Where Did Jim Harbaugh Go??
Disclaimer: To be completely clear, I think anyone even thinking about Jim Harbaugh's job status is beyond insane. He is our coach, and no one could be better than him. This is just a post with a small concern that I think is emotionally hindering this team and need to be solved.
In December 2014, when rebuilding our program from an absolutely catostrophic scenario, our interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett did the impossible and made IT H4PPEN.
What followed that was the reignition of our program by the wildest and gif-yiest head coach in College Football who attacked each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, and certainly showed that every week on the sideline.
I could go on forever, you should get the point by now.
I don't know if you guys have noticed, but this version of Jim Harbaugh that we've known and loved has become almost non-existant this year. Instead, we find him pacing the sidelines, with a very stable amount of enthusiasm, not even close to enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
Michigan players have always (and sincerely) loved playing under such a coach, and I think that his activity on the sideline keeps a spark under the team and is a factor in their performance, as well as their positive opinion on him.
So where has he gone? Where is this Jim Harbaugh that we love? Where is the QB that guaranteed a win over OSU? Where is the coach who has a more honest and meaningful press conference, unlike his Hoke-like bland coachspeak we saw out of him last night? Where is his attacking of each day with an enthusiasm unkown to mankind?
I thought that this loss would be a breaking point and a huge wake-up call for him, where he realizes (and says) that this game was unacceptable, that at Michigan, you can't have such a losing record to your rivals. Followed by improvement back to the old, active, enthusistic sideline Harbaugh. Amazingly, we didn't see this. Instead, we heard the infamous "We're on to Cincinnati" approach.
Now, I've realized that he has still kept up his enthusiasm on the recruiting trail, and from what we've seen in practice, and that this seems to be strictly a sideline problem.
I have two ideas what the cause of this may be:
Number One: Tim Drevno needs to be on the sideline. Having a coaches in the press box decreases the ability to manage your team on a personal level. Our offense has sucked, and Drevno has been in the press box, our defense has flourished, and Don Brown has not only been on the sideline, but has looked more Harbaugh-like than Harbaugh has.
Number Two: Fear that the refs may call less favorably due to his antics. After the "technical in basketball" incident at OSU last year, I think he may have a fear that if he reacts too much to bad calls, the refs will tend to have calls go Michigan's way less.
Obviously, we have other problems that should be on our mind, and this isn't a direct factor to winning and losing games, but I think it does have an affect on how these guys play on the field, and if they show energy, passion, hope and care or not. With Don Brown pumping up the defense, they have stepped up, faced adversity, and delivered. With Harbaugh pacing the sideline and talking to Drevno up in the box, our offense has showed less emotion, and as a result, less success.
Has anyone else noticed this? Any thoughts? What needs to be done?
October 8th, 2017 at 4:00 PM ^
Now!
October 8th, 2017 at 4:09 PM ^
He should call the Touchdown Play more often. He only did that once yesterday.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:29 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:31 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:34 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^
I've noticed the same all year, I have no idea what the change is due to.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:01 PM ^
The league is populated with great coaches and schools now spending money on football. It's tougher now to get wins with a young team.
He's the best of the best in his field. I am sure if you asked observers who watch practice, the fire burns hotter than ever.
The off the field stuff is who he is. If the media finds him interesting, it's not his problem. He'd do all that stuff even if no one was watching.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^
Don Brown is the best of the best in his field. Harbaugh is only the 3rd best coach in his division. Heck if Franklin beats him this year and repeats as Big Ten champ Harbaugh might be the fourth best coach in the big ten east. Yuck.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
Kudos for having the balls to say what the results have shown thus far. People negging this: Give a compelling argument why this is wrong.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
Harbaugh has a better record from 2015 onward than anyone else in the division save Meyer.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:48 PM ^
Having said this, I haven't bothered to verify this, but I assume it's correct!
October 8th, 2017 at 4:49 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:56 PM ^
Yep, that is what gets Harbaugh the bronze medal.
October 8th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
And yet Harbaugh has failed to finish higher than 3rd in the divison and is looking like we will be 4th in the division this year, behind Meyer, Franklin, and Dantonio. Nothing says 2nd best coach in the league like 3rd place finishes in the division. Not to mention that Franklin now has a better Big Ten record than Harbaugh since 2015.
Big ten record since Harbaugh took over at Michigan:
OSU 18-2
PSU 15-5
UM 14-5
Looks like 3rd place to me.
He definitely isn't better than Dantonio. 1-2 against him. And the fact that Dantonio took MSU from laughing stock to winning 65 games and 3 conference titles from 2010-2015. You don't just throw that away because they had issues in 2016. The last time Michigan had anything remotely close to that level of success was when we won 5 conference titles in 8 years from 1997 through 2004. Since then Michigan has basically been Iowa, except even Iowa won a division title in 2015.
He has losing records against both Meyer and Dantonio, and while he is 2-0 against Franklin, Franklin won a big ten championship in year 3. Hopefully I'm wrong, but we don't look like we are going to win a big ten championship this year.
Yeah MSU had a bad year in 2016, but they look better than us in the first half. Can't blame the rain for that.
October 8th, 2017 at 5:38 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 6:21 PM ^
If you prefer a simpler metric I propose head to head record amongst the four coaches.
Meyer 7-3
Dantonio 6-5
Harbaugh 3-4
Franklin 2-6
What do you know, Harbaugh is 3rd.
We might feel like Harbaugh is better than Dantonio, but the results don't back that up.
October 8th, 2017 at 7:26 PM ^
and the results matter- heck, dantonio does it with lower starred recruits
October 8th, 2017 at 7:44 PM ^
We were literally an inch or so from winning the division last year. Hell, in Ann Arbor we probably get the 4th-down spot our way.
I get you're trying to be a cool negative guy, but this is tiresome. He's one of the best coaches in the country (100+ NCAA schools and probably 25 NFL teams would die to hire him) and you sound like you're trying to run him out of town.
October 8th, 2017 at 9:54 PM ^
He can be one of the best coaches in the country and still be 3rd best in the Big Ten East.
To be clear, I don't want him gone. I want him to start winning against our rivals. So far his only win against our primary rivals is a 9 point win over the worst MSU team in a decade.
October 8th, 2017 at 8:27 PM ^
Talk about moving the goal posts . . . . Harbaugh is third-best in the division because of overall conference record. Oh, but wait, he's not better than Dantonio because of head-to-head record. But you're ignoring head-to-head record when comparing Harbaugh to Franklin. Huh???
October 8th, 2017 at 9:51 PM ^
If you prefer a simpler metric I propose head to head record amongst the four coaches.
Meyer 7-3
Dantonio 6-5
Harbaugh 3-4
Franklin 2-6
What do you know, Harbaugh is 3rd.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
Not bad. Not bad. But let's see, there is the 1-4 against rivals which is likely to fall to 1-5. There is the fact that MSU played in the playoff and Penn St. has a Big 10 title. And I don't have to even get into the difference between OSU and MIchigan records since then. So again, how is he not 4th in this division as far as coaching is concerned?
October 8th, 2017 at 4:58 PM ^
Head to head record against Franklin puts him above Franklin IMO. But if Franklin beats him this year and wins the division then Franklin moves into the third spot.
October 8th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
That actually makes perfect sense to me. I agree. He is sitting in 3rd at best with the 4th spot calling if we get our asses handed to us at PSU.
October 8th, 2017 at 7:46 PM ^
Three of those losses came down to the final play of the game (and one was decided on a one in a million play). That shit's going to even out. Give it time.
October 9th, 2017 at 9:45 AM ^
He has time. But we can't keep saying he is the 2nd best coach to Meyer in the conference anymore.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 6:18 PM ^
is one of the top coaches in college football. There's no yuck in that at all. Meyer is great,
Harbaugh might not be as good--so what? He's still an excellent coach.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:47 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:53 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:03 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:04 PM ^
It feels like fans are searching for every alternative to the most straightforward explanation for our team's play, which is that the team just isn't that good this year.
We knew (or should have) that 2017 was going to be challenging: not only were we going to lose a crazy number of starters from the '16 team, but we weren't going to have as many upperclass contributors as usual, as both our '14 and '15 recruiting classes were small and underheralded. And now we've lost our starting QB and top outside WR for the season. We just have to hold down the fort as well as possible this year and then hopefully get back to business next year.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:52 PM ^
They've stoned everyone on their schedule except ND (and even ND didn't put up that much yardage).
Regardless, it's not like it takes a top 10 defense to shut us down.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:18 PM ^
MSU lost most of their starters last year, and kicked our ass.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^
They won the game. Does it matter it was by four?
October 8th, 2017 at 4:42 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:16 PM ^
Worry about the semantics of my post. Here is my point, MSU beat U of M despite losing most starters from last year and having less talent across the board. We only lost by 4 tho
#losingwithdignity
October 8th, 2017 at 6:08 PM ^
The fumbles were not self-inflicted. Well-timed, well executed, hard hits by the MSU defenders.caused those turnovers.
October 8th, 2017 at 7:29 PM ^
The fumbles were not self-inflicted. Well-timed, well executed, hard hits by the MSU defenders.caused those turnovers.
this is so true and everyone mises this point- our D creates few turnovers
October 8th, 2017 at 5:36 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:42 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:54 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 7:30 PM ^
agree
October 8th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
Well Harbaugh was coaching on the sidelines last night. I am pretty sure he was Schembechler Hall today at some point. I don't have a GPS on the guy.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:06 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:11 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^
That's a very good post, both in thoughtful content and video presentation.
To answer your question: Ever since that Ohio State debacle with the cheeting skunk referees, he has been more subdued.
That game cost us a lot, both in terms of momentum and recruiting.
I think the turnaround is going to come with beating OSU in the Big House, and having a quarterback recruited by Harbaugh running the team.
Also, give Frey the line and get our offensive coaches working on the same page. Now.