Challenges for the 2024 Season maybe a spark for Jim Harbaugh
Jim Harbaugh has an interest in challenges in football. The Super Bowl remains the one great challenge – the Mount Everest. Yet, he is also pragmatic. A bad team with a bad roster and a bad ownership will not woo him to leave Michigan. He is not some flavor of the moment “hot” college coach who would take any opening. He does like a challenge, however, – like beating tOSU, then beating them again and again, and winning the National Championship.
So, what are the challenges for 2024? There are two – one short immediate and one longer term. (1) After watching the Baltimore Houston game, maybe it will be trying to develop Alex Orji into a version of Lamar Jackson. Orji is a natural powerful runner, but needs help and polish passing but the foundation is there. (2) Working on getting college athletes openly paid. I believe Harbaugh is sincere in his desire to see that happen and his constant voice will be something the NCAA and others cannot easily ignore. This will also help further solidify Michigan as a place where players should want to come and play for.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:08 PM ^
I hope you are correct. I suspect winning a Super Bowl is challenge number 1.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:21 PM ^
And I cannot blame the man if he chooses to pursue that goal, especially since he brought Michigan back to the pinnacle.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:57 AM ^
He spoke to this during an interview about the new Michigan Family Wall. In the context of the Harbaugh family, he talked about his brother winning the Super Bowl and how he should be happy for him, but it still eats at him that he came up short.
He said that this season.
We all know what he said about finally being able to sit at the big boy table now after winning the National Championship. Imagine being Jim freaking Harbaugh - a wildly successful coach at all levels - and felling that you don't measure up within your own family.
He is obsessed by another shot at the Super Bowl. Especially because he lost it at the hands of his older brother. If you have an older brother, you can relate to this. It creates another dimension.
Perhaps if he lost the Super Bowl to some stranger outside the family, he could let it go and concentrate on college football. But that he lost it to his brother just adds to the obsession.
If an NFL team with even a theoretical chance gives him another shot at a potential Super Bowl, he is gone.
January 21st, 2024 at 5:58 AM ^
In most families, all those accomplishments would be incredible and enough, given the brothers are in their 60's. But not the hyper-competitive Harbaugh family. I can actually see them, including Jack, making that big boy table "joke" all the time. It may be possible to be too competitive, even for a football coach, as strange as that sounds. It may explain too, a reason why Jim tends to "rub people the wrong way" or "wear out his welcome".
Most of us can't relate to being in a uber-competitive family, but it's who Harbaugh is. If he is obsessed with winning a Super Bowl, so be it. I hope he succeeds. But obsessions don't often end well.
January 22nd, 2024 at 11:09 AM ^
I got a very Beilein feeling about this. Jim is a proven NFL coach but if you get a terrible front office it may not matter in the long run. I really hope him and Michigan dont come out regretting the move to the NFL.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:17 AM ^
Ah. Now I get it; it all makes sense.
Furthers my instinct that that "no NFL talk for ten years" clause is a mistake. Is that still in there?
You can't put lightning in a bottle. You can't cage Mae West. You can't shut the door on a man's , on a person's final enduring aspiration, when he's yet able to achieve it, about to achieve it, the last few years. These may represent his final shot.
And yet, to this I would say: finish the job in A2. Cement your legacy, working with a supportive administration. Stabilize the program at this Next Level we've finally broached, so that the success is sustained, not a flash in the pan. Reach for another Natty, wholly unblemished. Beat OSU two more times, for a five-year consecutive run. Most critically, fully develop your promising successor (Moore). Leave the program poised to have a *dedicated* seat at the Table of Excellence, year after year: this is truly some next-level ish.
Then fly, with full blessings: go chase your dreams. There is no bigger fan base than Michigan, and their love will follow and sustain you wherever you go.
This is your time. Live it.
January 21st, 2024 at 1:55 PM ^
He already has my full blessings, and has won an "unblemished" title. 15-0! Forget all that outside noise.
And 40-3 is no flash in the pan. His legacy stands strong.
I hear you and understand your messaging around truly cementing UM as the next bama or uga, but let's not implicitly denigrate what the man's accomplished.
January 21st, 2024 at 3:52 PM ^
This makes me a bit sad, because I was hoping and still feel Coach Harbaugh is home for good. Much appreciate you posting this M-Dog as it will better help me understand if he leaves. He loves Michigan either way and I will be grateful for his time here either way.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:21 PM ^
A bad team with a bad roster and a bad ownership will not woo him to leave Michigan.
I guess we'll see, but the Chargers aren't exactly a model of good ownership and their roster has plenty of holes with a terrible salary cap situation.
Like everyone here, I hope Harbaugh returns. But he clearly has undying interest in the NFL, and at age 60 and after a couple cycles of fruitless interviewing, I suspect he'll be tempted to take any job that is offered to him.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:28 PM ^
Why do people assume he’s just getting jilted by these teams? It’s pretty obvious that he’s in high demand but also extremely demanding when it comes to what he’d require of an owner to come coach. You don’t get your name floated in every article about a head coaching vacancy for 9 straight years without having offers on the table in a given year.
January 20th, 2024 at 10:06 PM ^
I'm unaware of a single instance in which he had an offer.
It's pretty common knowledge that he was not offered the Vikings job and most Michigan insiders (including Bacon) have said he would have taken if it was offered. The Broncos flirtation last year was murkier, but he met with them even after he announced his return, so I don't really buy the narrative that he turned them down.
Regardless, my point is that the Chargers job is not the job you'd go for if you were waiting for the ideal opening. Spanos is a notoriously cheap owner, they are projected be $44 million over the salary cap next year (not good, 2nd worst salary cap situation in the NFL), and despite being in salary cap hell, they have numerous urgent personnel needs. And yet, Harbaugh seems very interested in the job.
January 21st, 2024 at 3:17 AM ^
And it can be explained by one name…Justin Herbert.
January 21st, 2024 at 6:05 AM ^
How can Spanos be notoriously cheap and be $44 million over the salary cap? Spanos looks more like a spendthrift than cheap.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:01 PM ^
Amen. People just parrot what the pundits say and you've shown the truth.
January 21st, 2024 at 4:29 PM ^
1) Being $44 million over the cap means they need cut, trade, restructure contracts, and otherwise retool the roster to get under the cap. It doesn't actually mean you're spending $44 million that no one else is. In fact, the cap itself is a mechanism of accounting that doesn't neatly correspond with the actual cashflow. Here's a decent article explaining it.
2) Spanos is cheap in ways that are entirely separate from player contracts. He is loathe to pay coaches high contracts (Staley only made $4 million a year). Maybe the money doesn't matter to Harbaugh, but it will surely matter for his ability to attract assistants. Will Spanos be willing to pay millions for Ben Herbert? History says no. That doesn't even get into the other costs (scouting, facilities, etc.) that cheap owners are far more likely to skimp on than player contracts.
January 21st, 2024 at 1:58 PM ^
It could be he isn't being offered because of his demands during the interview. I know I've set out parameters during interviews that probably made me more of a long shot, but I would be running to something and not from something - so if it wasn't a grand slam, it wasn't worth leaving a very good situation.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:30 PM ^
I’m prepared to get negged for this and that’s fine. Jim needs to shit or get off the pot. We have an elite defense coming back and we need to start retooling the offense in the portal to keep up in the new big ten.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:44 PM ^
Was just getting ready to say the same thing. If wants to go, thats fine. He accomplished the goal at Michigan. I'll never forget that. But the longer it takes, the more it'll hurt Michigan. Now, I know how long it takes isn't in his control as far as the hiring process. But if it's going to happen, it needs to. Second interviews happening next week, so hopefully its done and over with in the next week.
The Chargers seem like the only option even though Atlanta is interviewing him again. But you'd have to think Belichick(sp) is the front runner there. But if I'm the Chargers, I'm leaning towards the younger coach in Vrabel. I don't believe he's been anywhere else as far as interviews go, but there are only so many spots available and I'd guess Mike McDonald is going to be a head coach at one of them.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:53 PM ^
Lol he owes you nothing… he owes himself and his family … he gave us a national championship so if he wants to leave that’s his business not yours
January 21st, 2024 at 12:47 AM ^
You act like he did it for free. I mean I am as grateful as anyone for the past few seasons, but his behavior off early season hurts recruiting and honestly its hurts his relationship with fans and the university. No one wants to regularly be someone's second choice. It's a completely fair criticism.
January 20th, 2024 at 10:34 PM ^
Plus, Jim's been hogging that pot, and other people really need to go.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:12 AM ^
Those who stay...
January 21st, 2024 at 6:08 AM ^
Agree. 3 years of this flirting with the NFL is enough. If he loves Michigan as much as he says, he needs to realize how much this annual uncertainty is hurting the players, coaches, recruiting, etc. If I had a choice between JH leaving for the NFL this year, or coming back and looking at the NFL again next year, I'd pick leave now. That way the program can move on to a new phase with a new coach.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:21 AM ^
Everyone knew this was how it was going to be when he was hired at M. Harbaugh has never stayed anywhere very long, but he always left each place better than he found it. No other college team has a coach that has been to multiple NFC championship games. The results on the field make this easily worth it. Michigan has an elite coach that the NFL wants. If that's the biggest problem, we're in pretty good shape.
January 21st, 2024 at 9:52 AM ^
But lots of people were writing the same sort of thing about a year ago. Thank goodness he didn't leave at that time.
January 21st, 2024 at 11:20 AM ^
Don't you mean "imagine how much better we would have been if this dude didn't hurt our recruiting so much a year ago"?
January 21st, 2024 at 12:02 PM ^
Really. Would you rather have Hoke ?
January 20th, 2024 at 8:31 PM ^
Having already lost to him in the Super Bowl, and the Ravens looking like they'll be good for a while, maybe he doesn't want to try to build an SB contender only to possibly face his Brother again and lose?
#graspingatstraws
January 20th, 2024 at 9:04 PM ^
I think that's exactly why he leaves. That "sitting at the adult's table" comment he made after we won just reinforces this for me. It's important to him to hold his own in his family, and knowing how close he came once makes me think he's motivated by the idea of sitting at the head of the table, not just having a seat.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:49 AM ^
I noticed this comment too. Although he included his dad, whose championship was arguably of less import than either of the brothers. But it did make me wonder how much any of us truly understand what motivate him. He's a quirky dude. People who apply earth logic to his decisions have not paid attention IMO.
January 21st, 2024 at 10:23 AM ^
I imagine he simply wants to be able to sit next to his brother, on equal terms, with Dad at the table too
January 20th, 2024 at 10:32 PM ^
He won’t want to go the NFL because he’s afraid of losing to his brother in the Super Bowl? That’s some grasping.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:33 PM ^
Every Michigan player receives $25,000 for having their name on the back of their Michigan jerseys. Also, Anther $25000 for playing on TV. Pay that to everyone on the team , no exceptions. Then the players can still get their own deals. Take 4 million from the TV deal and tell everyone they doing it.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:36 PM ^
Harbaugh is coming back. The Chargers and Falcons don't seem to know what they want. If Harbaugh was the guy they would have gone all in already. Right now he is just in consideration. He has to wow them.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:48 PM ^
yes, they might. or not. fucking whatever.
January 20th, 2024 at 8:49 PM ^
Michigan appears to be his backup plan at this point.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:54 AM ^
I have read some convincing pieces this is not necessarily true, because Jim Harbaugh marches to his own drum. And therefore needs to be listened to differently for lack of a better way to put it. He's a quirky guy. Having said that, it is certainly how it appears and it is getting old. Example: https://www.si.com/college/2024/01/11/jim-harbaugh-loves-michigan-so-why-would-he-leave
Edited for clarification
January 21st, 2024 at 12:53 PM ^
Should also edit to fix your link.
https://www.si.com/college/2024/01/11/jim-harbaugh-loves-michigan-so-why-would-he-leave
January 20th, 2024 at 8:50 PM ^
I hope Harbaugh is back, but at some point beating up on Cryin' Day might get boring for him.
That said, with 3rd base spending $20mm on OSU's roster next year, might be a fun challenge to wreck OSU's all-in year.
January 21st, 2024 at 1:05 AM ^
OSU is going to have to spend $20 million on it next year too, to keep it. And the year after that.
Where are they getting that kind of money?
January 21st, 2024 at 12:57 PM ^
Les Wexner, among others, I'm guessing. He's an alum and a fan.
January 21st, 2024 at 1:29 PM ^
An associate of Epstein. Oh boy.
January 20th, 2024 at 10:30 PM ^
Why do so many assume that Orji, a guy they’ve trusted to throw exactly one pass in two seasons, will be the QB next year? I’m pretty sure the first consideration in winning that job will be the ability to throw the ball.
January 20th, 2024 at 11:07 PM ^
Give me Orji and Mullings in short yardage and maybe 4-5 packages per game. He’s too good of a runner to not see the field. If he can throw a little, he might be the starter. But I don’t believe Orji needs to be the best passer to win the job given his running potential.
January 21st, 2024 at 11:54 AM ^
I believe Orji has to be at least a competent passer in order to be QB1. He hasn't shown that ability yet.
January 21st, 2024 at 1:06 PM ^
There's so much blind faith in Orji on this board right now. I suspect he's far below the level Milton was at in 2020 as a passer, but a lot of people apparently think passing, reading defenses, etc, are "nice to haves" rather than "must haves".
January 21st, 2024 at 12:13 PM ^
Lamar isn't a great thrower and the ravens made it work. We went hard after Taysom Hill and that Vic Viramontes and neither could throw any better than Orji. The offense will change and be closer to RR running Denard, if Orji is the starter.
January 20th, 2024 at 11:18 PM ^
I’m glad that Jadyn Davis got those Rose Bowl and National Championship practices. It’s gonna be a combination of Orji & Davis, and I hope Tuttle gets his 7th year.
January 21st, 2024 at 12:15 PM ^
Denegal is in the mix. He is solid.