Relentless! Absolutely relentless. It is what it is, for a myriad of reasons — some past, some present, and some even concerning the future. However, one of those reason is unequivocally NOT (as you and your ultra-negative cohort seem intent upon pushing) that Harbaugh ain’t got it, lost it, is being outworked, etc. The Jimmy’s and Joe’s haven’t lined up yet. It happens. Sometimes coaches take over sinking programs and they’ve got everything in place, other times (like with Harbaugh at Stanford) they luck into a great QB situation (pun intended) and the timetable is accelerated. Remember, OSU was NOT sinking, it was cruising and winning at an historic rate PRIOR to Meyer. THAT is what we’re up against. Comparing teams like you insist upon doing is a fools errand — just to be clear, yes, I’m calling you a fool! We’ve endured the horror, the darkness, and the bungling, but the way some of you speak it’s like you want to jump right back into that nightmare of embarrassment and incompetency. Be VERY careful what you wish for here! Michigan has been playing football for nearl 150 years now. There have been ups and downs, but if you cannot see that the program is trending upward from its recent low, then you’re either blind, pathetically negative, and/or an abject troll. With my gaze on the short term, ie, this season, I’m frustrated as I hate losing. With the eye of a “long term investor” I’m thrilled at the prospects moving forward. When will it be “our time?” I don’t know, and neither does anyone. But, of one thing I’m 100% certain: there’s nobody on the planet better suited for Michigan (at this time) than Jim Harbaugh. You can bitch, people can wring their hands and worry about every little detail, but it is what it is and is success eludes the program it’s because of the hole that was dug by those that preceded this regime. That hole, so you know, took years to dig and will take at least as much time to crest. If there is one thing I’d ask is for you to escheat your relentless negativity. It’s not “keeping it real,” it’s a pathetic amalgam of entitlement, unrealistic expectations, shortsightedness, and frankly, immaturity. You don’t realize it, but you’re actually doing harm to the thing that you claim to love. Let’s all get behind this program and enjoy the journey. Go Blue!

“The talent [at Michigan] is overwhelming.” Your acceptance of this statement is, unfortunately, the reason why the tone of your post (and I’m assuming your outlook/sentiment of the Michigan football program) is quite grim. Is the talent, in fact, overwhelming? When I look around the country I see two or three programs with talent that is not only significantly better, but also deeper, than any other of the other program’s. it just so happens that Michigan’s path to the B10 East runs straight through one of those two programs. Michigan is TRYING to get (back) to the point where it has such talent, but as is clear with QB play this year, it’s not there yet. As such, I think this false premise sets you up for continual disappointment — basically, you think Michigan SHOULD be better than it is, and because it’s not it’s somehow underachieving. While I feel disappointed in 2017 as well, my fundamental stance on the “talent” is that it’s not there yet, so I tend to understand the lack of performance. “Coach Harbaugh makes what? 9 million? Get the job done.” What difference does his salary make? Would you feel better about 8-5 if he were only making $3M? Do you grasp the concept that someone (often times?) investments like coach Harbaugh’s salary take time to mature, or to “come into the money” so to speak? If Coach were a new CEO, his first task is to stop the free fall of the stock price and start to rebuild the workforce to compete again. Michigan’s stock was falling fast — we were losing to Maryland, Rutgers, and Minnesota, let alone MSU and OSU. That’s stopped. The only game that Harbaugh has lost that in that capacity is Iowa last year. But, after watching what Iowa did to OsU this year, it doesn’t look as bad — both games were very costly. So to my mind, he is getting the job done — at least the first part of his job. A ludicrously overly simplified statement of, “win” completely glosses over the steps in the process to make that simple statement a reality. Every accomplishment comes with new, and ever more ambitious goals. Next on the list, develop the young talent on the roster, while continuing to build depth with new high level recruits. Again, he’s doing that. Obviously, that process didn’t translate to the field in the biggest games, but that’s understandable given the stage the process. “No more excuses.” Who is making excuses? Certainly not Coach! Besides, this idea that ANY mitigate or causative factor is an exsuse, is again ludicrous oversimplification. An excuse is blaming something that is unquantifiable, and even if true, is not really the reason things didn’t go as planned. For example, proffering that the reason for getting a F in a class as, “the professor didn’t like me” is an excuse. Even if one knew, for a fact, i.e., they told you to your face, that they didn’t like you, to fail someone simply based upon personal preference is wildly unprofessional. More likely, they didn’t like you because you weren’t a good student in their class, and the failing grade was a reflection of your not accomplishing the level of mastery/analysis they expected. Analyzing the 2017 roster and suggesting a “down year” isn’t an excuse — it was expected and quite understandable. “No schedule it too hard. No 1st year position Coach excuses.” I’ve not heard Coach offer any excuses, least of all these. “It's time to win.” Or else what? Would you fire Harbaugh? And hire whom? Do you honestly think that there’s another coach out there who is just so much better than Harbaugh WITHOUT a top job already. The list of coaches who are such significantly better coaches than Harbaugh (saying nothing of what Michigan means to them and they to Michigan) that you’d fire JH to hire him has to have only two names on it. I agree, I want to win and win consistently and if 2018 was the seminal season in a long run of championships, I’d do backflips. But, again, what if it isn’t. What if it’s 2019, or 2020? Would your impatience buy Michigan a ticket on to the coaching carrousel? Who, besides those two, would want to come to Michigan after is home town hero came in and couldn’t live up to the expectations? “If not, the country will rightfully label this Era and Coach Harbaugh as sham to what was labeled and celebrated as 99% fresh off the boat Colombian just a few years ago.” The “hype” was not from Coach himself. He made no grand promises and predictions other than hard work. The hype was from the media and fan expectings — both of which are renowned for their irrationality, superficiality, and short-sightedness. “First and second year coaches are winning more.with less all over the country.” Like who? Name me one 1st or 2nd year coach who has expectations that are as high as those at Michigan, and who has be beat programs like PSU, MSU, and OSU just have a chance to win it’s conference. Oops, there I go, making excuses. But think about what Michigan has to do to accomplish its first goal of winning the B10 East. There’s nobody else, and certainly not a 1st or 2nd coach, who’s out performaing Michigan under Harbaugh unless you’re looking at a lesser conference. I suspect this is the grass being greener sysndrom. Everyone else is out having fun while you’re at home bored. Yeah, not so much. What Michigan is trying to accomplish — out competing perhaps the single most (certainly top) successful CFB program of the last 10-15 years — is NOT easy, and from where Michigan was (losing to the also rans and struggling with MAC teams) is NOT going to happen as fast as you obviously desire. “No more excuses. People with these excuses can ship themselves to Bolivia instead of the Michigan fans demanding accountability and return on the University investment.” You speak of accountability. I get it. You want Harbaugh to think about you, about how frustrated you are, how you’re tired of losing to MSU and OSU. Since you brought up investments, this is not an active trade Michigan is making. Meaning, it’s not looking to buy low and cash out higher. This is a buy and hold, and reinvest the dividend investment, more akin to an annuity. They’re in it for the long haul. I promise you, if you were to ask AD Ward and the decision makers, they’d tell you that as long as Harbaugh doesn’t have debacle seasons, the Big House stays full, and progress is being made, Harbaugh will be given as much time as he needs to build the program back up to elite status. THAT is their investment. I get that it’s not fast enough for you and others. I don’t want it to go slowly either. But, unlike you, I think the “excuses” have merit, and that over the long haul (look how long Sweeney was at Clemson before they were contenders) Michigan will be back — as long as impatient people aren’t allowed to make shortsighted decisions.