What makes people think Harbaugh would take the job?
I see a lot of RichRod's detractors saying that we should fire him and hire Harbaugh, but are there strong reasons to believe that he would come here?
Not sure how many people have been to Palo Alto, but a friend of mine taught there for a while and I can tell you. . . it is one beautiful, warm place. They probably have the money to match us, and the pressure on Harbaugh is relatively light there. (Coming from a small private school he only has to be good, not win regular championships.) I'm not saying that he wouldn't be interested, but I don't see it as a gimme.
It may well be, for that matter, that Brandon has some real knowledge about Harbaugh's interest. . . I'm not opposed to his coming, btw, should RichRod be dismissed, though I don't think a Michigan pedigree should be the deciding factor. Maybe having one of Bo's boys makes some alumni feel warm and fuzzy, but it doesn't necessarily win football games.
November 21st, 2010 at 3:15 AM ^
What makes people think that Michigan would offer Harbaugh the job? Because some segment of the fan base calling for the current coach's head thinks it should? The alum that threw the program and its legendary coach under the bus to suit his own purposes and ingratiate himself with his current employer?
November 21st, 2010 at 4:32 AM ^
RichRod isn't going anywhere.
So the only way Harbaugh is comming here is to be our Defensive Coordinator.
November 21st, 2010 at 8:06 AM ^
Maybe having one of Bo's boys makes some alumni feel warm and fuzzy, but it doesn't necessarily win football games.
Yes, because all Harbaugh has on his resume is being one of "Bo's boys." His resume doesn't have anything about turning a historic joke of a program into the number 6 team in the nation.
November 21st, 2010 at 8:13 AM ^
... and Cal, for that matter...
I graduated from HS and college in No. California. While Stanford has $$$, the alumni base is pretty apathetic to their alma mater's athletic teams. And Stanford v. Cal is the biggest joke of a "big game" there is. The Bay Area has a huge number of Ivy League grads, and you can find just as many people in bars for the Harvard-Yale game as you would for Stanford-Cal.
And on a sidenote - You would be hard pressed to find a more depressing fan base than Cal's. They just dropped a ton of sports, including rugby (Cal had a huge rugby tradition) and baseball.
November 21st, 2010 at 8:48 AM ^
success is not assured for Harbaugh. No one has even convinced me he definitely comes here.
November 21st, 2010 at 9:28 AM ^
Guys, Harbaugh will not take the Michigan job because it will not be open. Can we stop this already?
November 21st, 2010 at 9:38 AM ^
While Brandon's not likely to make a coaching change, Stanford's going to finish the season 11-1 and be shut out of the BCS. There's a decided ceiling at Stanford and Harbaugh's reached it, and I think he knows it.
November 21st, 2010 at 11:33 AM ^
This article is from last year but here is the money quote (from Harbaugh's Dad) about the Michigan job
“I think he’s very, very happy at Stanford and Stanford is where he wants it to be,” Jack Harbaugh said. “But I would say this that still Michigan is the place that he loves, the place that for him was his foundation. It’s where, the five years he spent there, his education there at Michigan and his associations with Bo and the other coaches on the staff, that’s the place that he will always call home.”
His affinity for Michigan along with the fact that Stanford is never going to pay a coach that much and can't sell out games even with a top 10 team (see last week vs Arizona) is why I think he would take the job if offered. With that said its unlikely that RichRod is going anywhere after this season and Harbaugh may move on the the NFL. But what I don't get is why RichRod supporters feel the need to constantly demean Harbaugh, if we need to make a change a year from now, he is really the only clear cut homerun candidate and it can't really be denied that he has done a good job at Stanford. Just an example but his 8-4 year 3 at Stanford included victories over teams like USC and Oregon, while RichRod has yet to beat anyone with a pulse this year (though of course I am extremely hopeful that this will happen next week)
November 21st, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
he is the heir-apparent should Rod go, but just asked the question because I wondered.
November 21st, 2010 at 3:48 PM ^
Yeah I didn't think you specifically were demeaning the guy, but there seems to be this attitude amongst some Rodriguez supporters that anytime anything good gets said about Harbaugh, it's some insult towards Rodriguez. When in reality there is nothing wrong with the notion that Jim Harbaugh is a very good football coach and would probably do a very good job at Michigan, but that Rich Rodriguez is probably going to get another year to make his case (for better or worse).
November 21st, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
Have you been to a Stanford game at Palo Alto? Even in rivalry games, it's barely half full. I'm ALWAYS able to buy tickets when I get there and pick up almost any seats I want. That's why he would leave... nobody at Stanford truly cares about football. Also, if he resurrected Michigan football, he would almost become the next Bo and his massive ego has to love that.
*Disclaimer - I'm a big Jim Harbaugh fan and actually even agreed with his anti-M comments when he made them (and yes I've read Brian's response to that).
November 21st, 2010 at 2:40 PM ^
I'm gonna preface my comment by saying that i'm 100% positive RR will be the coach for next year. But, does anyone have a realistic guess at how much Michigan would pay for Harbough? Would we break out $4M+? I'm a RR supporter and I like his offense, but i cant stand how much his hire has split the fanbase. If anything, I hope a big name hire could at least bring the majority of people (it'll obviously never be 100%, as made clear by the anti-harbough comments in this thread) together again.
November 21st, 2010 at 3:32 PM ^
What makes people think that Harbaugh would do such a great job at Michigan? He's been successful at Stanford recently, but, RR was successful at WVU before he came to Michigan and it's been less than stellar.
November 21st, 2010 at 3:40 PM ^
Harbaugh improved (dramatically) a terrible team in a solid conference. The Big East...well...I think our current team might run through the Big East. It's just that bad.
November 21st, 2010 at 3:42 PM ^
I don't think this will be case, but real the comparison that cause concern would be Ty Willingham. Was pretty succesful at Stanford (at least compared to historical average) and managed to make a Rose Bowl. And I think the argument was when Notre Dame hired him, that he would do even better once he was freed from the restrictions of having to bring players into Stanford. And that didn't really work out at either Notre Dame or Washington. Now I don't think that would be the case, as Harbaugh's team this year is more dominant than anything Willingham ever put together, but success as Stanford doesn't always transfer elsewhere.
November 21st, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^
1. Every Notre Dame coach over the past 30 years has struggled, save Lou Holtz. Maybe it's not that great of a job.
2. Wilingham's trajectory at Stanford was uneven. During his seven years he went 7-4-1, 7-5, 5-6, 3-8, 8-4, 5-6 and 9-3. After his second year, he never managed two consecutive winning seasons. It seems that his one Rose Bowl appearance inflated his reputation more than it probably should been worth.
Harbaugh's résumé is more clearly successful. He went 29-6 at USD, then came to Stanford, where he's improved their record each season (from 1-11 the year before he arrived to 4-8, 5-7, 8-5 and now 10-1). And while nothing is guaranteed, the way he's recruiting suggests that he'll maintain a pretty high level of play in the near future.
November 21st, 2010 at 9:50 PM ^
I agree with every single one of those points. What's more is that Willingham had most his success in a weak Pac-10 in during the Paul Hackett days for USC (when they were awful) and before Oregon had made their leap. Wasn't saying it because I believed it, more floating it as a potential argument one could use.
November 21st, 2010 at 9:11 PM ^
I don't think this even matters, but he has a few reasons to take the job if offered. He played Qb here, dad coached here, loves BO and Michigan, and the Michigan job is a ton better than Stanford. At Stanford the fans don't sell out the games when they have a team that goes to the Rose bowl. Michigan will always sell out. Michigan just has a better football environment.
November 21st, 2010 at 9:49 PM ^
I've heard this from several alums who know the Harbaughs, but this was a year ago. I think RR can eventually get the job done here but we will have to wait until the 2012 season, once the defense improves from poor to good. Though, I think Jim would come right in and fine a way to win even if he had to hire a spread offensive coordinator. I know he would be a great coach and leader. He may also have NFL coaching desires, so how long would he stay here? Brandon will have to figure out what is best for Michigan.
November 23rd, 2010 at 8:21 AM ^
I've heard Jim make comments alot that he sees himself as just a college football coach and not an NFL coach.
Everytime he is interviewed, Bo Schembechler is brought up, which he has the upmost respect for, and you can see he is happy about it, not discouraged.
His dad coached in AA with Bo and Jim grew up going to Pioneer, you know at one point of time he knew he was going to be a coach, and dreamed of coaching here.
He was born in Toldeo, just 45 min. south of AA and can recruit Ohio and Michigan kids, plus sell the fact he can prepare them for the NFL, the list goes on and on.