When Jim Harbaugh was signed to be the new head football coach at the University of Michigan fans of the maize and blue were ecstatic. However, seven years later, it’s time to acknowledge the failure of this regime.
After starting the 2021 NCAA DI football season 7-0, Wolverines’ fans were over the moon. For the first time in a decade, Michigan was competing with the best in college football.
Then on Halloween, the Wolverines went to East Lansing for a matchup with the undefeated Michigan State Spartans. With fans at a fever pitch, the festivities began on that fateful day.
Although Michigan pulled away in the first half, holding a 23-14 lead, the game was far from over. After pushing the advantage to 16-points, the Wolverines looked to be in control. Then fans took to social media and anointed Cade McNamara as the best Cade in the state.
Almost as fast as Michigan took control, things began to sour for the team. Aside from the one beautiful pass, the Wolverines' offense fell silent relying on running backs Hassan Haskins and Blake Corum.
With Michigan confined to a box, the Spartans went to work. After MSU running back, Kenneth Walker III punched in one of his five touchdowns in the game the silent crowd erupted. From then on things never got back on for the Wolverines.
While the players deserve a portion of the credit for how things played out, where was Harbaugh or his staff when the scheme began to fail?
Players control the flow of a game, but it’s on a coach to rally his team when the going gets tough. Instead, Harbaugh found an excuse, “the referees,” and rode that in the post-game press conference.
Now Michigan sits at 8-1 after running through Indiana on Nov. 6 and people are back on the Harbaugh hype train.
It’s easy to fall back in line when you convince yourself that Harbaugh is a great recruiter. While I would love to agree with that, most of the recruiting is done by assistant coaches. When they find someone, Harbaugh is given the word and he jumps on a plane to try and convince the player Michigan football is back,
So I can’t give him the credit for that. If a person doesn’t cite recruiting as a reason to keep Harbaugh, they often go to his winning record or how he has rebuilt the program after the dark days of Brady Hoke and Rich Rodriguez.
During his six-season, Harbaugh has posted a 57-23 record. However, against his biggest rivals, Jim has fallen flat. He has gone 3-4 against the Spartans and 0-5 when facing Ohio State.
These games are the only ones that truly matter to Michigan fans. Yes, a national championship would be incredible. However, if a coach didn’t win any games in a season besides those two, Wolverines fans would rally for a lifetime deal. That’s the loyalty that comes with the maize & blue.
But when is enough, when can we admit this isn’t what we were promised when Harbaugh took the podium on the fateful December day.
No matter how this season finishes, I will be calling for Harbaugh’s job and I don’t want to hear, “who would we replace him with.” That mindset has allowed him to continue getting our hopes up, just to watch Michigan fall flat on its face when the seasons change.