Well, better late than never. Four years after I implored Jim Harbaugh to come home, he is finally coming back to Ann Arbor. Brady Hoke is a good man and a good coach but he was over matched at the highest level of college football. If there is anyone out there who can revive the storied Michigan program, it is Harbaugh. It would have been great if Harbaugh had accepted the job four years ago, but in a way it is a blessing in disguise. For one thing, having coached in the NFL gives him more experience and more credential in recruiting. If he had taken the job four years ago, he may be restless at Michigan now, wondering about the challenge of the NFL. Having gotten that out of his system, he may be staying at Michigan for a long time as opposed to jumping to the pros after a few years. So I look forward to a long reign for Harbaugh at Michigan.
Of course fans should not get their hopes up too high in the next few years. The cupboard is relatively bare as Hoke has not recruited well and the records in the past two years is not going to help. Add to the great job of MSU in recruiting in the state of Michigan and OSU dominating the state of Ohio, it is going to take at least a couple of years to stockpile enough stars to compete with those two programs. I see 7-5 next season and 8-4 after that. Michigan can be competitive for the Big Ten championship in 3 years and maybe win it by the time Harbaugh's first recruiting class are seniors. I think anything more than that is unrealistic and anything less than that and he would not be worth 8 million per year!
I am not trying to get out of my own predicament or elicit sympathy for being an old man but I made some stupid mistakes in my predictions. I found the first newspaper where I circled the Big Ten winners that led to a 5-4 prediction. I has PSU winning originally but had not noticed Illinois playing! So when I go write my blog I used a different newspaper and I missed the PSU game and couldn't figure out how I came up with 5-4 the first time. After a while I just decided I must have predicted Illinois winning instead of losing to make it 5-4. When LBOAYM pointed out that the PSU game was missing, I figured the Big Ten can't possibly win 6 games so I decided to make PSU a loser. So I should be 4-0 at this point but instead I am 2-2! Nobody's fault but my own so I will stick with the bad result. But obviously I am getting old: not able to count to ten and can't remember what predictions I made in the first place!
Monday, December 29, 2014
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Well, there's no doubt that you are getting old. We are ALL getting old! Hopefully, your prediction for Harbaugh doing well will also be wrong, but on paper, this is a home run for Michigan.
ReplyDeleteI actually like Harbaugh and wished that he would sign with the Raiders. I never really thought that he would return to Ann Arbor because I thought he'd have a burning desire to win a Super Bowl.
I see the allure of returning and taking his alma mater to the promised land, so I don't fault him for doing so. Though in my opinion, coaching college football has to be one of the most difficult and frustrating coaching jobs.
I don't know if he'll be able to handle the pressure that is put on him. The bar has been raised even higher with the huge contract.
UM has a relatively easy schedule next year, so I predict they will win at least 8 games. So, he will have to win more than 8 the following years.
What are your thoughts about the contract that was given to Harbaugh? I personally think it sets a dangerous precedent for college sports.
How long before Saban gets that money? And you know that a lot of the funding will trickle down to the fans. What happens when Harbaugh doesn't deliver on competing with Saban?
Hope you have a Happy New Year!
-LBOAYM
I think with Harbaugh's personality, college is a better fit for him than pros. As in the case in SF, he rubs people the wrong way at times. In college where the head coach is god, alas Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes, I think he will do better. He may want to win the Super Bowl but he can still do that after a successful run in college as Pete Carroll did. But I think he will be more like Nick Saban, much better in college than in the NFL.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Saban, he will probably get a raise with the Harbaush signing. But since Harbaush is "only" getting 5 million per year as opposed to 8 as rumored, Saban won't get much of a raise. But still, don't get me started about coaches being overpaid! The whole thing is obscene but that is the way it is in a capitalist society. As long as ESPN gets the ratings, the money will only go up.
I don't agree with your prediction that Michigan will win 8 games. They have 7 home games but 2 are against OSU and MSU in which they will be underdog. So let say they win the other 5. Of the 5 road games, two are against teams (Utah, Maryland) that they lost to at home this year. So even if they improve under Harbaugh, they will still be underdog against those two. That leaves Minnesota, Indiana and PSU. Sure they can win all 3 and be 8-4. But only Indiana is a sure win. Minnesota is a tossup on the road and PSU is certain to be favored against Michigan. So I think 7-5 is realistic and 8-4 is a reach.
You don't fool me! I see that you are trying not to jinx them...haha!
ReplyDelete7-5 to you is realistic, but one more win really isn't much of a stretch. I think had Harbaugh been coaching this year, they would have won those games against Utah, Rutgers and Maryland. So to go on the road vs. 2 of those three, they should come out with one victory. I think they will be better than Minnesota and I think Penn State is way overrated.
I guess we will have to see what they look like at the beginning of the season. My concern, if I were a M fan, would be the QB situation. Will Harbaugh be able to groom Morris in time to be a competitive QB? We will see.
I understand where you are coming from regarding his personality. The thing I am worried about is that he will burn out. Especially after he has seen how much less work there is in the NFL. Like I said, the college job is so much harder, because you are basically working 365 days a year.
As far as salary goes, I am more relieved that he wasn't paid the 8 million that was rumored. I think you and I agree on coaching salaries and probably on how much money is spent on college sports in general.
By the way, I believe that the 8 million rumor was started by M and a reporter. This scared off some NFL teams, I think. Though, maybe his intent was to go to M the whole time!
-LBOAYM