crg

September 17th, 2023 at 3:32 PM ^

The CAMPBELL system:

Come out completely flat

Allow opponent to take the lead

Make no adjustments to playcalling

Play good enough defense to keep game in reach

Badly manage the clock

Excite the fans by getting the ball down one score.

Literally the stupidest fucking thing happens.

Lose the game

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75054

FranzWagner

September 17th, 2023 at 4:01 AM ^

This is why you use your stock to your advantage when you are the hot thing.

At the very least, you swindle some moron AD into paying you millions that you get even if fired.

He had a chance to capitalize on the 2020 season (which overall turned out to be a complete fraud of output results).

Instead he chose to be afraid of any big time job.

It's clear this guy just isn't cut out for a big time program.

Now he's been shown to be a fraud because the results speak for themselves.

I can't even imagine the mess we'd be in if we had hired this asshole after the 2020 season.

Joined: 05/01/2019

MGoPoints: 3929

PopeLando

September 17th, 2023 at 6:34 AM ^

Very good example, but now you have to add the Tucker Corollary:

Once you have successfully secured a lucrative guaranteed contract, you must avoid fucking it up in the worst way possible. Like…just speaking hypothetically here…maybe DON’T sexually harass a sexual harassment prevention speaker…

Joined: 08/01/2015

MGoPoints: 68478

Phaedrus

September 17th, 2023 at 1:45 PM ^

This whole thing, especially the OP, is extremely stupid. Part of being a coach, like with any profession, is learning and improving. No one is spit out of the womb and elite coach, and that doesn’t make any coach who has ups and downs a “fraud.”

It’s especially difficult to gauge the quality of a coach because their success and failure is so tied to recruits, reputation, program resources, and just happenstance. Just like with players, “fit” is often just as important as talent.

Joined: 09/02/2019

MGoPoints: 6538

CityOfKlompton

September 17th, 2023 at 8:02 PM ^

Saying he has one good season is really underselling his tenure at Iowa State. The team's run from 2017-2021 is probably the greatest five year run in program history. Yes, 8-5, 8-5, 7-6, 9-3, 7-6 is stellar results at Iowa State. We are talking about a program that has won 8 or more games in a season only 10 times in 125 years.

  • Campbell owns three of those seasons
  • Only one other 8+ win season has happened since the 1970s
  • Two of those 8+ win seasons came before 1910
  • Campbell owns five of the program's top 12 all-time seasons by wins
  • Iowa State made it to a bowl game in three consecutive seasons only once before Campbell; the Cyclones went to a bowl five straight years from '17-'21
  • Campbell is the only coach in ISU history to win more than one bowl game

It probably would have been a mistake if Michigan had backed up a truck for him, but he's still been very successful by Iowa State standards.

Joined: 10/14/2018

MGoPoints: 7995

maquih

September 18th, 2023 at 7:59 AM ^

Why are we wasting energy shitting on some random coach of a random team that doesn't matter at all to Michigan football?

Like idk just a guy trying to do his job and failing.  I see several of those every day at work, i dont need to see it here when im trying to read about Michigan Football.

Joined: 11/04/2010

MGoPoints: 1781

willirwin1778

September 17th, 2023 at 9:24 AM ^

Even thought this sites very own leadership was involved in that insanity.  I mostly chalk up that period of fan vitriol to pandemic psychosis and online trolls emboldened by Michigan barely fielding a team during the shut down.    
 

The general idea sounds really funny now.

Fire a legendary football coach during a pandemic and start a rebuilding process, from the ground up, with an up and comer guy from Iowa State who has had a couple good seasons.    

Please always remind them in preparation for the next time the faceless online horde starts to rally around a really really historically stupid idea.  There should be a check mark like this "$%#@" next to their user name if they wanted to fire coach and replace with ISU guy.

Joined: 03/09/2013

MGoPoints: 5044

kehnonymous

September 17th, 2023 at 12:20 PM ^

I will say that although I was not on the FIRE HARBAUGH train I also wasn't laying down on the tracks to stop it. 

I mean, we all watched that season, right? (More power to you if you didnt.) It looked like the team had quit and it was off the heels of the not-great 2019 campaign where we struggled vs Army and got skullforked @ Wisconsin  

Hindsight is 20/20, pun intended, and thankfully I and many other people were wrong but at the time it wasn't completely unreasonable based on what we saw to look elsewhere for a head coach.  It was also reasonable to chalk up 2020 as weird, which thankfully we did.

Joined: 11/25/2011

MGoPoints: 32999

willirwin1778

September 17th, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^

Honestly, I hear you, but I thought it was completely unreasonable.  Harbaugh's overall record was excellent up until shutdown covid.  And his track record at other programs including NFL was remarkable not to mention his brother is coaching the Baltimore Ravens.  

Sure, waving a magic wand to make things perfect would have been awesome and will always be awesome.  But nobody could present any semblance of strategy that didn't require a complete system overhaul and ousting of a school legend and bringing in a coach that likely had no NFL ties and pedigree.  It was stupid and looks worse by the day.   

Internet mob repelled and crisis averted.  Next time you go pandemic psycho nuts I'm taking away your computers.      

  

 

Joined: 03/09/2013

MGoPoints: 5044

MichaelCarras

September 17th, 2023 at 1:28 PM ^

not-great 2019

Michigan finished 12 in Sagarin and 12th in ESPN FPI  in 2019 https://sagarin.usatoday.com/2019-2/2019-2/college-football-team-ratings-2019/ https://www.espn.com/college-football/fpi/_/season/2019   Schedule strength matters.

Harbaugh was significantly better over his first five years at Michigan (at least in terms of power rankings) than Saban was at LSU.  The criticism was always based on unrealistic expectations and a lack of understanding on how to grade how good a football team is. 

It isn't just a Michigan thing. Saban and Day face ridiculous expectations too and the opposite happens when people overrate Matt Campbell, Matt Rhule and Mel Tucker because of using small sample sizes and not using power rankings.  But the criticism Harbaugh received even after San Diego, Stanford the 49ers and the first five years at Michigan never made sense. His first five years were a solid A grade.

Joined: 01/08/2023

MGoPoints: 510

bronxblue

September 17th, 2023 at 7:11 AM ^

He's also the guy who said he didn't consider winning the Big 12 in 2021 as a fair barometer for measuring his team's success after he failed to do so.

I forget who on here wrote it (maybe Ace) about how Campbell's approach on both offense and defense was built for the modern game and Harbaugh wasn't and it felt like most of the evidence came down to ISU playing in a bunch of close games every year and 2020 they found a way to win most of them.  That turned out not to be sustainable.

I've been wrong about wanting different coaches - I sort of wanted them to go after Tom Herman once they fired Hoke - but I never liked Campbell and I'm glad they didn't move on from Harbaugh for him.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171786

Swayze Howell Sheen

September 17th, 2023 at 7:55 AM ^

Goodness I would like to see Ace's comment on this - he was the biggest Campbell supporter out there. 

The fact that so many people thought this clown was close to Harbaugh as a coach should tell us something about how much we know as fans.

Joined: 10/05/2008

MGoPoints: 47141

BroadneckBlue21

September 17th, 2023 at 9:35 AM ^

A lot of people are simply unable to assess things beyond their current state—they can’t analyze why something is happening (like wins and losses: or a player having a bad game). Many folks look at the present and have no idea that it isn’t a result just of one guy, which is how fools blame “the government” for the state of their own lives. So they look at who is in charge—like Harbaugh and Campbell—and they assess on the surface of that particular moment/season. 

Like Jake Butt said after the game, Harbaugh is one of the best football coaches, not just college but pro. His years and years of success of that have supported that over the blip that was 2020.

Anonymity, alcohol, and the petulant whimpering for immediate greatness make for an insufferable fandom.

Joined: 01/12/2015

MGoPoints: 6311

JDeanAuthor

September 17th, 2023 at 1:46 PM ^

"Many folks look at the present and have no idea that it isn’t a result just of one guy, which is how fools blame “the government” for the state of their own lives."

"The government" is not just one guy. And I wouldn't say they're as clean as the wind-driven snow.

But your point is taken. Same with people who blame "big business" or "the system" or any other entity for things well within their own control

Joined: 08/01/2018

MGoPoints: 2191

CompleteLunacy

September 17th, 2023 at 2:22 PM ^

Look at the reaction after last nights game. Suddenly the first two games of near perfection from JJ don’t matter and he can’t help us win a national championship anymore. I have read comparisons to OKorn…like, really? JJ had a bad night and a reality check. He is human - I’d rather he learn this against Bowling Green than against a Big Ten team capable of upsetting them (like, say, Rutgers next week).

 

Joined: 11/13/2010

MGoPoints: 12910

jsquigg

September 17th, 2023 at 9:22 PM ^

I really liked Ace's contributions and supported him during a rough time, but even I have no defense left for him. He's now lashing out at Brian on Twitter apparently for how he's talked about the MSU/Tucker situation. Brian defended and supported Ace even to his own detriment, and while I agree with many of Ace's positions, he leaves no room for any nuance and is intolerant of folk with differing views. Now he's not even producing anything anymore (likely somewhat health related) and seems to resent many of the people who helped him.

Joined: 09/06/2009

MGoPoints: 9621

Other Andrew

September 17th, 2023 at 9:21 AM ^

We remember that you remember, Catchafire. You remind us frequently.

FWIW, though I wasn’t all in on Campbell, or really anyone in particular, I was in the group, along with Brian and most of my friends, who didn’t think Harbaugh was going to get things on track again, and therefore assumed we were doomed to mediocrity. Happy to say I was wrong!

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 7683