How Jim Harbaugh made Michigan a national power once again
An interesting article on Harbaugh's genius in gaining national attention for the Michigan football program, and increasing the recruiting footprint.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14993834/how-jim-harbaug…
A few quotes:
According to Repucom's Celebrity Davie-Brown Index (DBI), which measures and qualifies celebrity influence and relevance both locally and worldwide, Harbaugh is unmatched by his peers. The index, which features more than 7,000 celebrities, doesn't include every FBS coach, but Harbaugh's Celebrity DBI score of 54.24 ranks higher than Ohio State's Urban Meyer (45.31) and Alabama's Nick Saban (44.37).
Hoke also signed the nation's No. 6 recruiting class in 2013, but his approach was more regional. The 2013 class had 17 prospects from Ohio or Michigan, and only four from outside the Big Ten footprint, including top-rated recruit Derrick Green (Virginia). Hoke signed only two California recruits and three Florida recruits in four classes.
It wasn't a victory. The point is if you're going to say that we almost to lost to Indiana and Minnesota then MSU was almost a win based on the same logic. All three games could have gone both directions if a few things happened. Minnesota and Indiana were outright wins and MSU was an outright loss at the end of the day.
This is a good point, and I almost listed the MSU game in the "positives" section, but a loss is a loss (although I'm 100% in the camp of "we controlled that whole game"). My reasoning for including Minn and IU was that being a "national power," we would beat those teams (especially Indiana) more easily. I know OSU didn't exactly do so, but I think a team like Alabama, the team I think of first with the use of the phrase "national power" definitely would. But the wins are wins, and I may have undervalued the context of Minnesota playing their hearts out for Jerry Kill. But we are definitely on the right trajectory!
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"A win is a win" was the battle cry of MSU all year as they looked bad in sneaking past inferior opponents, and they still got to play in the playoff. Alabama and OSU have both had to pull games out at the end in the past couple of seasons against teams that, on paper, they should have pummeled. The media doesn't question their status as a "National Power," but will give them credit because good teams find a way to win. I am still not saying that Michigan is there quite yet, but in no way am I going to hold the IU and Minnesota games against them. Win is a win.
is now" The Steel/Steal Bowl'
.Steel in the spine going forward is better than whining about "the steal" going backward......
and Jim Harbaugh had a better first season than Nick Saban had at Alabama and Urban Meyer had at Florida.
March 21st, 2016 at 10:32 PM ^
Meyer at Florida 65-15 (2 National Championships)
Meyer at OSU 50-4 (1 National Championship)
Saban at LSU 48-16 (1 NationalChampionship)
Saban at Bama 100-18 (4 National Championships)
Maybe Harbaugh should just try to beat Dantonio first.
He was an All-American quarterback and played in the NFL for years after being drafted in the first round by THAT Bears team two months after THAT Superbowl. Not to knock Harbaugh's coaching record, which you can put against most any other guy in the profession on its own, but remember the sports world has been hearing Jim Harbaugh's name now for 34 years, and that, more than rebuilding Stanford and taking the 49ers to the Superbowl, is why Harbaugh's so well known.
"His pedigree both as a player and a coach gives him some leeway for some of his more radical ideas," said Ryan Stayton, a student manager at Michigan in the late 1990s who earned two degrees from the school. "People are going to give him the benefit of the doubt because he came in with a savior moniker already attached."
If we're honest with ourselves, this helps out a lot, our familiarity as a fanbase with Jim Harbaugh and who he has always been basically. It adds a bit to the time and place component of his arrival here, or rather, the notion that he would be the man to stop Michigan from diving into irrelevancy, as we all feared it would do immediately after 2014's conclusion. Personally, I think what he's done - the camps, utilizing social media, the willingness to put himself out there and so on - is wonderful and last year we saw the start of the corresponding uptick in football performance.
We aren't back, until we beat MSU and OSU (and preferably ND or other nationally prominent teams) when they are not having down years.
That hasn't happened in a long time, and it needs to f'ing happen again.
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you are allowed to have down years now and then.
We are moving in the right direction, but not back; not in any consistent way.
Same here. The people saying Michigan hasn't really proved anything yet are correct. But some shit is going to be proven in 2016.
I'm with you.....the difference in performance from the Utah game to what they did to the Gators was night and day. In Year 1 Harbaugh took a great D and made them dominant (until injury decimated the front 4) and elevated the O from a laughing stock to a dangerous multifaceted system. There is nothing in the Year 1 perfomance (save OSU but I give that a pass because Durkin) that leads me to believe we will have a Hoke slide with Harbaugh as the OBC.
toot, toot, MF'ers.
Can't we all just agree to a nice conservative, positive outlook? Something to the effect of...
We're going to be better today than we were yesterday. I think I heard that from someone, somewhere...
In my opinion, this kind of statement exemplifies the real value of Harbaugh. While the media and the veritable bag of mixed nuts that is a portion of the fan base go absoultely crazy over arguments like whether "we're back" or when we "will be back," real success isn't measured like this--and Harbaugh knows it.
Perhaps we can all just take a deep breath, trust that Harbaugh's process is working (which for me is the huge difference between Rich-Rod/Hoke and Harbaugh) and enjoy the results that will follow. To hell if the media and fans think we're back, we're gone, we're out to lunch, we're out of our minds, or we're at the pub. Who cares? (I would hazard to suggest that if it truly does matter, there are identity issues that might need addressing).
Get better today than you were yesterday and you see improvedc practices, improved proficiency, improved results on game day, and an improved overall record. Let people 10 years from now debate whether we're back or not.
March 22nd, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^
my thoughts exactly.
in East Lansing!
Consistently butthurt over even the tiniest reservation about Michigan being the bestest in the universe and always displaying gigantic indignation if MSU isn't bashed each and every time it's mentioned. It's insufferable a lot of times.
Speak for yourself. Even if we beat MSU by 30 and won the national title, there would still be people that would defend them. They get mad when we post about something bad happening to them by saying we should only talk about Michigan but then post about why we aren't giving Dantonio credit when they do something.
Read the article. The author never claims Michigan to be a National Power. He simply comments on Harbaugh's ability to take Michigan's "brand" national by thinking outside of the box and dominating all media.
The headline is almost never written by the author. I doubt this one was either since that's not the author's claim at all.
No need to hold any horses, singular or plural. Free the horses.
but Adam Rittenberg just always seems wrong to me.
When he criticizes Michigan, I typically think he's wrong.
When he praises Michigan (like this article), I think he's wrong.
The guy just has some knack for being wrong.
I also get the feeling from his writing, most of the time, that he doesn't like Michigan.
I like the goal to "get better every day." I believe the team is headed in the right direction. But until we are beating MSU regularly, and competing fiercly with OSU, winning some and losing some, we're not really there. And yeah, it grinds my gears to hear OSU fans say it, but so far, we haven't proven a thing, and Harbaugh hasn't won the final championship . . . not at Stanford, or Michigan, or the 49's, or anywhere else.
Harbaugh has been in terrible positions to win championships until Michigan. Stanford and SF were bottom dwellers until he got there and he still won the orange bowl and a NFC title.
He creates spotlight opportunities and takes advantage. But, it is true that he has yet to reach the levels we are confident he can reach. Harbaugh has not yet surpassed Hoke's first year. People will try rationalize that away, but it's a fact. If 2016 is not better than 2015, the press will be all over him.
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Harbaugh won two league championships at San Diego.
It doesn't mean shit to me, but if you feel inferior because Harbaugh didn't win the NFL Superbowl, maybe this will help you. He won the league and beat the Northeast Conference champion in the Gridiron Classic in 2006. That was as final a championship as he could have achieved at that level and he won it.
So there you go. Now you can believe in Harbaugh. (eyeroll)
Interesting factoid in the article by people who attempt to measure such things: Jim harbaugh is the most famous coach in all of college sports.
More than Meyer and Saban. More than Krzyzewski. More than everybody.
That has to be pretty good for recruiting.
John U. Bacon approves of the title. (jk Bakes!)
I think this article is a nice, warm 30,000 foot view for the national fan and for the casual follower of college sports and football. The level to which folks here follow the team makes such a piece seem incredibly pedestrian but when you are out there ...amongst the unwashed masses and MICHIGAN comes up, the reply is almost always Harbaugh-related and never with any truly evaluative commentary.
It's just that Harbaugh has the nation paying attention (again ) to MICHIGAN and in the context of a "national power" in terms of headlines moreso than wins and losses..
Harbaugh is miles ahead of Brady Hoke in every aspect of the coaching profession, but if at least like to win a bcs bowl before everyone crowns us.
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Dont we have to win something before we're considered a national power?
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