articulate UM coaches? Near the top? Just wondering.
December 31st, 2018 at 9:30 PM ^
I wonder if part of why JH is catching so much grief is that he's, um, taciturn with the press--which is entirely his prerogative. But in the midst of a challenging stretch like the last month, when people would like to hear more in the way of explanation and future strategy, I think it can work against him.
I would be just fine with post-game pressers being abolished. No coach with 2 brain cells to rub together is going to reveal anything of substance; even injury reports are often short on details. Aside from the occasional "THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY ARE!" performance art, these Q&A's seem pro forma.
December 31st, 2018 at 6:24 PM ^
Harbaugh has gotten us back to Lloyd level. That’s pretty good when you remember Richrods 3-9, Hoke’s 5-7, and everything Brandon. No one wants to be elite more than Jim. Give him some more time.
January 1st, 2019 at 9:27 AM ^
Gotta be more fair to Lloyd. This was Lloyd's level:
- National Championship
- 5 Big Ten Championships
- 6 wins over Ohio State
- Rose Bowl win
- Orange Bowl win over Alabama
- Hesiman trophy winner
- Five Top 5 recruiting classes, including the #1 recruiting class in 1998.
That's a better record than just about every Michigan coach but Yost or Crisler.
He slowed down a little at the end, but at least he didn't hang on aimlessly for a decade+ like Paterno or Bowden.
If Harbaugh can get us to Lloyd's level, he can feel free to just stop there and give himself a pat on the back.
December 31st, 2018 at 6:31 PM ^
I suspect I’m going to get negged for this, but this isn’t the same guy who slapped Jim Schwartz on the back or denounced the horrid officiating after the 2016 OSU game.
The fire seems gone.
December 31st, 2018 at 6:57 PM ^
I have been racking my brain, trying to figure out exactly when Jim Harbaugh became a Pussy. Back in the day as a QB, he had good, not great talent but excelled due to his "go for it" personality on the field. His teammates responded to this, and JH finished 3rd or 4th in the 1986 Heisman campaign, and was one play from leading his medicore Colts team to a Super Bowl in 1995.
In the SB vs, his brother, the 49ers had a first and goal with a great RB in Frank Gore and a running QB in Kaepernick, along with some solid WRs. He puckered up and became conservative and blew the opportunity of a lifetime.
At Michigan, JH has repeatedly "puckered up" vs. OSU, MSU and top 10 opponents. Michigan should have won some of these games which they lost vs. top 10 opponents.
Here is my JH rating:
Recruiter - 7.5. He brings in top talent, however can overlook talent at key positions where it is needed. He also brings in kids who are not necessarily the "would kill to play football" types that this team needs, to overcome the hype and baggage which is inevitable with playing football at Michigan.
On Field Coach - 5.5. JH is a slightly better than average on field coach. His teams are often unprepared to play teams of equal or better talent. He is frequently out-schemed. His clock management and TO management is historically below average. He rarely has his team perform above their talent level in big games. Rarely if Never. He is utterly gutless as a co-OC and plays with fear. His offenses play slow, somewhat disorganized and without flow and very passively.
Program Head - 8.0. JH is a great marketer who has increased the value of the program and consistently puts butts in the seats. Apparently he runs a "clean" program and requires his players to get some semblance of an education, or at least give them the opportunity to do so.
Future? - JH is stubborn to a fault. He is a cut above Hoke as an on field coach, but is a similar recruiter. He needs to look inward and become more aggressive and fearless as a leader. He needs to be much more innovative in his personal offensive philosphy. This will pay off dividends in his team's on field play. If these corrections are not made, then it will be more of the same next year: 3-4 losses.
Michigan is a program which can recruit close to the "big boys" but lacks a coach who is aggressive and innovative to take advantage of talent match-ups in big game.
December 31st, 2018 at 7:37 PM ^
Yawn.
January 1st, 2019 at 12:44 AM ^
James Harbaugh: We’re right there at the top, but we have to put it over the top.
James Franklin: We are a great program. We lost to an elite program, and we’re that close. We’ve gotten comfortable being great. We will no longer be comfortable being great. We’re going to learn from this, we’re going to grow from this and we’re going to find a way to take that next step as a program because we’ve been knocking at the door long enough.
We are Penn State.
January 1st, 2019 at 5:41 AM ^
Yes, that's what immediately came to mind when Harbaugh said that. And just as worthy of mockery as Franklin's statement (which Harbaugh is presumably aware of, so that made his comments Saturday more surprising).
We are below the top, deservedly so, and to reach the top and put it over, improvements in many facets including philosophy are necessary.
January 1st, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
We are Penn State.
But without the multiple decades long institutional coverup and endorsement of pedophilia
And without the cult of personality worshiping fanbase.
January 1st, 2019 at 5:45 AM ^
Harbaugh doesn't owe anything to the media.
No but...it is usually not a good idea to be antagonistic to toward the media. If you don't "play ball" with them, they will understandably come after you when there's blood in the water.
They have a job to do, and all in all their job is good for fans and good for teams and sports they are covering. They ask the questions a lot of fans would like to ask, trying to generate at least a quote or two. If there is a gaffe or a way to create controversy some--not all--will pounce. So being careful is understandable, but being a dick is generally not a wise move.
January 1st, 2019 at 6:43 AM ^
Media is the last thing the coach should be concerned about. Give them a couple of words to fulfill the requirement and move on to way more important things. The media is useless.
January 1st, 2019 at 9:33 AM ^
Bo once said: "I have no use for the media. If I'm winning, I don't need them. If I'm losing, they can't help me."
January 1st, 2019 at 9:18 PM ^
"They ask the questions a lot of fans would like to ask" Really? For once I'd like a reporter to ask, "You had very creative offenses at Stanford. Why don't you do that here?"
January 1st, 2019 at 11:19 AM ^
Fans become frustrated because they want Harbaugh to "open up" in press conferences and tell us it's all going to be warm and fuzzy and call out problems identified in all the hot takes on this blog. Folks, that is never going to happen with Harbaugh. It is not his style and he is not going to perform the "warm and fuzzy dance" in a PC even after a big win (other than saying his players played well.) Being closed mouthed is part of his mentality. Expecting anything else is just wishful thinking.
January 1st, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^
Harbaugh will make changes regardless of what he said in this sucky press conference. By the way, is this all there was? Why didn't anyone ask him about the play calling and predictable nature of the offense and defense? Pretty weak.
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