Jimmy Johnson goes fishing with Urban Meyer, hates Harbaugh to Michigan
(Not sure if this has already been posted. If it has, please delete, mods.)
Need a reason to hate/dislike Jimmy Johnson? Now you have one, mgoboard. Apparently he hangs out with Urban Meyer and thinks Jim Harbaugh going back to Michigan is lame.
Via Houston Culture:
Jimmy Johnson jabs Bill Belichick, claims Jim Harbaugh took easy way out as he roars into Houston with Heart
The guy who turned the Miami Hurricanes into the most feared program in college football — and a cultural touchstone that's still relevant today — has become something of a coach guru. He goes fishing with Urban Meyer — with the Ohio State coach seeking out his expertise and bringing his son Nate along.
For all his wit and his current relaxed vibe, Johnson carries a strong sense of what's right and wrong in coaching.
That's why he's not going to join the chorus praising Jim Harbaugh for leaving the NFL to take on the Michigan job.
You want to call that move courageous? Please. Jimmy Johnson does not hesitate to paint going to a program as storied as Michigan as something of the easy way out.
"You look at the top schools in college and there's the chance to win 10, 11, 12 games and play for the national championship every year," he says. "The difference between the top schools and everyone else is just so huge.
"You're guaranteed by just showing up that you're going to win eight or nine. On the pro level, that's not the way it is. It's a grind."
If you are still wondering why Jimmy Johnson never returned to coaching despite some serious courting over the years, the way he talks about the extreme toll of NFL coaching now is instructive. "You have no life other than coaching in professional football," Johnson says. "In college, you at least have some opportunity to spend some time with your family."
YES, HARBAUGH TOOK THE EASY WAY OUT COMING TO HIS ALMA MATER. HE WILL MOST DEFINITELY NOT STAY. WAIT THOSE TWO THINGS ARE OPPOSITE, OH WHY DO YOU CONFUSE ME NFL
January 19th, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^
I doubt he has to worry much about bread, or butter for that matter.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^
I'd suspect that the college coaching game has changed since the 80s, when Johnson last coached Miami.
And it's not like he didn't latch on to a much easier ride himself after 1999 by simply going into broadcasting at the age of 56.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
Where are my 8-9 wins the last past couple of years?
January 19th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
Where are my 8-9 wins the last past couple of years?
January 19th, 2015 at 11:14 AM ^
retired from coaching the first time at the age of 50. Sat around for 3 years and came back to make some bank with the Dolphins and sucked at it, retired again at 56.
Harbaugh is 51 just took a high pressure job at a major D1 school. Harbaugh took the easy way out, right?
January 19th, 2015 at 11:15 AM ^
Where are my 8-9 wins the last past couple of years?
January 19th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^
how many times are you going to ask?
January 19th, 2015 at 11:18 AM ^
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January 19th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^
Maybe that's why his wife left, Jimmie took extenze and she said she could not tke it any longer
January 19th, 2015 at 11:19 AM ^
when people constantly continue to talk about how good/bad the hire was. To say he is taking the easy way out is just idiotic, especially since Harbaugh has proven he can win at both levels.
Please continue to fuel Jim's intensity and desire to win even more.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
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January 19th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 3:41 PM ^
JFK said the same thing about Marilyn Monroe, but I think he meant something different.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 11:50 AM ^
Yes and Urban has his puppets like Jimmy Boy Toy Johnson do his speaking for him. Urban thinks it makes him look classy since he's not directly saying anything.
Wait until JH beats Urban. Maybe not next year but he will and he would do it in the worse way possible to Urban. I want to see a Jimmy Schwartz type of meeting on the field when that happens.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^
Are you surprised that it's sanctimonious?
I mean, for Christ's sake, the article has "roars into Houston with Heart" in the title.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
But I suspect it has more to do with fecal incontinence than coaching.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 11:35 AM ^
Jimmy Johnson, "What's your deal?!"
It sort of sounds like Jimmy Johnson is jealous about the opportunity that Harbaugh received.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^
Johnson basically communicated "Harbaugh is going to find it so easy to win big at Michigan." You guys can get outraged about anything.
If anyone deserves ire, it's the author, who deliberately slanted the narrative and gave leading questions in order to deliver a story about the opposite of "courageousness."
January 19th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
Johnson basically said any idiot could win in college and that Harbaugh was taking the easy way out. Sure, I guess he's positive about Harbaugh in a way, but that is one huge backhanded compliment.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
No, Johnson didn't say "Harbaugh is taking the easy way out." The article said that.
Johnson said this:
"You look at the top schools in college and there's the chance to win 10, 11, 12 games and play for the national championship every year"
"The difference between the top schools and everyone else is just so huge.
"You're guaranteed by just showing up that you're going to win eight or nine. On the pro level, that's not the way it is. It's a grind."
Not the same. In fact, none of Johnson's quotes even directly name Jim Harbaugh. It's a hatchet job. Don't let yourself be a mindless siphon for the messages in manipulatively-compiled articles.
January 19th, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
I read the article, and yes Johnson does not come out and directly say Harbaugh took the easy way out, but if you read what was spoken it absolutely reads like Johnson is dismissing Harbaugh leaving the NFL because he couldn't handle the grind/wanted the easier way to fame and fortune.
Johnson's own words were "You're guaranteed by just showing up that you're going to win eight or nine." Well, (a) that doesn't happen at all elite programs (his own Miami Hurricanes won 6 games this year, for example), and (b) it dismisses the amount of work a person has to put in to be successful, and he follows it up by saying that doesn't happen in the pros. Which is of course funny because Johnson famously struggled to 9 wins most seasons when he was the coach with the Dolphins.
And you frame this piece as if it was some hit piece on Johnson and Harbaugh, when by all accounts it reads like a pretty free-wheeling conversation that the author tried to paint Johnson as kind of a wise sage who is also a bit of tough, no-nonsense talker who will say what is on his mind. And let's not forget that Johnson is a prominent analyst for the NFL, and the one consistent narrative everyone heard during the coaching search was that nobody leaves the NFL; the NFL leaves you. So yeah, I absolutely believe that Jimmy Johnson probably told the reporter that he thought Harbaugh should have stayed in the NFL and is making a mistake going back to college because he won't be challenged as much and doesn't want to "compete" like other coaches. Now, if you want to quibble about semantics by all means go for it.
And frankly, I don't give a crap what Johnson has to say about Harbaugh or anything else; he's barely tolerable on Fox when he's talking about actual NFL football games.
January 19th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^
If you are still wondering why Jimmy Johnson never returned to coaching despite some serious courting over the years, the way he talks about the extreme toll of NFL coaching now is instructive. "You have no life other than coaching in professional football," Johnson says. "In college, you at least have some opportunity to spend some time with your family."
I like how he sort of bristles at the idea of someone possibly getting out of the NFL to return to college - never mind one's alma mater - and then says something which would highlight a compelling reason that one might choose in a similar situation.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 11:33 AM ^
Schnelenberger or whatever who kind of developed that culture?
January 19th, 2015 at 12:40 PM ^
Not that Jimmy did nothing at the 'U' but the foundation was not laid by him, it was Schnellenberger.
Go Blue ][\/][
January 19th, 2015 at 11:39 AM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 11:39 AM ^
No Jimmy, taking the easy way out would be to quit and become an analyst/sportscaster. No wonder you get along so well with Urban Meyer.
January 19th, 2015 at 5:18 PM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 11:49 AM ^
and jimmy johnson pursued that vaunted grind of talking head...what a cock
January 19th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
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January 19th, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^
You'd think if anyone could understand and/or sympathize with Harbaugh, it'd be Jimmy Johnson. He won big at Dallas and got pushed out because he didn't get along with the owner. Then he goes back to a place he was familiar with and the people rejoice at his homecoming. Sound familiar?
But no, he has to hang out with Urban Meyer, King of the Douches, and then say things like this. F you, Jimmy Johnson.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:00 PM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
It is somewhat telling that once he got to the Dolphins he basically treaded water/took a slight step back compared to the Shula-led teams. He struck me as a coach who could win with talent, but what he did at Miami (and lord were there lots of violations going on that went unpunished) and with Dallas followed the same script. Harbaugh took mediocre teams and made them play better than they had before; Johnson basically won with overwhleming talent and when he lost that edge was a middling coach.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
Jimmy Johnson appearing on Survivor.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^
And not wearing a shirt.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^
January 19th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
Johnson was a very good coach, but I don't really value his opinion too much on other matters. To think Harbaugh took the easy way out by being so desirable that both college and pro teams were clamoring for him isn't the same as guys who flame out in the pros and return to college because they like the control and the timeframes.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
Jimmy Johnson seems to be arguing a point no one is making. I don't think I've heard anyone say it was courageous for Jim to go back to college. Does it also seem awkward to anyone else that he is saying this in conversations with a guy who has not even attempted going to the pros? Sounds like more of a knowck on Urban for only winning at college.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^
I completely disagree about the NFL being more of a grind. While I acknowledge I haven't coached in either the NFL or NCAA I don't think Jimmy is in touch with reality when it comes to the gap between the elite and the rest of college football.
There is a reason teams like Boise St., Ole Miss, Michigan State, and Arizona win 10 games, knocking off programs like Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan, and Oregon. Its because that gap that existed in his days at Miami are long gone with scholarship reductions and TV exposure. Kids across the country now see teams they never would have before like Boise, Oregon and MSU every week while in Johnsons time teams like Miami and Michigan were only on TV maybe 4-5 times per year.
Jimmy Johnson hasn't been part of the year long grind that is modern recruiting and fundraising either. Sure there are "dead" periods where the coaches cannot actively recruit but I believe they can call the kids coaches and parents. All teams now recruit nationally where that wasn't so much true when Johnson coached so while there a more resources for todays college coach they are now spread across the country. Yeah, he's talked with Urban Meyer but to him the grind isn't a big deal because he's been at a while and is used to it. So if Urban tells him he spends a lot more time with his family now than at Flordia I bet it's still not as much as Johnson thinks.
It sounds like Jimmy is trying to get some attention by saying things that are very debatable.
January 19th, 2015 at 12:40 PM ^
Seriously. The NFL may have more games but I don't think that its harder. Recruiting is a bitch. I seem to remember Dungy saying something to the effect of "why would I take a college job when its twice as much work as a pro job"
January 19th, 2015 at 1:37 PM ^
I imagine that a good chunk of the NFL coaches who are moderately successful would SUCK at the collegiate level. Off the top of my head, Jason Garrett is one guy who I think would not be a good college coach, despite his success in the NFL.
January 19th, 2015 at 2:00 PM ^
I remember something like that too.
Just look at the faces of a lot of college coaches during their bowl games, they look just exhausted. I've driven by the football building at both Michigan and MSU early in the morning and have seen the head coaches parking spot filled. Then driven by both in the evening and the same nice SUV's were still there and that was in the spring. Even the number of games is getting closer to the NFL since OSU and Oregon played 15 games last year.
January 19th, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
the difference is, if you are at a place like Ohio State (or Michigan hopefully) if you put in that work, and you actually know what you are doing, the success should pretty much be there for the taking.
In the NFL, you can work until the cows come home and the system is designed to keep you mediocre. Even if you rise up and are good/great for a few seasons, the system is designed to deflate you back to mediocrity. At which point, unless you happen to be coaching in New England or Pittsburgh you seem to get fired. NFL = Not For Long. That's why guys like Johnson and Gruden ended up in the studio. Why go back out onto the field only to inevitably get fired when they go 8-8 and miss the playoffs again?
Pesonally, given reasonably equal money, I would take the colllege job at an elite school any day. If you put the work in, you can build a stable winning program to give you job security. The constant influx of kids gives you tons of teaching to do (if you actually like player development, which I would hope a coach would). And with no league rules put in place to beat you back to mediocrity, you can theoretically win every year, only limited by your own abilities. Yeah, you're not in the NFL, but you're making millions coaching football in front of 100K people every week. Does it matter?
January 19th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
I can argue that college coaches have it more difficult simply because of the year-round chore of recruiting. At least the NFL coaches can take two or three months off after the season ends.