1. I think hiring Don Brown made sense at the time, but IMHO, it was a massive mistake to give him full control over defensive recruiting which is why Dline depth is so bad. We could have had better recruiters overriding Don Brown and we would have had maybe his coaching with great dline play. Now maybe Don Brown refused to do so and if that was the case he should have been fired long ago for that alone neverminded the other issues of not adjusting his scheme or ability to execute adjustments well from his comfort zone which should have made Harbaugh can him after 2018 in reality.
2. Giving Josh Gattis complete control over offense with little input. It backfired badly in early 2019 almost losing to Army and getting boat raced by Wisky (Although bad defense was more issue against WIsky but offense was bad too with the fumbles and such). ANd bad performances against Iowa and first half PSU. And maybe that caused some cultural issues as well in 2019 and this year. Apparently offense started to improve a lot when Harbaugh and Warriner took some control away from Gattis in 2019. And in 2020, it appears according to mods like Balas that Gattis was given too much control again and culture imploded and was a disaster beyond proportions.
I know some say Gattis was handcuffed by Harbaugh old school philosophy, but mods say that is not true really. He was given too much control and is not good. Hiring Gattis was a mistake as such.
Keep in mind in 2018, it was the defense that was the problem especially against OSU. The offense actually played pretty well down the stretch. It was ok against OSU, but Harbaugh's problem that year without Gattis was not so much the offensive scheme itself, it was him approaching the OSU game like we were the better team and running first type team with vanilla play calling when you never should approach OSU that way no matter how vulnerable they looked. After all they could not have been that vulnerable they were in fact 10-1 even though they got waxed by Purdue and barely beat Maryland and at times looked lackluster in the season. They were the most important game ever in 20 years and we got embarrassed. And Harbaugh thought Gatti was the answer when in realty it was his approach to the game when he should have approached it with 2017 game plan having a much better QB where as in 2017 we had OKorn who was horrible but a very good gameplan.
Now the cultural issues may be related a bit above, but some may be separate as there were cracks in cultural foundation regarding OSU game and players looking ahead to Big Ten title game in 2018 which was a disgrace, but maybe fixable form the jackhammer in future seasons if the mistake of retaining Don Brown and given in/allowing his demands to have full control over defensive player recruiting and then hiring Josh Gattis does not happen.
Now culktural issues in 2018 may have been due to recruiting entitled players and many said in past things would be much better in future because Harbaugh adjusted recruiting to recruit players that were better fits. But that has not changed and in fact gotten worse. But the worse and continuing culture problems maybe are because of Josh Gattis and lesser extent Brown and Nua mistakes by Harbaugh and maybe would not have happened with the better fit but still good recruiting classes on paper if Harbaugh had the staff of 2018 but canned Brown and not hired Gattis???
Of course there is also the 2 minute and hurry up offensive problem Harbaugh seems to have regardless, but that is separate from the issues above.
I think the issues of Gattis and Brown are much much worse and more troublesome mistakes than the other issues Harbaugh had as the other issues maybe could be fixed.
If Harbaugh can get his 2015/2016 self back and with quality offensive and defensive coordinators who recruit well at all positions and always approaching OSU game with a great game plan, then Harbaughstill do it and win big at Michigan (Big Ten title and CFP trip with 12-1/13-0 seasons) 1/3 or 1/4 years with the other years winning 10/11 games and losing to OSU somewhat soundly but more competitively assuming OSU unfortunately stays the super football factory which is why 1/3 or 1/4 instead of 1/2(50-50 with OSU).
Your thoughts.
2. Giving Josh Gattis complete control over offense with little input. It backfired badly in early 2019 almost losing to Army and getting boat raced by Wisky (Although bad defense was more issue against WIsky but offense was bad too with the fumbles and such). ANd bad performances against Iowa and first half PSU. And maybe that caused some cultural issues as well in 2019 and this year. Apparently offense started to improve a lot when Harbaugh and Warriner took some control away from Gattis in 2019. And in 2020, it appears according to mods like Balas that Gattis was given too much control again and culture imploded and was a disaster beyond proportions.
I know some say Gattis was handcuffed by Harbaugh old school philosophy, but mods say that is not true really. He was given too much control and is not good. Hiring Gattis was a mistake as such.
Keep in mind in 2018, it was the defense that was the problem especially against OSU. The offense actually played pretty well down the stretch. It was ok against OSU, but Harbaugh's problem that year without Gattis was not so much the offensive scheme itself, it was him approaching the OSU game like we were the better team and running first type team with vanilla play calling when you never should approach OSU that way no matter how vulnerable they looked. After all they could not have been that vulnerable they were in fact 10-1 even though they got waxed by Purdue and barely beat Maryland and at times looked lackluster in the season. They were the most important game ever in 20 years and we got embarrassed. And Harbaugh thought Gatti was the answer when in realty it was his approach to the game when he should have approached it with 2017 game plan having a much better QB where as in 2017 we had OKorn who was horrible but a very good gameplan.
Now the cultural issues may be related a bit above, but some may be separate as there were cracks in cultural foundation regarding OSU game and players looking ahead to Big Ten title game in 2018 which was a disgrace, but maybe fixable form the jackhammer in future seasons if the mistake of retaining Don Brown and given in/allowing his demands to have full control over defensive player recruiting and then hiring Josh Gattis does not happen.
Now culktural issues in 2018 may have been due to recruiting entitled players and many said in past things would be much better in future because Harbaugh adjusted recruiting to recruit players that were better fits. But that has not changed and in fact gotten worse. But the worse and continuing culture problems maybe are because of Josh Gattis and lesser extent Brown and Nua mistakes by Harbaugh and maybe would not have happened with the better fit but still good recruiting classes on paper if Harbaugh had the staff of 2018 but canned Brown and not hired Gattis???
Of course there is also the 2 minute and hurry up offensive problem Harbaugh seems to have regardless, but that is separate from the issues above.
I think the issues of Gattis and Brown are much much worse and more troublesome mistakes than the other issues Harbaugh had as the other issues maybe could be fixed.
If Harbaugh can get his 2015/2016 self back and with quality offensive and defensive coordinators who recruit well at all positions and always approaching OSU game with a great game plan, then Harbaughstill do it and win big at Michigan (Big Ten title and CFP trip with 12-1/13-0 seasons) 1/3 or 1/4 years with the other years winning 10/11 games and losing to OSU somewhat soundly but more competitively assuming OSU unfortunately stays the super football factory which is why 1/3 or 1/4 instead of 1/2(50-50 with OSU).
Your thoughts.
