I openly believed that Michigan should have moved on from Harbaugh following the 2020 season. The results simply weren’t there to extend his contract (even at a reduced rate) and I’m not afraid of a coaching search that may not deliver a more proven coach (on paper) than Harbaugh is today. But I also have no interest in rooting against my alma mater in 2021, especially in a role as a lector at the University of Michigan in which I have taught (and will teach again) several football players.
As we prepare to enter this 2021 season, I am giving Harbaugh one more chance for three reasons:
What his six subsequent years at Arizona reminded everyone (43-35, .551) is he had coaching chops, but what made Rodriguez great in Morgantown from 2001-07 was the uniqueness of his offense – and, arguably, the watered-down competition in the Big East.
He was a bad fit at Michigan and his offense was handicapped by a massive change in philosophy that would take 3-5 years to flourish like it did at West Virginia; it wasn’t until Year 6 and a second-year Pat White under center that the Mountaineers ranked in the Top 10 nationally in total offense (they were 31st with first-time starter White in 2005).
By the time Rodriguez landed in Tucson in 2012, the rest of the college football world had caught up to him, most programs running the spread. Even with quarterback Khalil Tate arriving in 2017 – Arizona’s version of Denard Robinson – defenses and defensive coordinators had game plans to slow read-option QB-heavy attacks. That’s not to say they’re no longer effective – in fact, read-option spread offenses are as effective as they’ve ever been – but they’re not gimmicky, and certainly don’t take opponents by surprise.
Rodriguez’s problem, and that of any successful coach that can peter out, is failing to adapt quickly enough to the changing landscape of their sport, whether that’s philosophies and strategies on the field or name, image & likeness off the field.
An often criticism of Harbaugh is that he failed to recognize that the college football he returned to in 2015 was not the same one he left in 2010, when Stanford out-muscled its opponents with a physical, over-matching ground game and an efficient, big-play play-action pro-style attack. This came to a head in the 2018 Michigan-Ohio State game as two different offensive approaches collided headfirst.
U-M went into THE Game with a plan focused on methodically moving the ball down the field, playing to its defense while occupying a greater time of possession. It was old-school football at its finest. OSU, on the other hand, was all about speed and throwing the football, relying on its spread to isolate Michigan’s defensive backs in one-on-one situations.
When it mattered most, in the first 45 minutes, Michigan failed spectacularly. It possessed the ball for 28:12 to Ohio State’s 16:48 but what did it have to show for it? 19 points (to OSU’s 41), 99 yards rushing on 30 carries (3.3 YPC), 149 yards passing (5.7 yards per attempt) and only two pass plays of 20 yards or more.
The Buckeyes, meanwhile, had 291 yards passing (10.8 yards per attempt). They were no more effective on the ground (3.4 yards per carry on 24 carries) but they didn’t use it as a crutch. They didn’t care about ball control or winning the rushing game. They attacked, connecting on pass completions of 24, 27, 24, 33, 31, 33, 31 and 20 yards in building a 22-point cushion entering the fourth quarter (and would open Q4 with a 78-yard TD pass).
Close losses to Ohio State in 2016-17 seemed to solidify to Harbaugh and Co., that bully ball would work. The currents of college football were changing dramatically, though, and when the 2018 season ended, Michigan was significantly behind its chief competitors in offensive identity (and stockpiling the type of elite athletes to blow opponents away).
U-M’s philosophy offensively and defensively have changed, though perhaps not quickly enough.
Still, Harbaugh is ever evolving and what made him special his first two years in Ann Arbor can make him special again: a tough-love, accountability approach that weeds out those looking for individual gain and creates a team-first attitude in which selflessness and playing the role to the best of one’s ability – characteristics that have always defined Harbaugh as both a player and a coach – bring 115 men together.
Michigan has had talent during these four most recent up-and-down years, but it has not had great chemistry, mediocre culture leading to factions that pulled in their own directions instead of in one direction – for the team. Bad culture is hard to fix when it’s gone unchecked for a period of seasons but with significant roster and staff turnover, there is a chance that Harbaugh can recapture what the Maize and Blue had in 2015-16.
Speaking of staff, it has been remade, with six new position coaches/coordinators. I can never remember such turnover without a head-coaching change. There are a few proven commodities, like RBs coach Mike Hart and DBs coach Steve Clinkscale, but there are also a lot of unknowns, both Mike McDonald (defense) and Sherrone Moore (offense) serving as coordinators for the first times in their careers.
This staff scares me. I should say, it’s lack of experience scares me. But I am also buoyed by the idea that with so many new faces – and with guys like Hart, Ron Bellamy, Matt Weiss and McDonald who have all been groomed in team-first environments – there is an opportunity to foster winning, unselfish culture again.
If it does not happen with this many new coaches, then it will be clear to all the tone Harbaugh sets overrules everything, his culture is broken, and there is no way to fix it.
But I don’t want to think about that yet. Those discussions will materialize if the season goes south (what is south in a year most fans would welcome 7-5? Entering November with a 3-5 record, with bad losses again to Wisconsin and rival Michigan State). And that brings me to No. 3 – I don’t have a choice. Not if I desire joy and hope over misery and despair.
It’s football season, when all things are possible, when the winged helmet will come pouring out of the eastern tunnel once again to run under the M Go Blue banner, and frankly, for a 12-game regular season, Harbaugh is the coach. Nothing will change that. And I will never root against my school, my team (and now as a teacher, my students). It’s not a fun way to live. It’s not an enjoyable way to be a fan. That’s not to say I’ll have crazy expectations for this team and for Harbaugh, but for now, he’s the head coach for the team I grew up loving and the team I will teach my son to love.
I will always be all in for the Maize and Blue, and I will hope that they surprise me this season, win 10 or more games, beat the snot out of the Spartans, reclaim the shifting ground in matchups with the Badgers and Nittany Lions, remind Rutgers why it’s Rutgers, and enter THE Game with the promise of a classic rivalry showdown. If all of that happens and Harbaugh returns for 2022, I’ll be excited because it means from Sept. 4-Nov. 27, I had a hell of a good time, and the future is once again bright.
As we prepare to enter this 2021 season, I am giving Harbaugh one more chance for three reasons:
- The 2015-16 Harbaugh could still exist.
- Staff changes could improve the culture.
- What other choice do I have?
What his six subsequent years at Arizona reminded everyone (43-35, .551) is he had coaching chops, but what made Rodriguez great in Morgantown from 2001-07 was the uniqueness of his offense – and, arguably, the watered-down competition in the Big East.
He was a bad fit at Michigan and his offense was handicapped by a massive change in philosophy that would take 3-5 years to flourish like it did at West Virginia; it wasn’t until Year 6 and a second-year Pat White under center that the Mountaineers ranked in the Top 10 nationally in total offense (they were 31st with first-time starter White in 2005).
By the time Rodriguez landed in Tucson in 2012, the rest of the college football world had caught up to him, most programs running the spread. Even with quarterback Khalil Tate arriving in 2017 – Arizona’s version of Denard Robinson – defenses and defensive coordinators had game plans to slow read-option QB-heavy attacks. That’s not to say they’re no longer effective – in fact, read-option spread offenses are as effective as they’ve ever been – but they’re not gimmicky, and certainly don’t take opponents by surprise.
Rodriguez’s problem, and that of any successful coach that can peter out, is failing to adapt quickly enough to the changing landscape of their sport, whether that’s philosophies and strategies on the field or name, image & likeness off the field.
An often criticism of Harbaugh is that he failed to recognize that the college football he returned to in 2015 was not the same one he left in 2010, when Stanford out-muscled its opponents with a physical, over-matching ground game and an efficient, big-play play-action pro-style attack. This came to a head in the 2018 Michigan-Ohio State game as two different offensive approaches collided headfirst.
U-M went into THE Game with a plan focused on methodically moving the ball down the field, playing to its defense while occupying a greater time of possession. It was old-school football at its finest. OSU, on the other hand, was all about speed and throwing the football, relying on its spread to isolate Michigan’s defensive backs in one-on-one situations.
When it mattered most, in the first 45 minutes, Michigan failed spectacularly. It possessed the ball for 28:12 to Ohio State’s 16:48 but what did it have to show for it? 19 points (to OSU’s 41), 99 yards rushing on 30 carries (3.3 YPC), 149 yards passing (5.7 yards per attempt) and only two pass plays of 20 yards or more.
The Buckeyes, meanwhile, had 291 yards passing (10.8 yards per attempt). They were no more effective on the ground (3.4 yards per carry on 24 carries) but they didn’t use it as a crutch. They didn’t care about ball control or winning the rushing game. They attacked, connecting on pass completions of 24, 27, 24, 33, 31, 33, 31 and 20 yards in building a 22-point cushion entering the fourth quarter (and would open Q4 with a 78-yard TD pass).
Close losses to Ohio State in 2016-17 seemed to solidify to Harbaugh and Co., that bully ball would work. The currents of college football were changing dramatically, though, and when the 2018 season ended, Michigan was significantly behind its chief competitors in offensive identity (and stockpiling the type of elite athletes to blow opponents away).
U-M’s philosophy offensively and defensively have changed, though perhaps not quickly enough.
Still, Harbaugh is ever evolving and what made him special his first two years in Ann Arbor can make him special again: a tough-love, accountability approach that weeds out those looking for individual gain and creates a team-first attitude in which selflessness and playing the role to the best of one’s ability – characteristics that have always defined Harbaugh as both a player and a coach – bring 115 men together.
Michigan has had talent during these four most recent up-and-down years, but it has not had great chemistry, mediocre culture leading to factions that pulled in their own directions instead of in one direction – for the team. Bad culture is hard to fix when it’s gone unchecked for a period of seasons but with significant roster and staff turnover, there is a chance that Harbaugh can recapture what the Maize and Blue had in 2015-16.
Speaking of staff, it has been remade, with six new position coaches/coordinators. I can never remember such turnover without a head-coaching change. There are a few proven commodities, like RBs coach Mike Hart and DBs coach Steve Clinkscale, but there are also a lot of unknowns, both Mike McDonald (defense) and Sherrone Moore (offense) serving as coordinators for the first times in their careers.
This staff scares me. I should say, it’s lack of experience scares me. But I am also buoyed by the idea that with so many new faces – and with guys like Hart, Ron Bellamy, Matt Weiss and McDonald who have all been groomed in team-first environments – there is an opportunity to foster winning, unselfish culture again.
If it does not happen with this many new coaches, then it will be clear to all the tone Harbaugh sets overrules everything, his culture is broken, and there is no way to fix it.
But I don’t want to think about that yet. Those discussions will materialize if the season goes south (what is south in a year most fans would welcome 7-5? Entering November with a 3-5 record, with bad losses again to Wisconsin and rival Michigan State). And that brings me to No. 3 – I don’t have a choice. Not if I desire joy and hope over misery and despair.
It’s football season, when all things are possible, when the winged helmet will come pouring out of the eastern tunnel once again to run under the M Go Blue banner, and frankly, for a 12-game regular season, Harbaugh is the coach. Nothing will change that. And I will never root against my school, my team (and now as a teacher, my students). It’s not a fun way to live. It’s not an enjoyable way to be a fan. That’s not to say I’ll have crazy expectations for this team and for Harbaugh, but for now, he’s the head coach for the team I grew up loving and the team I will teach my son to love.
I will always be all in for the Maize and Blue, and I will hope that they surprise me this season, win 10 or more games, beat the snot out of the Spartans, reclaim the shifting ground in matchups with the Badgers and Nittany Lions, remind Rutgers why it’s Rutgers, and enter THE Game with the promise of a classic rivalry showdown. If all of that happens and Harbaugh returns for 2022, I’ll be excited because it means from Sept. 4-Nov. 27, I had a hell of a good time, and the future is once again bright.
