Harbaugh Harbaugh Harbaugh? Harbaugh!
We've been locked in a never-ending, pointless loop since March. Things are supposed to happen. They do not. Wheels are spun. The press is avoided. Reality is twisted. Absurd things are said out loud by purported adults. People get angry and scream at each other on social media. A sickness has descended on our nation.
Also there is a pandemic.
Anyway, we're on day one billion of Harbaugh Extension Theater. Yesterday there was widespread reporting that he would indeed get one, and sign one. Yes, again. Nick Baumgardner had the most detail so he wins the embed:
Source tells The Athletic Michigan and Jim Harbaugh are close to finalizing a five-year deal -- expected base salary is $4 million. With incentives, he could get it back to $8 million. Buyout is expected to be low.
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) January 8, 2021
Harbaugh hasn't signed. Is expected to soon.
Harbaugh, of course, has not signed this extension. We will wake up tomorrow to Brandy and Dierdorf singing "I Got You, Jim," like we do every day.
[After THE JUMP: one more excuse to reference Scottish twitter?]
This has caused the usual riot and tumult on Michigan twitter, especially since it's paired with this obscure NFL name as defensive coordinator:
Sources: Michigan is targeting Ravens linebackers coach Mike Macdonald for its defensive coordinator job. .
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 8, 2021
Currently working with John Harbaugh. May soon be working with his brother.
Macdonald has been with the Ravens in some capacity for seven years and has been a position coach for four. Before that he was a grad assistant at UGA. This is not exactly the Don Brown hire; Brown had the best defense in the country at Boston College. Macdonald has no meaningful track record and hasn't recruited, ever.
Try to keep a couple things in mind:
- It was always going to be difficult to find a replacement for Brown as Mr. Low Buyout.
- It does not matter at all who the defensive coordinator is since Michigan does not recruit DTs or CBs anymore.
I mean, I guess it matters at the margins. But the situation here is that Michigan went 2-4 with a humiliating loss to a year zero MSU program. OSU is one of the three perennial playoff participants. Harbaugh has been looking for an NFL exit that does not exist and is being roped into signing a contract that makes him easy to fire. The defensive coordinator who's able to come in and wave his magic wand to make next year's OSU game competitive does not exist, and even if he did he would not come to the least stable situation in the Power 5. And if next year's OSU game is not competitive Harbaugh is gone.
You can ask why the administration is looking these facts in the face and not pulling the trigger. I am certainly baffled. But the identity of the defensive coordinator is not worth getting bothered about. Eat at Arby's.
January 8th, 2021 at 1:00 PM ^
Considering they were down 8-9 starters by the Rutgers game, it was hard to read much into anything. But considering this year they'll likely have a full offseason to prepare, won't have their presumptive starting QB opt out only a couple of days before the season, suffer with a rash of injuries to key position groups, and all of their coaches will actually be on campus and coaching instead of whatever happened last year with Shoop, I'm somewhat optimistic that Harbaugh can get back to the past 5 seasons where he won between 8 and 10 games pretty regularly.
Again, YMMV, but I tend to believe people are forgetting how unpredictable this season was for everyone involved and how that may be messing with expectations.
January 8th, 2021 at 1:08 PM ^
Can you please enlighten us at to where these 9 wins are coming at next year?
12 regular seasons games (not factoring in possible schedule changes) next year and 2 are guaranteed losses (@Wiscy, OSU) another is 90% (@PSU) so you’re already at 9-3 before factoring in @Indiana, MSU, @Maryland, Washington and @Nebraska. I have zero confidence they will run the table through those games, let alone whatever Bowl Opponent embarrasses us.
Based upon what I saw this year, getting through those latter 5 games is going to take some either very improved coaching or better defense/QB play.
January 8th, 2021 at 1:40 PM ^
I'm not sold the Wiscy loss in guaranteed; the Wisconsin team Michigan played (which had 3 weeks to prepare for Michigan and faced a UM team down Paye, Hutchinson, both tackles, and I believe at least one linebacker) wasn't the same one we saw by the end of the year.
But even if we concede two losses there, PSU feels like a team in a not-dissimilar spot as Michigan, bringing in yet another OC (third 3rd in 3 years) and having to deal with guys transferring and an underwhelming recruiting class. Michigan kept that a game this year despite both of their QBs being hurt and everything else. That doesn't feel like a 90% win probability for PSU.
Like I said, 8-4/9-3 isn't unreasonable. IU had a ton of returning talent this year that is graduating; we don't know what they'll look like next season on both sides of the field. Nebraska is a tire fire, MSU might be better or might have just had the perfect game against a bad Michigan team and Harbaugh goes back to re-establishing his control over them. No idea about Maryland since we didn't play them but there's a reason Locksley has coached 51 games and has 8 wins to show for it. We'll see what happens with that Washington game; I only caught the Huskies once this year but they seemed...fine. If they come to UM that feels pretty winnable.
I guess I am not inclined to read a ton into this year because of how so many things snowballed. Clearly the board feels otherwise which is fine, but every year we talk about how UM will get to 9-10 wins and then most times they do. Schedules half a year out, that are in flux, are hard to get a read on.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:14 PM ^
Woohoo! If everything goes right we'll be mediocre!
January 8th, 2021 at 2:37 PM ^
Michigan hasn't looked the LEAST BIT competitive for even a half of football with Wisconsin the last two years. They have absolutely dominated Michigan. They're not an underdog to us. They're not equals. They are better than us and if you don't see that about the two programs then you're blind.
January 8th, 2021 at 1:49 PM ^
If the only way Harbaugh can be successful is following his fixed routine, then he is not the right coach in today's college game.
Even Saban has proven he is willing to adapt and change. Other teams played and didn't look like a dumpster fire week after week this year. Other team's practices were impacted far more by Covid than Michigan's with better success. Saying this season doesn't count ignores the very thing this season proved...Harbaugh can't handle the job.
All of the excuses...opt outs, injuries, practice time. Doesn't it say something about the program that two of Michigan's best players didn't want to come back to play when many others around the country did? Doesn't it say something about the program that it can not survive the loss of multiple players to injury? Did the 1997 team pack up shop when Eric Mays got injured early on? Supposedly he was the heart and soul of that team and yet they won a National Title without him on the field. Doesn't it say something about the team that with less practice time, a new coach and an equal QB situation MSU looked more competent, not just in the Michigan game but across the season in general even if the results were similar?
January 8th, 2021 at 1:53 PM ^
I didn't realize we were the only team that suffered opt outs, injuries, shortened off-season, and +covids. I wonder how our opponents never had to endure this.
Also it isn't bad luck players and coaches leave Harbaugh. He rubs a lot of people the wrong way until they leave.
I hope we win 8-9 games this year if we keep Harbaugh but logic suggests against it. You gave excuses not reasons.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:15 PM ^
Explain exactly how reasons differ from excuses?
January 8th, 2021 at 4:17 PM ^
Hmmm, you would think that the people who didn't care for my post could offer up how they distinguish excuses from reasons. I guess not.
January 11th, 2021 at 2:12 AM ^
Reasons why you lose - other team is better, scores more points, is better coached.
Excuses why you lose - well it's a covid year, we had injured players, the refs hate us, we didn't get a full off-season, yeah we lost but if ONE play was different we would of won, weather, new coach, new system, other team recruits better, no one wins on the road there, etc...
See the difference? All the excuses are bull shit that any team could say to try saving face but in reality ya just come off like whiny kids. All teams had a covid year. All teams have injuries. All teams didn't get a full off season. All fans think the refs hate their team. All teams play each other in the same weather on their gameday. All teams go through coach/system changes. Good teams can and do win on the road and for every play you can make-believe change to give us a moral victory I can pick as many single plays that turn W's into L's. We were one play away from losing to friggin Rutgers man.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:21 PM ^
7-5 is much more likely.
January 8th, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
Agreed.
Warde knows at Michigan 2 sports support 27 other varsity sports within a self-sustaining athletic department.
The optics may be bad (and exacerbated [falsely] by online, armchair, prognosticators) but Warde has to contend with that amid major revenue loss this year and potentially next fall.
He's not just making decisions for football but the entire department. I think he deserves some patience in that regard.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:03 PM ^
This whole "he's saving money with a buyout" thing is nonsense. Harbaugh's buyout right now is the one year left on the deal -- $8M. You could pay him that now, and be done with it. With the extension, even a low buyout is likely going to have a number right around there, or higher. If you fire him next year or the year after, you're still likely going to owe him around that same $8M -- so you don't really save anything.
Plus, if the main goal of this contract is to make sure you can fire him soon and save money while doing so, you probably shouldn't be signing him in the first place.
Also...Michigan routinely scrapes together millions whenever they need it. It's one of the wealthiest athletic programs there is. They found $1M donations for some summer time field trips pretty easily. The idea that they need to sacrifice a year or two of their program to save a couple of million is laughable -- even in a pandemic.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:34 AM ^
I actually think Warde is doing the best he can with a pretty terrible hand.
If Jim leaves for the NFL, and Warde pulls a top tier coach out of his back pocket, he's going to look brilliant.
If he extends and fires Jim next year at a lowered buyout, he'll have made something that taste a little bit like lemonade out of a lot of covid laced lemons.
This is a rock and a hard place situation, but I think Warde is doing the only things he can.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:21 AM ^
Unfortunately, It is the buyout and COVID 19 that has us keeping him for another year!
January 8th, 2021 at 1:12 PM ^
Texas is paying 24 million in buyouts to Herman and his assistants and they still went out and got their guy. I believe Harbaugh's buyout is the remaining 2 years which is 12 million plus assistant coaches. Brown and Shoop are already gone and 6 other coaches here have expired contracts.
The buyout would be around 10 million less than Texas yet we are acting like U of M is poor and we are forced to keep Jim.
Texas is still committed to attempting to become the best. Re-signing Harbaugh is a NCAA wide waving of the white flag accepting mediocrity.
January 8th, 2021 at 1:46 PM ^
Did Texas really get their guy? By many accounts that was Urban Meyer. I can't imagine Sark was at the top of their list. Perhaps they had no choice but to move on given all the leaks in their coaching search.
While the optics of this extended resigning aren't great it could be that (a) Warde looked into other candidates and wasn't getting interest (b) Warde was under pressure to keep Harbaugh/his hands were tied (c) Harbaugh stretched this out as a negotiating tactic, or other possible explanations including Warde just screwed this up. Given the lack of credible chatter over the past month, we'll probably never know.
January 8th, 2021 at 1:49 PM ^
Please, stop comparing us to Texas. Texas is a joke. They have rich people throwing money into the fire. They fired Mack fucking Brown for Charlie Strong, Tom Herman, and Steve Sarkisian. Give me a fucking break.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:08 PM ^
This x100.
Michigan has had shit luck with coaches but that’s due to Lloyd retiring and poor hiring, not self destructive decisions that lead to bad situations that oil tycoons help us get ourselves out of.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:13 PM ^
Why are our bad hires shit luck but Texas bad hires are self-destructive decisions?
January 8th, 2021 at 2:11 PM ^
If Texas is a joke then what are we?
Guess what, we also have rich people throwing crazy amounts of money into our program. We lost Carr for RR, Hoke, and a failed Harbaugh.
https://footballscoop.com/news/the-highest-grossing-football-programs-in-college-football-are/
A year out of date but this gives you a good idea of how much money we have to go around, more than most of all the NCAA.
January 8th, 2021 at 3:58 PM ^
Michigan is in no position to criticize Texas or anyone else. There’s no program in America that would decide their head coach isn’t bad enough to be fired but not good enough to receive an extension. Michigan has decided to keep their head coach but cut his dick off and make it impossible for him to turn it around, and dramatically increase what he’s owed because if they fire him because they just took a coach with one year left on his deal that they apparently don’t want any more and increase him to five years, without getting any job security benefit.
that’s a staggering level of incompetence. Firing a mediocre coach and hiring someone who isn’t likely to be better is way more rational than setting money and years on fire doing what Michigan has done.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:10 PM ^
As of January 11th, he only has one more year left on the original 7 year deal. That's why his extension is a big deal. So if they want, they can pay him $6M+ whatever other options he has to go away on Monday.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:21 AM ^
Unfortunately, It is the buyout and COVID 19 that has us keeping him for another year!
January 8th, 2021 at 11:24 AM ^
$4M is a pretty big haircut doesn't surprise me JH is pondering that. I believe none of these reports until a formal announcement is made.
Wouldn't be surprised if Jim doesn't sign extension, stays on as Michigan's coach next year due to no NFL offers...if he sticks around the way things work bass ackwards at Michigan he'll probably have a 9 win year to make this even more confusing.
January 8th, 2021 at 12:38 PM ^
That’s a good point. And watch, he will coach his ass off and leave to the NFL with the fan base wondering where was that passion the last year. Similar to Lloyd’s last game against Florida.
from a budget standpoint, I understand Wardes dilemma. As a fan, I want the best staff to be assembled to compete.
Does anyone know when winter conditioning starts?
January 8th, 2021 at 11:25 AM ^
Will be fun to watch what an unshackled Harbaugh can do with full control over his own team.
Shoot me in the face
January 8th, 2021 at 12:15 PM ^
I'm confused. He's the head coach. What makes you think he didn't have full control of the team in 2020 or the past six years? Honest question.
January 8th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
sarcastic take in reference to this
January 8th, 2021 at 12:31 PM ^
Ah sorry I totally missed the sarcasm.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
Harbaugh clearly looking to exit has mostly gutted the "Give him another year to turn it around" camp.
If the #1 most enthusiastic believer in Michigan sees that there's not future for him at UM, then why would anyone else believe there is either.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
You can ask why the administration is looking these facts in the face and not pulling the trigger.
It because they want to save 8 figures during a COVID year, as simple as that.
January 8th, 2021 at 12:29 PM ^
Weird that the 9 figures they made every year previously and will make every year in the future couldn't cover that. Oh well the important thing is that the assistant to the assistant women tennis coach makes six figures and they find creative ways to spend that money every year.
January 8th, 2021 at 12:34 PM ^
Hey now, Michigan is hurting for money. Our billionaire donors don't have time to write checks all day for the literal business school with their name on it
If they truly made a personnel decision and sacrificed a year of Michigan football because of money, they're somehow even stupider than I thought
January 8th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^
You do understand that the 9-figure intake last year covered a lot of expenses; running an athletic department is actually quite expensive, and it isn't all non-existent huge salaries for coaches of sports you have disdain for.
Well, the women's head coach makes about $185k and the assistant coach makes $92k; there is a volunteer assistant coach who, I assume, isn't paid because he's a volunteer. The men's coaches, by comparison, make $187k and $94k, so about the same. They've also got an unpaid assistant. Both staffs have been pretty good, and that feels like fair compensation for running P5 programs that consistently make tourney runs. If anything, Bernstein's 14 years of experience at the helm are being undervalued compared to Steinberg's 7, but I've sort of accepted that's the deal even at UM. I assume you left out the assistant to the assistant men's tennis coach because you were in a hurry.
January 8th, 2021 at 2:24 PM ^
"I assume you left out the assistant to the assistant men's tennis coach because you were in a hurry."
No because it was a not serious example of the creative spending the AD engages in to find a way to spend the 100s of millions of dollars they make every year, yet somehow they can't manage to come up with ten million. Are you really trying to pretend to be ignorant of this phenomenon?
January 8th, 2021 at 3:36 PM ^
So you didn't have a creative example of the spending except to complain about a non-existent position on a sport?
My point is that that money has already been spent and they've gotten only a fraction of the expected income this year; "coming up" with $10M isn't remotely easy because expenses largely stayed the same. The fact you seem ignorant to that reality isn't all that surprising if your goal is to complain loudly, but it's still there.
January 8th, 2021 at 4:03 PM ^
Give me a break man. Stop pretending to be ignorant so you can act like I'm the fool. You've become an intellectually dishonest asshole (to be clear I've always been an asshole) so you can continue blowing sunshine up everyone's ass. The university will makes hundreds of millions of dollars next year and will waste a shit ton of that on bullshit to zero out the budget, paying the ten million dollar buyout would make that easier. Coming up with ten millions dollars is beyond easy, it's couch change for this AD. We haven't even gotten into the fact that there is almost assuredly a single booster ready to write this check.
Pick any of those links and stop pretending I'm making shit up.
January 8th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
Bronxblue, don't ruin his narrative by applying logic!
January 8th, 2021 at 5:08 PM ^
Just so I understand. You're agreeing that it's logical that the AD at Michigan which made 200 million dollars a year the last few pre-covid seasons can't afford to pay a ten million dollar buyout?
January 8th, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
For all we know the contract has been signed for a while now and they're working on finalizing the defensive staff.
But instead let's assume that because we (fans) haven't heard something there is no way it could have happened.
January 8th, 2021 at 12:35 PM ^
The benefit to keeping a signed extension hidden is...?
January 8th, 2021 at 2:14 PM ^
No. If the contract was signed, it wouldn't be secret, and you wouldn't have these trickles of information about the contract and the status of it coming out of the athletic department.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:35 AM ^
In hindsight, this college football "season" will be remembered as one that never should have been played while in the midst of a global pandemic. At best, it's an asterisk season. The fact that so many seem unable or unwilling to contextualize it, but instead act as though it should be treated as a normal year is hilarious, and depressing.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
While what you said is mostly true however irrespective of this being a COVID year the team looked mismanaged,, inept, unprepared and just plain poorly coached. While losses could be overlooked this year the team looked completely disconnected from Harbaugh...other teams had to deal with the same things Michigan did and did not suffer a complete implosion like we did. Add a poor on-field product to Harbaugh 's inability to beat anyone with a pulse you're really surprised people want to move on?
January 8th, 2021 at 2:15 PM ^
Pretty much my take on this season too. The well-coached teams and the programs with a good culture shined. Those that didn't, their flaws were laid bare pretty unsparingly.
January 8th, 2021 at 11:49 AM ^
Putting a mental sticky on this comment for when we go to the Final 4....
January 8th, 2021 at 12:23 PM ^
I mean, it's still really dumb that we're playing college basketball this year with a pandemic raging. Games and teams have suffered as a result; we all sort of forget that a guy collapsed on the court and could have died due to complications from COVID-19. The fact that Michigan may be good at basketball right now doesn't change that it's not a good idea. I'm sure Alabama and OSU are happy to be playing football as well even though about 1/6th of all college football games were cancelled this season.
January 8th, 2021 at 4:29 PM ^
Again, putting a sticky on this comment for when we go to the Final 4. You're not allowed to watch and/or cheer, either.
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