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Sunday, February 6, 2022

On the Return/Non-Departure of Jim Harbaugh

 

Jim Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh came back to Michigan. He did that quite literally by returning from St. Paul, MN, after an interview with the Minnesota Vikings.

I think Jim Harbaugh is such a polarizing figure that anything he does is going to be tweeted out, broadcast, and inspected to an unfathomable degree. This is a guy who took off his shirt at a satellite camp, and the meme has lasted for half a decade.

Picture the headline: MAN TAKES OFF SHIRT.

Shocking.

Hit the jump for more.


This time a guy with a really good job had an interview for another really good job. The guy with the really good job told his employer, his assistants, and his charges that he was open to exploring the other really good job. His interest was broadcast all over the internet, and there's no evidence whatsoever that he denied it even once.

Headline: MAN INTERVIEWS FOR JOB.

I discussed this in my previous post on Harbaugh's dalliance with the NFL, but I don't blame Harbaugh one bit for being interested in the NFL. He played in the NFL for a long time and was good at it. He has the #5 best winning percentage in NFL history. He made the jump from a college program to the NFL and immediately turned that team around and took them to the Super Bowl in his third season. (Ask Matt Rhule, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, and others how difficult it is to go from college to the NFL.)

Michigan is Harbaugh's home, but it's not his only home. Michigan fans have likely been Michigan fans their entire lives. We know nothing else. Harbaugh's dad was a coach who bounced around to different colleges. Harbaugh himself has at various times played and coached for Michigan, the Bears, the Colts, the Raiders, the University of San Diego, Stanford, the 49ers, and Michigan. He belongs to us, but not only to us.

Last week I thought Harbaugh was as good as gone to the Vikings. Personally, I don't see why any struggling NFL team would not pursue him. He's a proven winner. Yes, he comes with some headaches sometimes, but they're not cheating scandals, racism scandals, sexual scandals, etc., the type of thing that can tank a franchise. Sure, maybe some fits are better than others, but he should have been in the running for every opening except Jacksonville, where Trent Baalke somehow has a job.

Some people believe Harbaugh has to smooth over a lot of things with his players and coaches. At the end of the day, this is Michigan fergodsakes. Michigan is always going to get players, and it's always going to get coaches. The constant is Harbaugh at this point. Durkin to Brown to Macdonald. Charlton to Winovich to Uche to Hutchinson. The beat goes on. There are occasional blips (Michigan's whole team in 2020) but they are anomalies that are usually quickly corrected.

Welcome back to Harbaugh. I'm not sure who's going to be with him, but odds are they'll be pretty good.

16 comments:

  1. It should be hard to blame Harbaugh for his interest in the NFL. It should be widely accepted after taking a pay cut, and having former players and most fans range from "if he goes, he goes" to "fire his @ss" just one year ago. It makes sense, and although I expected him to return, I understood why he'd look

    HOWEVER, it's been a long month, and this wasn't about leaving one home for another. The perception is any team would have been better than sticking around Ann Arbor, and he's only returning because none of the pro teams wanted him. Some feelings will be hurt, and Gattis is probably one example

    I think one of the biggest reasons for success this year was the synergy on the staff. Will that return? Will there be some who didn't like being hung out with uncertainty, and others who were hoping to be brought along? Will the upcoming hires for OC & DC help repair a potential divide, or exacerbate it?

    We don't know, but it's seems like the pre-2021 chaos has returned, even if the NFL interest is completely understandable

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  2. Stuff I think, and/or believe about this latest episode of HARBAUGH, Ain’t Nobody Like Him.

    Had Harbaugh resigned from the University of Michigan the day after the Georgia loss, and said that he wanted an NFL head coaching job, he'd have it by now.

    Had Harbaugh resigned from the University of Michigan the day after the Georgia loss, a significant percentage of the "MIchigan faithful" would have received the exact outcome they deserve.

    That Harbaugh wasn't/isn't pissy about the calls for his head and the subsequent pay cut isn't even a tiny possibility.

    While there is no possibility that Harbaugh didn’t/doesn’t expect that crap with his background, he wouldn’t be human were he not hurt by his treatment from a significant percentage of the “Michigan faithful”.

    As Thunder says above, the NFL is football’s highest level.

    As Harbaugh recently stated, a Super Bowl championship is football’s greatest achievement.

    Harbaugh is Michael Jordan competitive.

    He got to the Super Bowl and lost to his brother, that one would work on anybody.

    Harbaugh loves Michigan, loves Michigan Football, Schembechler Hall and Ann Arbor. I believe he moved his dad in down the street from him.

    Consequently, Harbaugh has been seriously conflicted regarding all of the above.

    Harbaugh is inherently honest, and has been honest with everybody, especially recruits who have received direct answers to specific questions about the NFL.

    I’m reserving judgement on the one about Harbaugh telling people in the building “Goodbye” before the final interview. That is just such a bonehead thing to do from a guy with so much experience and a zero track record for bonehead in the entirety of his life that I’m struggling with it.

    Maybe the Mike Ditka audible episode. Although, I say, “if you see it, go for it.” But maybe that one.

    Far more likely he told them that if he get’s an offer the way he wants it to be, he’s gonna take it.

    My opinion is that well into his conversation with the Viking ownership, everybody started thinking … nope.

    I like Balas, but it seems far more likely to me that he got caught out in front of this thing and is now making cover. I haven’t read Angelique yet.

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    1. The blessings from this outcome are enormous.

      Harbaugh has said this is never gonna happen again, that he “serves at the pleasure of the University of Michigan.”

      The NFL thing on the recruiting trail was always gonna come up, and would have continued regardless of this. Because he does have a track record for honesty, mostly everybody on the recruiting trail is gonna believe Harbaugh when he refers them back to the above quote, which he will … ad nauseam.

      Rebutting NFL negative recruiting that was gonna happen anyway, has now become a positive. Our guys can now tell a kid, “Does the NFL want their guy”? Because, they want our guy, but they can’t have him. Oh and Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC.

      Boom!!!!!

      But, the single, by far best thing that could have possibly come out of this is that Harbaugh has declared the new goal. “Let’s go get us a National Championship”

      Which, by the way is a sentence that has never before been uttered by a football coach at the University of Michigan. At least not during my lifetime, and remember, I saw Bob Timberlake play. It has always been win the Big Ten, go to The Rose Bowl. We’ve never had the balls around here to speak of the national championship dream.

      Harbaugh just said it … OUT LOUD!!! He’s now on the hook for it … not that that part of it matters much to him, and remember … Michael Jordan competitive.

      The notion that we'll be fine without Harbaugh, that has been bandied about by a couple guys that I really like to read, is just nonsense.

      Gattis is a fine recruiter, he added speed to this team the likes of which we haven’t had around here since Desmond Howard and Derek Alexander. HE IS NOT A LOSS AS AN OC!!!!!! I don’t know how you could possibly look at the offense we ran this year and think Gattis had anything to do with it beyond wrinkles. That whole thing was Harbaugh, not necessarily Jim, but definitely Harbaugh.

      Gattis just screwed the pooch, emailing his dissatisfaction to the kids. He's gonna have to answer for that one forever.

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    2. Agree with everything said here (other than liking Balas).

      "The notion that we'll be fine without Harbaugh is just nonsense."

      This entitled expectation is the fundamental problem with the fanbase that is so toxic that it almost cost us the best case scenario at coach. People act like 9-3 is a floor and we SHOULD be competing for national titles every year because OSU and Alabama have done it. This spits in the face of a couple basic facts - two other coaches, very successful elsewhere, completely failed to do it just before JH got here. They failed in completely different ways too. But the bigger one is that Bo/Mo/Lloyd rarely had us competing for national titles either. That was a different era and OSU wasn't as good as they are now but Bo STILL typically lost to top 10 teams, struggled in bowl games, etc.

      THIS IS NOT A GIVEN. Harbaugh has done an absolutely outstanding job to get us to where the program should be. I hope people do not look at 2021 as a stepping stone or "momentum" and just appreciate it for what it is.

      The other recent lesson here should also consider what happened with Beilein. He had a couple bad years where his star players got hurt and it was a struggle and the fanbase started calling for his head. Focus on the bad stuff (not enough starz) while ignoring the unprecedented NBA production and taking a team from barely making tournaments to making a final game. Then he went off and did it again, proving the doubters wrong. But even then he wasn't appreciated as much as he should have been and he got tired of the BS and skipped town. We should have been talking about making a statue of the guy instead.

      Maybe we'll wise up for Harbaugh but something tells me we won't and the "9-3 isn't good enough" crowd will be happy to tear it all down for a long shot at the next Urban Meyer.

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  3. Watching Michigan beat Ohio State was the most satisfying sports event in my life. Because of that, I am glad Harbaugh decided to come back to Michigan.

    This does not mean I am happy with the way Jim Harbaugh strung us along the past month with his dalliance with various NFL teams. It is one thing if he is interested in one or two NFL franchises. It is another thing if he is interested in any NFL job opening.

    I disagree with Roanman that this is positive for recruiting. If Jim is so enamored with winning a Super Bowl, who is to say he won't jump ship next year? If I am a five star recruit, why would I play under Jim Harbaugh as supposed to Nick Saban or Kirby Smart? Those college teams are viewed to be more "stable." What is he going to say if a recruit ask him whether he is going to NFL the following year?

    I think the events in the past month has kind of killed my tiny hope that Michigan might be able to sneak into the Top 5 in recruiting anytime soon. Any momentum we might have from making the playoff is negated by recent events (including the loss of the two coordinators).


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    1. It would take a perfect storm for Michigan to be in the top 5 in recruiting. Whether we like it or not, the population is skewing farther south in the USA, and even major population hubs in the northeast (New York, Boston, etc.) aren't football-heavy areas. Michigan doesn't have the right climate or academic atmosphere to make it a serious option for all kinds of kids from the south/west coast or kids who aren't into academics.

      The perfect storm would have to include close bonds with a coach/area that just happened to have superstar talent, such as Michigan striking it rich with Chris Partridge/Rashan Gary/Jabrill Peppers and then having a boon of in-state talent to feed it, quite possibly alongside some trouble in East Lansing or the departure of Mel Tucker.

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    2. OSU's coach just left for the NFL and the replacement is already getting buzz to be next. Saban is 70 and changes coordinators every year. Smart is getting NFL interest too. ND's coach left for LSU. OK's coach left for USC. Texas has had how many coaches in the last 10 years.

      The idea that coaching turnover is only an issue at Michigan doesn't make sense. Every program deals with the possibility that coaches will be gone because it's a high turnover business.

      The biggest thing for Michigan to get into the top 5 consistently is for OSU to drop out of the top 5 consistently. That's only going to happen if we beat OSU on the field. Beat OSU you start going to the playoffs consistently. Beat OSU and you start grabbing elite kids from Ohio (foundation of past greats). Michigan doesn't have to get better for this to happen they just need OSU to take a step back (which is something we saw on D in 2021 and in 2011 too).

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    3. What am I missing here?

      Which OSU coach just left for the NFL?

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    4. I meant Meyer. Technically stepped down as coach prior to 2019 season but was still with the program until going to Jacksonville.

      Maybe Harbaugh should just have "retired" for a couple days and then come right back.

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    5. Did Harbaugh say he is done with NFL this year or did he say he is done with NFL for good? When I read the news, I interpreted it as he is done with the NFL this year.

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    6. He said long-term but not everyone is going to believe that. I think to his credit he is generally pretty honest about things. My guess is he won't pursue it but if the NFL comes after him hard they can probably get him. The admission about wanting to win a Super Bowl...that's probably not a feeling that is entirely gone.

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    7. Harbaugh really no different than other elite coaches. If the NFL comes hard enough most of them will leave. There are a few exceptions (like Saban) but rare. And Saban already tried his hand at the NFL previously.

      Every coach could leave for any number of reasons. If you want a guarantee your Head Coach will still be around 4 years it'll have to be a matter of trust because every coach will say they will be there, and most will not.

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    8. Urban Meyer was wandering around the Ohio St campus last week. He stuck his head in one coaches door, the coach said something like, Oh hey Urban, how you doing. He replied, you have to beat that team up North, and walked away.

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  4. Harbaugh is a BEAST.

    If any team was getting the AP coach of the year who got his team to the CFP they'd be rightfully giddy. If said coach did this at a large but mediocre program averaging 7 wins a year for nearly a decade before he got there, and did it with no natural home turf in recruiting, with a rival at historical heights of power, while maintaining high academic standards...well that all would just be a dream come true.

    Saban is 70 now and probably approaching retirement. When he does I hope Bama isn't able to poach the best coach in America.

    Like Saban, Harbaugh can be abrasive and put some people off but you can't argue with the results. Like Saban, Harbaugh's track record of hiring excellent assistants with high rate of success (and thus turnover). Unlike Saban, he got it done in the NFL and is drawn to go back, but hey nobody is perfect.

    Were lucky of have coach Harbaugh in AA and I hope he sticks around and is appreciated for as long as possible.

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