Harbaugh reaction/Late afternoon Overflow Thread

Submitted by wlubd on
Other thread's getting a little cluttered. On the plus side, it's Friday and drinking sounds much more appealing than getting dong-punched.
Within the realm of reality, where do we go next?

michgoblue

January 7th, 2011 at 5:09 PM ^

If he doesn't want to be here, fine, go to the NFL.  He is entitled.

I know that this is unpopular, but I would be fine with Hoke.  Great recruiter, knows defense, ties to Michigan and the midwest, loves Michigan, would probably bring in guys like Loeffler and Campbell, has turned around two completely shitty programs, probably has developed west coast ties.

Sign me up.

michgoblue

January 7th, 2011 at 5:19 PM ^

Thank you for saying this.  My favorite post in a week.

RR wanted to be here so much he broke down crying at the freeking bust.  He really embraced Michigan.

JH, who everyone said "bleeds Michigan" and "dreams about being here" had a chance.  If reports are to be believed, we offered him more or if not almost exactly as much as the 49ers.  His team is in a bad place now - we needed someone to come in and right the ship, and he knew he could be that guy.  Instead, he turned his back on us, taking the same money for thr 49ers.

I don't begrudge the guy for wanting to stay in the Bay Area - family considerations exist.  But, if those were the only considerations, why was he interviewing for Miami? 

RR = Michigan Man

JH = former great M player, alum

Hobbes

January 7th, 2011 at 5:28 PM ^

This is exactly right.  As Bo used the term, "Michigan Man" meant someone who wanted to be at Michigan and was committed to the school, not someone who was looking around at / had committed to coach another school.  So frustrated at how this term has been twisted and warped.

mtzlblk

January 7th, 2011 at 6:07 PM ^

but seriously, Harbaugh would have to be crazy to come to UM right now. He is the most sought after coach in any league right now, why would he roll some huge dice in coming to Michigan to take over a team in transition and start over, the results of which could very likely make him NOT the most sought after coach very quickly.

FTR - I am ecstatic he is not coming here and yes, it DOES make RR more of a Michigan Man, whatever the hell that means anyway.

03 Blue 07

January 7th, 2011 at 5:36 PM ^

Cosign. My bday was yesterday, and I turned 30. It was a shitty day, even without the whole "turning 30" part of it. Fuck. Fuck. fuck. fuck. Come on, DB.

And cosign the stuff about how much RR wanted to be here. This all makes me a sad panda.

The Harbaughnger

January 7th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^

He didn't have to come here- it's just that by going about it the way he did, he hurt our chances of recovery at such a critical time that the ripple effect could be felt long into the future.

If he cared about UM the way he acted like he did, he would have seen more to this situation than his own options.  This could kill us for a long time.

I'm not even suggesting he didn't earnestly consider us- but he should have made it his priority to publicly accept or decline UM before he did anything else.

That way we could have moved on immediately.  Now we're behind the 8 ball and our remaining options are at best, uninspiring.

MI Expat NY

January 7th, 2011 at 5:20 PM ^

I can only hold it against him if it comes out that he was "officially" approached about the job and said  "yes, I'll take the job if it's open."  If he was asked "we're thinking about making a move, would you be interested if we do fire Rodriguez?"  And he said anything along the lines that he would like to consider NFL openings, then it is on Brandon and not Harbaugh.  

kb

January 7th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^

I personally don't think Harbaugh will be a good pro coach - he's much better suited to coach in college, but I guess he had to take advantage of the swooning over him.  Classic example of clamoring over the flavor of the week.  No worries - we'll still find a solid replacement.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 7th, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^

My rational half is struggling with my hey-look-a-cliff-jumping-is-fun half: Harbaugh probably wanted the challenge of the NFL, for which you can't blame him because there're only 32 of those jobs, they don't all come open every year, and he's at the peak of his drawing power. So good for him. On the other hand, is there really even a good reason to like him right now? First the academics quote and then the Heisman treatment in our darkest hour of need - that is not acting like a Michigan Man, regardless of which coach he happened to once play for.

PurpleStuff

January 7th, 2011 at 5:20 PM ^

I also think Brandon would have been roasted if there was any noise about Michigan going after candidates before Harbaugh was off the table (the dream for many was just too strong).  Now I think we'll start to hear more and things should move pretty quickly, assuming DB actually has a plan. 

Let's not forget Rich was fired two days ago.  If Brandon just had to wait this long for people to realize Harbaugh wasn't a viable option, he probably did himself a favor.

SFBlue

January 7th, 2011 at 5:30 PM ^

There is only one Michigan coaching job, and up until recently, it was something more like a life-time appointment than a coach job.  I understand his decision, but I've lost respect for Harbaugh as a result of it.  Had he let Michigan know earlier that would go to the NFL, this process could have been different. 

Medic

January 7th, 2011 at 5:15 PM ^

And by hilarious I mean terrible. I wonder if all the people clucking about Harbaugh for the last 2 months would have given such impassionated  pleas for RR's head had "the worst case scenario" come to pass. Which is pretty much what we have now. I am guessing no.

So here we are, all prospects with the exception of Patterson are off the table. My guess it would take something extrodinary to pull him away from TCU. People are laughably mentioning Gruden (are you f'ing kidding me?) as a possibility. This whole thing is going to end with Hoke being the coach and a divided fan base once AGAIN, and a guy being assaulted before he ever sets foot on campus. Massive attrition and it's all back to square one.

We are Notre Dame.

Desmonlon Edwoodson

January 7th, 2011 at 5:26 PM ^

Yes, all signs point to Les Miles.

Yes, he acted like a SEC coach when he was coaching in the SEC.

All that is easily fixed.  "Hey Les, you cant do that here, K?" 

"K"

Hold all the grudges you want.  I gaurantee that after a thrown together class this coming year, recruiting is going to be better under Miles than it has been since Carr's glory years.  And Les Miles will not be looking to jump to the pros every year, with all the negative recruiting that welcomes.

Even if we end up with Hoke--he is a good coach.  He will put together a good defense, recruit and build bigger linemen on both sides of the ball, and return Michigan football to pre-Rodriguez status.  I am sorry to those who disagree, but that is far preferable to what we've been subjected to for the last 3 years.

Medic

January 7th, 2011 at 5:29 PM ^

Les Miles has had a horseshoe planted firmly up his ass for 3 years and given our current luck, my guess is that will change once he gets here.

This coaching search is not hard. Send a moving van to Patterson's house and present him with a blank check. Coaching search over!

blueheron

January 7th, 2011 at 5:30 PM ^

"... recruit and build bigger linemen on both sides of the ball ..."

What's wrong with:

* Taylor Lewan

* Omameh

* Martin

* Van Bergen

What's the matter?  Are they too small?  Is that it?  Or, are they not tough enough?  Or, are they just not, somehow, Michigan Men?  Please be vague.

skunk bear

January 7th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^

I'll bet that if the truth be known there was some kind of agreement between Brandon and Harbaugh that Harbaugh backed out of when Harbaugh got so hot and the SF job opened up.

I have no proof of this, but considering how this has played out it seems to make sense.

nickb

January 7th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^

for Michigan. Now they have to compete with Stanford for a coach. They have Luck and a big physical team on both sides of the ball. We have Ninjas. 

Hoke apparently will be the next coach. Here in San Diego the word is Michigan will be declined by others and then turn to Hoke because they know he wants the job badly.