Harbaugh letter grade year one

Outside of beating Penn State, who turned out to be a fraud anyway, didn't really exceed on field expectations.

Solid B.

Player development gets a total incomplete. After 5-6 years of total incompetence running the football, until this staff shows the ability to run the football it can't get an A. You can be optimistic and give them the benefit of the doubt, but that is still a huge hurdle for us to have long term success.

Re the MSU game, he should have had an emergency sideline signal ready to tell the snapper/punter to take the delay of game. The fumble/brainfart aside, we were not lined up to defend that rush. We had 3 receivers out wide who were uncovered, plus a punter, which meant MSU was rushing 4 people completely unblocked (or 5 if you don't count the snapper as a blocker). You need to have a sideline signal ready for a situation like that where you're out of timeouts and the opposing team lines up differently than you were expecting. That was a coaching mistake. Other than that, I have no complaints. A-

Depends on the Citrus Bowl (which it shouldn't, honestly, because the Citrus and 37 other bowls are just exhibitions, but there's some meaning to it given Michigan's circumstances).

9-3 was basically on the high end of the expectations as expressed here on MGoBlog. But, they lost to both MSU and OSU (even if the former was a 1 in 10,000 occurence). A win against Florida would give them a 10 win season and they'd finish in the Top 15. That woud garner an A- from me.

Lose to Florida and they finish 9-4, losing 4 out of 5 games against ranked opponents, and probably finish in the lower end of the Top 25. I'd say that would deserve a B.

This team gets a C. 75% is 75% and it was a lot closer to being worse than that than better. Minnesota and Indiana took us to the wire and if Hoke were the coach for MSU we'd all scream for his head on a platter after one of the worst plays in Michigan football history. We should have been ready for the all out block attempt; I don't think we were. Ohio State took us to the woodshed and absolutely was more prepared in the second half than we were. Slow linebackers are one thing, getting run over like that and not having an answer is something else.

Harbaugh is a great coach and I couldn't ask for anything better in the off-season. Recruting is going well and the future is bright, but the two biggest games of the season were nightmares. No way does that come close to an A for me. 

because without Harbaugh, that's what we were in line for. In 2015 and 2016. What's that factoid about QBs recruited by Al Borges? Never started as upperclassmen? Yeah. After the whole QB situation we can talk about the strength of our team, the defense. You can't separate out our defensive performance this year with the leap from Mattison defenses of the past to this year without attributing at least some of that to Durkin. Yes, we were blown out by Ohio State in the one game when they were clicking on all cylinders, but you know who else was blown out by Urbz in the past 12 months? Nick fucking Saban, with 5 starts all over his roster and Deshawn Hand glued to the bench. 

also, Harbaugh practically rebooted the program off the field. New strength coach, a recruiting staff with a legit ace up in the sleeve in Partridge and Team Mom G. Bush. This is what the big boys do, and it took Harbaugh to get us there. 

Can't really give this season an A because we didn't make it to the B1G champtionship - and it's been since 2003 since we won a conference title, but we went 10-2 during the regular season (I refuse to acknowledge the end of the Staee game) with a chance to beat a powerhouse SEC program in a New Year's Day bowl game. A-.

1) Soft landing at UM gave Durkin time and basis for next move, as well as opportunity to solidify his appeal in the head coaching market.

2) Low relative salary here with non-penalty departure assured that Durkin could, and would leave whenever his next opportunity arose.

3) Harbaugh and Durkin had a good, albeit short run together. Everyone must know that Harbaugh will not tolerate a staff member that longs to be somewhere else. Enthusiasm is required and cannot be feined. There is really no surprise in the Durkin departure. The real surprise would have been if he stayed.

4) Departure was mutual and amicable, unlike the meeting they'll have when they face each other at their teams' next kick off, and during the ensuing 60 minutes. Then, they'll be back to being friends. .

In my mind while it is still a loss in the record books, we beat MSU

Win either of the 2 B1G losses and it goes to A. He made so many key moves, like Rudock's transfer, that probably avoided disaster. A for resurrecting the program. Finish with a few more key recruits and it could be an A+.

There is only one grade that is appropriate for Harbaugh: H+

Key:

The "H" stands for "Harbaugh".

The "+" stands for "plus".

 

Yes, we lost to OSU badly but we didn't have the tools left in the box.  We lost to state on a play of a century.  Seriously, that will never happen again.  It was the dumbest of luck 3 times in a row on one play.

 

Rudock is could be drafted.  Who would have ever thought that?  Recruits want to come here over Florida State and other big names.  Anyone expect that?  The team is competitive and winning.  People are excited again.  We are expecting New Years Day bowls again.  How can you not give this first year an A when we were hoping for 6 wins and praying for 7?  Remember when we thought BYU would challenge us?  Or Minnesota?  Or Penn State would beat us?  That's worth an A right there.  

Now next year the bar goes high.  We need some rival wins and be in that top 8 in consideration for the playoff.

How can it be anything other than an A? Look back at our recent history as compared to what has transpired over the last year and we can honestly say... Who has it better than us......NOBODY!!!!! Losing to our two rivals was a very bitter pill to swallow, but a vast majority here expected that. The simple fact is leading up to those two games there was hope. A hope that had not been there recently. With Harbaugh now there is expectations and I fully believe in the very near future those expectations will be met. It is time to pay the fiddler and make no mistake, Sparty and Bucknut fans know it! Sux to be them.

GO BLUE!!!

Yes, Harbaugh MUST be dinged for losing to OSU and MSU and I am pretty sure that Coach would agree with that.

Otherwise...flawless. I knew that it would take a year to overcome all of the bad development and training poison that these recruits suffered under Hoke.

I think that next year, Michigan will see a huge bump up.

I do think he misread Durkins commitment to the University of Michigan, but it was not a mistake to let him go interview.  If Jerkin didn't want to be here, than let him go.  Don't let the door hit you on the backside. 

Back to the A grade. 

One of the flukiest (is that a word?) plays on the last play of the game that went against us and we lost to a rival.  Not worthy of downgrading coach imo.

We were driving to tie the game vs Utah and got picked off.  Pick 6?  Can't remember right now, but we were in that game.

We were flat out gassed by the end of the year and lost to a better team the last game of the season.  We had a couple of injuries too. 

This was not Harb's roster, but he did a great job of coaching them up. 

Grade: A 

I would say an A-/B+. If we had been more competitive in The Game, he would get an A. I know we had some injuries that crippled our ability to stop the run, but Hoke never got blown out by OSU, for all his faults. I don't hold the MSU loss against him, because... Well, you know. HOWEVER, I have total faith that Harbaugh will address whatever weaknesses we had this season and improve significantly next year. Hell, he already made good on his promise to replace Durkin with someone better.

How can it be anything other than an A? Look back at our recent history as compared to what has transpired over the last year and we can honestly say... Who has it better than us......NOBODY!!!!! Losing to our two rivals was a very bitter pill to swallow, but a vast majority here expected that. The simple fact is leading up to those two games there was hope. A hope that had not been there recently. With Harbaugh now there is expectations and I fully believe in the very near future those expectations will be met. It is time to pay the fiddler and make no mistake, Sparty and Bucknut fans know it! Sux to be them.

GO BLUE!!!

Double post...disregard.

He maxed out this team. I thought our best case WITH a bowl win would be 9 wins but I predicted 7-5. It's crazy to think we lost to a Utah team we likely beat with Rudock instead of Ruddock, msu after beating them and then a true whooping by osu. One loss that felt like the opponent just being better and by a large margin. ONE. Terrific job. He's also crushing recruiting and has done about the best possible job in the other areas listed. I don't disagree with the Durkin comment either. That said, I'm happy for him. I just think it's obvious that even Harbaugh expected a bit more from him on the commitment front and trying to poach a few staff members to be unexpected. He didn't pull a Meyer by forcing guys to sign contracts that prohibit working against osu in the same cycle but I wonder if Jim will from here? I could see him doing it in the name of "duh" and not doing it in the name of competition. BTW, I stopped my cult like obsession over Harbaugh before the season so this is a non-homer grade. Terrific job, not perfect but about the best that could be done in under a year across the board.

Overall, B+/A-. Great job getting the team back on track, and there's only so much you can do in a year. I don't hold that MSU game against him. That game was won, but lost on a complete fluke play that won't be seen again for another 15-20 years.

But that OSU game....shit that was rough. Yeah the DL was banged up, but losing like that is hard to just write off. Even Hoke never lost that bad, his games were always close, and most of his teams were far worse than Harbaugh's.

way too generous and not objective. He gets a B- for having a slightly above average season. Why is it slightly above average? He got us 1-2 more wins than I think Hoke would have gotten and we went 0-3 in our big/primetime/rivalry games. Just another season. Nothing special. But thank goodness he got Rudock.

F- last season to at least a B this season. That is one hell of an improvement IMO! It may take 2 to 3 more seasons before Harbaugh has an A+!team!

Actual on-field achievement irrespective of context: B+  (Losses to MSU and OSU keep it from being any higher)

Actual on-field improvement from previous year: A+

Actual improvement in program trajectory and perception of program nationally: Off the charts 

For all you people laying the blame on Durkin for the Ohio St loss, you are wrong. It was partly his fault, yes, but we will NEVER win in this era of football against OSU by only scoring 13 points