November 29th, 2020 at 1:22 AM ^
Yes, giving Rich Rod a 4th year would have solved all the problems.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:31 AM ^
It would have, because then they could have hired Urban when he was ready.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:32 AM ^
He is also the only recent coach to have improved over time and he’s had year 4 been a mess, the options were there.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:40 AM ^
A coach going 0-12 in his first year should not be given a pat on the back for going 1-11 the next year
November 29th, 2020 at 2:01 AM ^
And he neither went 0-12 in year 1 or 1-11 in year 2. Suffice it to say, Harbs is about to have a worse record in year 6 then RichRod had in year 1.
November 29th, 2020 at 3:10 AM ^
And Harbaugh had a better record (by three wins) in year one than Rich Rod had in year 3? Do you see how it goes both ways?
November 29th, 2020 at 10:38 AM ^
And Harbaugh had a much more stacked roster when he took over than Rich Rod did in his first year and Harbaugh wasn’t being undermined by Michigan’s previous head coach and others within the program.
November 29th, 2020 at 6:52 AM ^
Rich Rod was a mess. After three years as head coach, he said that he was about to start working on the defense. He recruited, what, 4 OL in 3 years? It's sad that he's our "What if?"
November 29th, 2020 at 9:42 AM ^
Rich Rod trashed this program and it’s effects are still felt today.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
oh FFS. What a load of crap. RR was a bad hire, but let it go. He was fired almost a decade ago.
There are zero effects from his reign. This disaster is all on Harbaugh.
December 1st, 2020 at 8:53 AM ^
It's Dec 1st 2020 and Rich Rodriguez still has the worst winning percentage of any Michigan coach, ever
November 29th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
Good luck with getting Urban here. Haha
November 29th, 2020 at 1:26 AM ^
Like the GLEAC???
November 29th, 2020 at 1:35 AM ^
I found Les Miles' account, but still not interested
November 29th, 2020 at 1:44 AM ^
I don’t think Harbaugh is going anywhere after this season. His players graduate, they don’t get into trouble off the field, and other than this year, they’ve been competitive in the conference. I think that’s enough for the university to give him a pass for a messed up covid season.
November 29th, 2020 at 2:06 AM ^
His players graduate -- some at Michigan -- some at Cal, UCLA, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Illinois, Tennessee, etc, etc ...
November 29th, 2020 at 2:07 AM ^
Is that worth giving him an extension?
November 29th, 2020 at 2:08 AM ^
First, may we all be so lucky to get paid 8 million dollars a year to have a mediocre job performance review and never get fired. Second, our concepts of competitive are vastly different. Competitive would mean keeping it close in the Ohio State games, Making it to a Championship game once every five years, and beating a team you shouldn't once every other year. Third, and most importantly, this is not a 'messed up COVID year'. This is a team that lacks identity, accountability, direction, AND leadership. NONE of that has anything to do with the pandemic.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:52 PM ^
At this point I don’t want Harbaugh here any longer, but “Mel Tucker’s 1 win Michigan State team beats top 10 team Northwestern, who had a 40% chance to make the playoffs until that defeat” is not something you will hear in a normal year. “OSU has to avoid canceling any other games so they play enough to qualify for the playoffs” is also something you won’t ever hear again. Harbaugh shouldn’t be retained, but this entire season will come with a huge asterisk whether we want to admit it or not
November 29th, 2020 at 2:46 AM ^
lol
define competitive
November 29th, 2020 at 3:35 AM ^
Screw winning, since when has being competitive become the standard at Michigan??? I believe there's a lot of big donors out there that believe otherwise. With the athletic budget in total disarray right now Warde can't afford to piss off the donors.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:13 AM ^
At Michigan the endowment matters. If the money says he should go, all of what you said will not matter. A lot of money wants him gone. Is it enough? Not sure yet.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
$8M annually is a lot of money to pay someone to hold the hands of kids so they graduate. Lord knows we sure as hell aren't getting any Championship caliber football for that money.
November 29th, 2020 at 2:18 AM ^
Guys who did not win their conference before getting hired...
Ryan Day, Pete Carroll, Lincoln Riley.
November 29th, 2020 at 3:03 AM ^
Did some research and OP's argument is pretty bad
Of the last twenty national champions, the only coaches who won their conference before leaving to coach at the school where they would win their title(s) are Saban (one MAC title with Toledo before MSU) and Meyer (pair of conference titles with Utah)
The overwhelming majority of national champ coaches either never won a conference title before their big break or started their head coaching career at the school where they won it all
November 29th, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
It's true that if we had an OC of a coach who won many conference titles who'd maintain the continuation of the program that would be worth doing as well., but I think Debord's moment probably passed.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
I would say the top five programs of the past few years of college football are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Georgia.
Four of those five are run by guys with no previous head coaching experience
November 29th, 2020 at 2:22 AM ^
hire a coach that: 1). can and will recruit well, specifically in the midwest 2). runs and knows how to coach a modern offense 3). will delegate responsibilities to his assistants where he is not a subject matter expert 4). knows how to evaluate roster talent and will play the best talent based on nothing other than merit
does not have to: 1). be a former coach or player, or overly familiar with Bo Schembechler 2). have extensive experience as a head coach
bring in a young up-and-coming coach that is well connected in the professional coaching network and is comes with modern football coaching philosophy. Rally all the resources behind the coach and let him work unabated from booster or AD meddling for 4 years, and see what you have.
Some other candidates outside of Matt Campbell or Fickell:
1. Kalen DeBouer, Fresno State HC
2. Eliah Drinkwitz, Mizzou HC
3. Brian Hartline, OSU OC
November 29th, 2020 at 5:40 AM ^
Need a coach who can also prepare his guys for games. Strategize, etc. and then make in game adjustments.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
Being a HC is so different than an assistant that I think at least 1-2 years head coaching experience should be there.
November 29th, 2020 at 6:30 AM ^
In your criteria Dan Mullen would not have been a candidate. Mark Dantonio wouldn't have been a candidate back in 2007.
Do not worry about the conference title thing. Although at this point Matt Campbell at least has a share of the Big XII I believe.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:57 AM ^
Just hire the best candidate for the job. I don’t care how old or young he is, whether he’s an offensive or defensive mind, whether he’s from the South or from fucking Mars. I. Don’t. Care. Just please, for the love of god, don’t let being a “Michigan Man” be part of the qualification. I swear, Michigan is it’s own worst enemy when it comes to his football program. The amount of self sabotage, internal politics and arrogance about who we think we are is baffling.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
And please, for the love of God hire someone who:
Knows the value of recruiting and is willing to put in unrelenting hard work on that front AND to require that of every coach on the field.
Knows the value of skill players and how to (a) get the ball to them on offense and (b) position them to wreak havoc on the defense.
Knows to utilize modern CFB concepts like attacking a team's weaknesses, tempo, and clock management
Knows that you play your best players, even if they don't look mean and growl at practice.
Knows that players don't have to play through minor injuries and sicknesses to be perceived as "tough" to see the field.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
Can we hire someone with a track record beyond one generational talent at QB
November 29th, 2020 at 4:01 PM ^
That’s a bold statement to make about Colin Kaepernick
November 29th, 2020 at 4:00 PM ^
Uh, Jim Harbaugh has won two conferences as the head coach, the Pioneer Football League and the f’ing National Football Conference.
Rich Rod won the Big East.
Hoke only made it to the MAC championship game after an otherwise undefeated season, I’ll give you that one.
But your argument is bad and you should feel bad.
November 29th, 2020 at 4:08 PM ^
Harbaugh won the NFC