Should Michigan Fire Jim Harbaugh?
What Came Before
After Lloyd Carr’s long and successful tenure as Michigan’s head coach, Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke brought significant disappointment from 2008 to 2014. Rodriguez was 15-22. Hoke was 31-20, but failed to obtain bowl eligibility in 2014.
Harbaugh arrived in 2015 and brought improvement and stabilization. His current record with UM is 47-17. His worst season was eight wins and he’s led three 10-win seasons. Under Harbaugh, Michigan is consistently a top-15 team.
So What’s The Problem?
Unlike Carr's, JH’s Michigan has not won a Big Ten title let alone sniffed a national title. Harbaugh is 2-11 against top-10 teams and 1-7 on the road against ranked teams.
Perhaps most importantly, Michigan is 0-5 under Harbaugh against Ohio State, its biggest rival. The Wolverines lost those five games by a combined total of 95 points with four losses coming by double digits and three by over 20 points.
Losing to Ohio State is also important because it arguably cost Michigan a playoff berth both in 2016 and 2018.
We need to ask two decisive questions: is this bar that Harbaugh’s Michigan is failing to eclipse Harbaugh’s fault and should be fired for it?
Is Harbaugh The Problem: Offense
There’s this perception that Harbaugh is stubborn and refuses to change. Supposedly, he’s mired in this old-fashioned mindset that favors a slow-tempo, pro-style offense with a physical run game that heavily involves the tight ends.
But clearly, this perception isn’t accurate. Two offseasons ago, he landed five-star transfer quarterback Shea Patterson.
Stylistically, Patterson is very different than the college quarterbacks that Harbaugh had wanted to run his offense, true pocket-passers like Andrew Luck at Stanford and Jake Rudock.
Patterson is a mobile, exciting type of player who makes things happen outside the pocket.
During the offseason, Harbaugh brought in a new offensive coordinator and play-caller in Josh Gattis. Gattis’ offense is up-tempo and spread-based, which favors Patterson’s skill set.
While Patterson has incurred criticism for critical mistakes and otherwise disappointing performances, it’s hard to blame Harbaugh for Patterson because Patterson was the perceived transfer to land.
In terms of scheme and coaching, on the offensive end, it seems like Harbaugh is doing all he can.
Why Can’t Michigan Beat Ohio State: Recruiting
As measured by 247’s Team Talent Composite, Ohio State ranked between three and nine spots higher in all five of Harbaugh’s Michigan years.
When UM came within seconds and inches of beating Ohio State in 2016 only to lose in overtime, the ranking disparity was only three spots.
In OSU’s most recent 29-point slugging, it held a nine-spot advantage.
It seems obvious: the Buckeyes have beaten Michigan by more points when they had more talent.
Is Harbaugh An Insufficient Recruiter?
Harbaugh should be a great recruiter. After all, he’s a nationally respected name given the reputation that he cultivated with the San Francisco 49ers and at Stanford.
It’s not like Michigan hasn’t ranked top-11 by 247 in each of his years at Michigan. Plus, another top-10 recruiting class is on the way.
If Harbaugh is expected to beat Ohio State, though, then he should be expected to recruit better.
To be fair, I think he is disadvantaged in this respect by Michigan’s higher academic standards and the lack of quality produced in Michigan high schools.
But Harbaugh has also had some notable gaffes. For example, he failed to land current Boston College star A.J. Dillon.
Dillon had committed to Michigan, but wasn’t convinced that he’d play the sort of expansive, all-purpose role at running back that he envisioned for himself. This season, Dillon has run for 1,685 yards at Boston College.
While the Buckeyes boast a star in J.K. Dobbins, Michigan’s lack of rush attack absolutely holds it back in big games.
Under Gattis, Michigan had developed a rush attack that had seemed solid like in the team’s blowout win over Notre Dame.
But in Harbaugh’s 11 losses to top-10 teams — including the recent loss to Ohio State — UM averaged more than 2.9 YPC three times and never averaged than four YPC.
The Verdict
In recent history, a national championship team has needed to have Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and/or a Heisman-caliber quarterback.
So there is very little else in the coaching world that could reliably be said to be better than Harbaugh.
The Buckeyes have benefitted both from having Meyer and Heisman-caliber quarterbacks and they just so happen to be in Michigan’s conference.
Given where Michigan is annually under Harbaugh, I don’t think a case can be made for firing him.
A better case can be made for firing defensive coordinator Don Brown, whose Wolverine defense gave up 62 points to OSU last year and 56 this year.
For comparison’s sake, Rutgers gave up 52 points last year and 56 this year to Ohio State.
What Came Before
After Lloyd Carr’s long and successful tenure as Michigan’s head coach, Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke brought significant disappointment from 2008 to 2014. Rodriguez was 15-22. Hoke was 31-20, but failed to obtain bowl eligibility in 2014.
Harbaugh arrived in 2015 and brought improvement and stabilization. His current record with UM is 47-17. His worst season was eight wins and he’s led three 10-win seasons. Under Harbaugh, Michigan is consistently a top-15 team.
So What’s The Problem?
Unlike Carr's, JH’s Michigan has not won a Big Ten title let alone sniffed a national title. Harbaugh is 2-11 against top-10 teams and 1-7 on the road against ranked teams.
Perhaps most importantly, Michigan is 0-5 under Harbaugh against Ohio State, its biggest rival. The Wolverines lost those five games by a combined total of 95 points with four losses coming by double digits and three by over 20 points.
Losing to Ohio State is also important because it arguably cost Michigan a playoff berth both in 2016 and 2018.
We need to ask two decisive questions: is this bar that Harbaugh’s Michigan is failing to eclipse Harbaugh’s fault and should be fired for it?
Is Harbaugh The Problem: Offense
There’s this perception that Harbaugh is stubborn and refuses to change. Supposedly, he’s mired in this old-fashioned mindset that favors a slow-tempo, pro-style offense with a physical run game that heavily involves the tight ends.
But clearly, this perception isn’t accurate. Two offseasons ago, he landed five-star transfer quarterback Shea Patterson.
Stylistically, Patterson is very different than the college quarterbacks that Harbaugh had wanted to run his offense, true pocket-passers like Andrew Luck at Stanford and Jake Rudock.
Patterson is a mobile, exciting type of player who makes things happen outside the pocket.
During the offseason, Harbaugh brought in a new offensive coordinator and play-caller in Josh Gattis. Gattis’ offense is up-tempo and spread-based, which favors Patterson’s skill set.
While Patterson has incurred criticism for critical mistakes and otherwise disappointing performances, it’s hard to blame Harbaugh for Patterson because Patterson was the perceived transfer to land.
In terms of scheme and coaching, on the offensive end, it seems like Harbaugh is doing all he can.
Why Can’t Michigan Beat Ohio State: Recruiting
As measured by 247’s Team Talent Composite, Ohio State ranked between three and nine spots higher in all five of Harbaugh’s Michigan years.
When UM came within seconds and inches of beating Ohio State in 2016 only to lose in overtime, the ranking disparity was only three spots.
In OSU’s most recent 29-point slugging, it held a nine-spot advantage.
It seems obvious: the Buckeyes have beaten Michigan by more points when they had more talent.
Is Harbaugh An Insufficient Recruiter?
Harbaugh should be a great recruiter. After all, he’s a nationally respected name given the reputation that he cultivated with the San Francisco 49ers and at Stanford.
It’s not like Michigan hasn’t ranked top-11 by 247 in each of his years at Michigan. Plus, another top-10 recruiting class is on the way.
If Harbaugh is expected to beat Ohio State, though, then he should be expected to recruit better.
To be fair, I think he is disadvantaged in this respect by Michigan’s higher academic standards and the lack of quality produced in Michigan high schools.
But Harbaugh has also had some notable gaffes. For example, he failed to land current Boston College star A.J. Dillon.
Dillon had committed to Michigan, but wasn’t convinced that he’d play the sort of expansive, all-purpose role at running back that he envisioned for himself. This season, Dillon has run for 1,685 yards at Boston College.
While the Buckeyes boast a star in J.K. Dobbins, Michigan’s lack of rush attack absolutely holds it back in big games.
Under Gattis, Michigan had developed a rush attack that had seemed solid like in the team’s blowout win over Notre Dame.
But in Harbaugh’s 11 losses to top-10 teams — including the recent loss to Ohio State — UM averaged more than 2.9 YPC three times and never averaged than four YPC.
The Verdict
In recent history, a national championship team has needed to have Dabo Swinney, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and/or a Heisman-caliber quarterback.
So there is very little else in the coaching world that could reliably be said to be better than Harbaugh.
The Buckeyes have benefitted both from having Meyer and Heisman-caliber quarterbacks and they just so happen to be in Michigan’s conference.
Given where Michigan is annually under Harbaugh, I don’t think a case can be made for firing him.
A better case can be made for firing defensive coordinator Don Brown, whose Wolverine defense gave up 62 points to OSU last year and 56 this year.
For comparison’s sake, Rutgers gave up 52 points last year and 56 this year to Ohio State.
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