September 5th, 2018 at 3:22 PM ^
Water is wet
September 5th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
If you have to publicly announce he is not on the hot seat, then the seat has already started to get warm.
September 5th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
Depending on how it's stated... If someone asked, and he said "LOL no", then no.
If a president or AD feels the need to go out of his/her way to make an announcement, then yes.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:16 PM ^
No reason for JH to be on the hot seat. Only been one game. But if he goes 8-4 this year and at the end of year 5 still hasn't beaten OSU, then he should be gone.
You can pay a lot of other coaches a lot less than $8,000,000 a year to go 8-4 and lose year in and year out to OSU.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^
Harbaugh and Hoke have almost identical records at this point in their UM careers.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
Harbaugh and Carr have almost identical records at this point in their UM Career...
Carr: 29-8
Harbaugh: 28-10
for fun:
Gary Moeller: 28-8
Some statistics are useless.
September 5th, 2018 at 6:19 PM ^
Harbaugh's record is 28-12. The problem is, it was 28-8 4 games ago. Folks don't like 4 game losing streaks.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:00 PM ^
"But if he goes 8-4 this year and at the end of year 5 still hasn't beaten OSU, then he should be gone. "
Yes, because coaching changes have served us well.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
Our most successful seasons in the past decade came immediately after Coaching changes. 2011, 2015,2016. Hell, even carrs title was his third year.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
Great point! We should be changing coaches every year, since that is clearly the ticket to long term, sustained success.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:26 PM ^
Followed by smoldering craters as the recruiting fallout from the transitions hit 4 years later (like this year)
September 5th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
Our most successful seasons in the past decade came immediately after Coaching changes. 2011, 2015,2016. Hell, even carrs title was his third year.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:58 PM ^
We cannot keep changing coaches every damn 4 years. Just can’t. That’s a crucial reason why we are where we are.
September 5th, 2018 at 6:56 PM ^
It's exactly right. This blog is full of a bunch of Michigan haters and then the real Michigan fans read this stuff and pretty soon everyone is drinking the koolaid. There is no reason to fire Jim Harbaugh. The reason this team isn't winning on the field is 99% of the time player execution. Oh no one wants to blame the players because they're college kids and young adults. That's wrong. No it's not wrong to call a spade...a spade. Why don't all of you clowns get on your social media accounts and start putting the word out to see if there is any big name coach who thinks he could come in and undercut Jim Harbaugh for the same or less money while doing a better job. No one wants to coach at Michigan because Bo made it so expectations are unrealistic there and then they'd have to deal with all you morons.( Not talking about you Leon) You guys have a Michigan man who's improved team laid an egg last Saturday. Blame the coaches all you want. They aren't out on the field fucking up. Watch Bama sometime. They don't do anything special ever. They have good players but do you know what they do? They fucking execute and they dont do bonehead shit in games that you should already know to do or not to do when you are a freshman in high school. I love this team but I'm just saying it how it is.
September 5th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
Totally agree.
September 5th, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^
Can't be paying top dollar for Central Michigan type results. Yes, even our savior, Saint James Joseph Harbaugh needs to be held accountable.
September 5th, 2018 at 7:45 PM ^
You are an idiot.
September 5th, 2018 at 7:46 PM ^
I don’t mean to pick on you specifically, but rather this take that because he’s paid a lot he has a shorter leash and/or “must” succeed faster. He’s paid what he’s paid because that is his market value. If Michigan fires him this year, he would 100% have NFL head coach offers waiting for him for next season. That doesn’t happen for coaches that don’t know what they’re doing.
Also for anyone saying he needs to win at least X games or he should be fired, that is a mouth-breathing shitbird take unless you have the name of someone who A) Michigan could realistically hire and B) Has a high likelihood of doing better than Harbaugh. If such a candidate exists, I don’t know who it is.
September 5th, 2018 at 8:19 PM ^
So your logic is because the last two, and potentially three, coaching changes haven't paid dividends that we should just settle for paying a guy (what was at the time I believe the second highest salary in CFB) $8,000,000 to go 8-4 and lose to his rivals?
What needs to stop is talking about how Harbaugh has just missed on beating teams. The punt at home agains MSU. The questionable spot against OSU. The rain debacle last year against MSU. Eventually, like Bill Parcells said, you are what you are. You are what you record is. JH record is that he beats teams that he should, but has a hard time beating teams that are his equal or better. Essentially, his record says he cannot beat teams his equal or better.
That is his record. That is his story. Can he change the narrative, sure as heck he can, but it doesn't look promising.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:19 PM ^
Remember when Dabo Swinney was on the Hot Seat at Clemson? Sometimes it takes time.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
Ha. Here we go again! I feel Brian's pain.
Remember every coach that was on the hot seat that eventually got fired? Sometimes all the time in the world doesn't matter.
(To clarify, that doesn't mean he should be fired. But come on - this is a dumb take).
September 5th, 2018 at 7:13 PM ^
Yeah, sometimes it just takes time (and a prolific college QB, beasty O line and all world D line).
There's more to it than time
September 5th, 2018 at 7:31 PM ^
I remember that he led the Tigers to the ACC Championship in his third year. I see that in year four Clemson went 11-2. Are you suggesting that Michigan will win the B1G this year?
September 5th, 2018 at 8:23 PM ^
BorninAnnArbor, your post is complete fabrication. I follow Clemson and Dabo has never been on the hotseat. Ever. There was question initially about his hiring in the first place, but he was and has never been on the hotseat.
September 5th, 2018 at 6:16 PM ^
I don't know man, RR and Hoke were 8-4 or better only twice in 7 combined seasons. And most thought we found the holy grail with RR. Call my gun-shy but I cringe a little at the thought of booting Harbaugh for somebody "better".
September 5th, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
Well, one thing that we can say is we will never know if RR could have succeeded in Ann Arbor. He was railroaded by many inside and outside the program. That is well documented. We can thank many "Michigan Men" for helping self destruct Michigan football in the RR era.
September 5th, 2018 at 8:53 PM ^
Wow. So that’s what you believe? A guy who was NEVER going to field a defense that could even slow down any team with a heartbeat, which is certainly a proven fact now BTW, he fired the Casteel rube you probably thought was the missing piece, was railroaded by Michigan? We just needed to give that fucking hillbilly more time & patience? He can’t find a coaching job. His greatest season ever isn’t good enough to make Harbaughs top 5.
Given only 2 choices right now today. RR or Hoke. I’d take Hoke. He won’t sexually harass anyone working for him and without Brandon hanging over his head he’d probably hire the coordinators to get it done. All while recruiting better than RR, except at Runnerback and slot midget, and running a cleaner & less controversial program.
I could make a list of 40 coaches better than RR. We should thank our lucky stars we got away from him when we did. We now know exactly who & what he is.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:28 PM ^
He was at an event and was asked a question by a reporter, unless I'm reading this wrong. That is to be expected as he won't just ignore the question or that leads to speculation.
As such I wouldn't read anything into it other than his honest answer.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:19 PM ^
Funny you’re getting downvoted, when we say this exact thing about every other coach any time it comes up.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:27 PM ^
He didn't put out a press release on the matter. He just answered a question at the event (laughing it off).
September 5th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^
No, it hasn’t.
He was asked a question, and he gave an answer.
September 5th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
Yea wth? If president is making these comments then there is good pressure. Sucks. We need continuity not replacing coaches every 4 years. Come on. Give harbaugh 4 more years. Ridiculous.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
He was asked, laughed and said no. What do you want him to say? Nothing? Then it will look REALLY bad.
September 5th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
Damn. The fact that he felt he had to say it is not good. Agreed it's ridiculous but that he thought it was necessary is bit troubling.
September 5th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
Article makes it sound like he got asked sort of off the cuff about all the furor on social media following Saturday's disappointment. His response was to laugh at the idea, so that sounds more positive to me.
Bottom line, the fanbase needs to get a fucking grip.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:05 PM ^
Nice to see that the adult in charge has some perspective and levity on the matter. We all want to win all the games but that will rarely if ever happen and there are more important things.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
There are some cracks starting to form among three factions. So, just the fact that a statement was made means they are addressing this one.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
athletic department, boosters, and .... board?
September 5th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^
MGO Board late Saturday and Sunday.
Everyone has pretty much settled down but the game fuckin sucked. I'd expect fans to be pissed.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:20 PM ^
Is one of those factions Braylon Edwards? Because he doesn't get a fucking vote.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
Your post is simultaneously depressing and frightening. I wonder if one of the factions is led by a former coach and his players and whether they want another Hoke put in charge.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:13 PM ^
Uh what..? Unless one of the factions is angry message board posters then this is concerning. I don't see how anyone could seriously argue for firing Harbaugh right now.
September 5th, 2018 at 7:46 PM ^
This is completely unrelated to this thread but I’m just going to ask here. How injured is/was Steuber? Did he ever make a push for LT or are we just stuck with Runyan, Mayfield or bust?
September 5th, 2018 at 9:11 PM ^
Crack one faction - national media
Crack two faction - fan base
Crack three faction ... RISK losing the players and recruits
If we lose the current players and recruits under a strong coach like Harbaugh, then this program is forever fucked. Who would ever want to coach or play football in AA? This fan base needs to stop the stupid shit and rally behind the team. I just don't get this arrogance out there for public consumption from well educated UM grads. It is one thing to be negative on a message board like this, but attacking players and coaches directly via Twitter is just irresponsible and ignorant.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:20 PM ^
Some solid analysis right there. Man laughed off the question during an event at which his sole purpose is to answer questions.
September 5th, 2018 at 6:27 PM ^
Meh. People are overreacting to one game. If this season winds up in the 8-4 range, there will be plenty of other disasters to react to and plenty of misery to express. If the team is better, the mood will be better. People are getting waaaaaay carried away and if he got asked a question and answered it I don't really care much about it.
This is not Schlissel issuing a public statement covering for a coach who is 4-4 with a must-win coming up in Columbus. It's one tough road loss.
I don't think this means anything at all.
September 5th, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
Michigan is not going to fire Jim Harbaugh. If Jim Harbaugh does not believe that this team can be a legit BIG contender in the near future, he will probably leave of his own volition.
September 5th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
You have managed to become one of my least favorite posters in one afternoon.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^
You ask to speak to the manager when there isn't ketchup on your table at a restaurant. I'll guarantee that.