In Defense of Jim Harbaugh

Sometimes you get stomped. It's good for the soul. This team will finish 10-3.

He can certainly defend himself. But he doesn't need defending because he is not on the hotseat. Regardless of what he decides to do with personnel he will never be fired from here.

That being said, you are wrong on several counts.

"No coach is going to win every game not Saban, Swinney, Meyer, Franklin, Fisher, or Harbaugh."

Saban and Meyer are in a class by themselves. Franklin has a lot more to prove still (although this could very well be the year he joins that club if things go right for them). I don't know why you are even bringing this up though because no one is asking Harbaugh to win every game. If we could just beat OSU and win a Big Ten Championship (like Franklin) for the first time in 13+ years the fans would burn down the town in celebration. Michigan fans are not delusional for pointing out that Harbaugh does not yet have a signature win. It's disappointing.

"No longer do you have a handful of major college programs that carry the bulk of the limelight and big games for college football."

Alabama and OSU would like a word with you.

Harbaugh was brought in to win the Big Ten, beat OSU, and make the playoffs. Until he does that there will always be critics believing he can't do it. Especially SEC-loving trolls. But why on earth are you listening to Ol' Petey anyway?

 

Not in defense of Jim Harbaugh.

He needs to cut out the Country Club...trips to Rome bullshit. 

That breeds Entitlement...and this team has accomplished SHIT.

It puts a Target on his and the teams back in the national media...and makes him and the program a laughing stock across the country when they fail.

The team does not deserve the reward, nor that type of underserved hype and publicity.

Look at the talent on this team....

Look at how they are underachieving, not taking coaching well...wilting under the slightest pressure

THAT is on Jim Harbaugh.  He has become SOFT and is running a Country Club Program.

Had enough of that with Hoke.  Its not getting any better.

He had better get back to basics....5 man sled for the OL.... tackling dummies for the defense.

Fire his underachieving coaching staff buddies and his son too.

Fuck the trips overseas.  This team should not be rewarded with that kind of posh lifestyle.

That is the way it is...and you know it.

Jim Harbaugh has become SOFT and Pampered and it shows in how the team plays.

Fuck the Podcasts too.. Jim.  Its time to get tough.

Thanks for the effort, but the guy needs no defense.

He is a great coach, and he is ours, peroid. How do we use this beat down for improvement is the question.  JH will figure out way.

We still need a few more players to compete with an offense of the caliber we faced Saturday.

It's as simple as this: people have high expectations BECAUSE of Jim Harbaugh. Our team is not great right now because we have no depth. If our last 2 years were middling, people wouldn't be as pissed as they are now. No other coach who would coach Michigan would be doing better. He does not need defending, we will be fine. Our expectations were only so damn high because we're lucky enough to have Jim here.

OL and QB would be the least of our concerns, instead they are the reasons we are struggling.

Here, here!

I 100% agree with everything. Not every team can win every game every year. There are definitely going to be years where we have “growing pains “ and this is one of them. Not many people can run a program like Nick Satan. But if anyone can do that for our program it’s the guy we have here now. Is it going to happen this year. No. But if we are lucky enough to keep him around a long enough time...I truly think he gets us into the playoffs.
Lastly, I think he will make the right adjustments. With coaching. And as always with players. I’m sure there are armchair QBs who will tout their higher football IQ than JH. But I think most of us on here know that some internet slappie doesn’t hold more credibility than our head coach with all the above credentials. No one knows this team and loves this team better than our coach. No one wants to win more than him. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Not to defend Finebaum, but his latest remarks have not been to say that JH is a mediocre coach, or not a good coach. He’s saying that basically the honeymoon is over and so the meter is running on Harbaugh. He figures Harbaugh will only put up with banging his head against the OSU wall (and now PSU) and dealing with the impatient UM institution for so long before he decides to bolt for the NFL again. The only mitigating factor would be potential lack of team control in the NFL, which may be negotiable.

All of those coaches you named except for Franklin have either been to the CFP or won a National Championship. This fanbase has gotten so soft I swear. Let people vent and get their frustrations out and then move onto the next week. Are people not supposed to be frustrated? Are fans not supposed to get upset having a horrible offense that can only throw for 60 yards a game? Nobody wants Harbaugh fired, dumb ignorant fans will just blow hot air because they are just throwing a fit. People are passionate about Michigan football and are sick of being Mediocre. I have been alive long enough to see Michigan be successful in the 80s and 90s. The way this Michigan team has performed the past 10 years is unacceptable.

Nothing against the OP, but we shouldn't even need threads like these. It's like being back in the Hoke and RR era. Harbaugh is neither one of those guys. He will get us back on top again.

Elite coaches win in year 3.

These comments anymore. I don't know why we have to handle JH with kid gloves and continue to prop him up. 

If the MSU game didn't remove the sheen from him, Saturday night sure did. 

I understand the team lost a lot. I get it. But you want to see really good, strong signs that they will be a championship-level team in 2019, when everyone has been saying how incredible they will be. Have we had ANY of that this year? Wins against pretty bad teams, and two pretty bad losses. The offense is SO far behind the times, are they suddenly going to be a top 25 unit next year? Don't see it.

And yeah the defense is good. But Penn State made them look like a JV team.

I like how you titled the thread “in defense of” and then the first sentence of your 30,000 word post says it is unnecessary.

Good work

I still believe Harbaugh is the right guy, because let's face it: if he can't bring this program back, then I don't think anyone can. At that point we're just Nebraska 2.0. We saw what he did at Stanford in four years. What he did in the NFL. There is zero reason he can't do that here. 

I'm all for patience right now, but he needs results. Real results, like beating really good teams on the road. Or beating OSU. Next year will be his fourth year, "his guys" will start to become upperclassmen, and let's take a look at what each other powerhouse coach is doing, or has done, in their fourth year at their current stop:

Saban - 10-3. Saban's one "down year," which was still a double digit win season sandwiched in between two national championships.

Meyer - 12-1, probably should've been in the playoff

Dantonio - 11-2. Got exposed by Alabama in the Capital One Bowl, but 11 wins is 11 wins. 

Fisher - 14-0. National Championship

Franklin - currently 7-0, probably not finishing the regular season any worse than 11-1, with a very real chance of making the playoff even if he loses to OSU. 

For everyone saying "wait till next year," the schedule does Michigan no favors next year. On the road for all three rivals. My point is that I'm happy to give him more time, but at some point, "wait till next year" needs to become "look at what we've done this year." Harbaugh is getting $9 million a year. For that kind of money there should be better results. 

OP & Maizen in their own thread about the current state of Michigan football.  All we can do is read and upvote/down vote.  That would be some great stuff.

Don't want to start a new thread but Clay Travis (Fox Sports Radio - Outkick the Coverage) has been spewing that "Jim Harbaugh is the most overrated coach in modern CFB history"

I normally like Travis' show but he is being a troll about this and it is annoying.

His key points:

1. Paid $9M per year and expected to deliver results like Saban and Meyer

2. Same record as Brady Hoke through same number of games

3. Can't finish better than 3rd in his own division

4. 6-5 in his last 11 games

5. Will go 8-4 this year

6. Still doesn't have a QB

I am not thrilled with the last three weeks and there are some issues here but calling Harbaugh "the most overrated coach in modern CFB history" makes Travis look like a stupid troll.

Counter points:

1. No reasonable person expected Harbaugh to compete for championships right away considering the tire fire he inherited. Meyer and to a lesser extent, Saban, inherited much better situations. The fact that we were a bad spot away from making the CFP last year put us ahead of schedule. Harbaugh produced back-to-back 10 win seasons with players who won 12 games in the two years prior.

2. Seriously? Hoke got off to a good start but immediately fell off a cliff right at this point. If he had maintained that level of performance, he would still be the coach at Michigan. We have 18 starters returning next year and the last 2 recruiting classes were loaded so this program is trending upward.

3. Uhhh, hands down the toughest division in CFB. It's not like the Big 10 West or ACC Coastal.

4. Ok. Lost a tough night game on the road to a very good Iowa team. Hosed by the refs in OT as OSU. Lost by 1 point to FSU (in Florida). Monsoon game vs. MSU. Debacle against PSU.

5. Every knowledgable and reasonable person could look at the roster and  Hoke's disastrous 2014 and 2015 recuiting and see that 2017 was going to be a challenging year. The beat down we gave Florida in the opener artificially raised expectations. Once again, we have 18 starters returning next year.

6. Yeah - no shit and this needs to be fixed. Of course, our starting QB was knocked out for the year. FSU lost their QB and have been a tire fire since then (they are 2-4). Does that make Jimbo Fischer overrated? 

I don't want to give any clicks, but here is the link if you want to hear for yourselves:

 

https://foxsportsradio.iheart.com/featured/outkick-the-coverage-with-clay-travis/content/2017-10-23-the-most-overrated-coach-in-modern-cfb-history/ 

Harbaugh is a good coach, but he has his flaws. He's arrogant to a fault, stubbornly insisting on doing things his way, even when the evidence on the field suggests otherwise. The halftime adjustments agains MSU and PSU were abyssmal. Also, where are slant routes and other quick routes? All the passing routes seem to take forever to develop, and the OL isn't capable of blocking well enough for that kind of passing game at this point. 

Another thing that bothers me, is with all of the athletes and quickness this team has on offense, the insistence on running a pro style doesn't end up using these advantages much. Insert a bit of spread in there. Did you see how dynamic PSU's offense was? That's what we're capable of if we diversify.

I think at the end of the year, Drevno and Hamilton are going to have to go away for this team to build on the potential we have. 

I love Jim and want him to be our coach for a long time, but the man better start producing. I know the QB situation is awful right now and the team is young, which is why I'm giving him a pass this season. 2018 and 2019 should be stellar years, assuming the QB situation is under control.

Harbaugh isn't a mediocre coach.  He is just arguably the fourth best coach in the big ten east.

This season is pretty ugly and it starts with the fans more than with the team or the staff. Fools deluding themselves into vastly unrealistic expectations based on little more than some arbitrary notion of 'what to expect in year 3'. The same fools then come on message boards to have childish temper tantrums about what they believe they're entitled to expect 'in year 3'. It's a sad affair and really the negativity that so many fans bring makes you wonder about our fanbase really. 50th in the country in cheering for the team, always top 5 in complaining about it.

He's weird and overrated? I'm rooting for him but it's getting harder and harder.

I still believe JH is the right man for the job but he needs to fire Drevno Hamilton and his son and evolve into a modern scheme. Zone read no huddle dual threat. Until we do that I’m afraid we are stuck waiting for a messiah QB that may never show.