To start this post with a disclaimer: I believe that Jim Harbaugh deserves to lose his job. The program is a mess right now, and changing anything other than the root cause, JJH, will only be a temporary fix.
I remember meeting Jim Harbaugh (a senior) when I was a freshman at South Quad. The team was going into their dining hall for dinner and I, star struck, exclaimed out loud "Wow...Jim Harbaugh!". Well he heard me, called me over to where he was standing, put his arm around my shoulders and asked: "Are you going to the game tomorrow?". My reply: "Yes sir!" ( I had season student tickets). Next question "Are you going to be cheering loud?" Answer: "Yes Sir!".
"Good Man!"
Since then I've been a huge Harbaugh fan, though it's not that I disbelieve others who thought that he was a jerk in their on-campus interactions. Personal feelings aside, there is one thing that I am almost certain about regarding Jim Harbaugh: he a decent human being and...
He. Loves. Michigan.
...Maybe too much.
Honestly I think that Jim tried too hard. He cared too much about the program, was too close to the history, and put all of the pressure in the football world on himself to win something for his Alma Mater and the football program he so much loves, that he was willing to be a target, even if it meant the entire NCAA and media were sniping at him.
He started like gangbusters: Energetic to the point of being hyper- From climbing trees and having sleepovers with recruits, to the "Signing With the Stars", to satellite camps- It was apparent that Harbaugh was going to pull out all the stops in order to get his team to the top. It was the satellite camp experiment that rankled the old dirty money teams, who allied with anther stinky powerhouse, OSU, to get it shut down via their influence in the halls of the NCAA headquarters. After that, the character attacks started. Hours and hours of television and pages and pages of written media were dedicated to picking apart every single move, statement, and nose-pick 😉 by JJH.
As they say: "Pressure busts pipes and also creates diamonds". Well it seems that the pressure broke JJH- I believe that 2018 OSU was the breaking point. Now, in 2020, we're leaking all over the place.
Jim Harbaugh has lost something. He looks like a haunted man. He looks like a man whose dreams have turned to sand and the harder he tries to hold onto them, the more they slip through his fingers. In no way is Harbaugh, IMO, a "fat cat" resting on his laurels, he is, instead a cat struggling, panicking to keep his head above water and keep his life-long dream alive. Nobody loved or respected Bo as much as JJH, and I'm sure the digs about him "not giving a crap" about the program that he wished to restore to glory to honor Bo, really, really cut deep.
I actually feel sorry for the guy.
And before the "well he makes $$$" posts come rolling in, I will ask every single person who reads this post this question:
How would you feel if the opportunity to attain your lifelong dream came to fruition, and, you were literally inches... inches from seeing it all come true only to have it unfairly snatched away- Then, despite whatever you tried and even how hard you tried, nothing could keep it from slipping away, and forever out of your reach?
Man that would be heartbreaking for anyone, no matter how much money you were paid (not as much as being broke though 😋).
I remember meeting Jim Harbaugh (a senior) when I was a freshman at South Quad. The team was going into their dining hall for dinner and I, star struck, exclaimed out loud "Wow...Jim Harbaugh!". Well he heard me, called me over to where he was standing, put his arm around my shoulders and asked: "Are you going to the game tomorrow?". My reply: "Yes sir!" ( I had season student tickets). Next question "Are you going to be cheering loud?" Answer: "Yes Sir!".
"Good Man!"
Since then I've been a huge Harbaugh fan, though it's not that I disbelieve others who thought that he was a jerk in their on-campus interactions. Personal feelings aside, there is one thing that I am almost certain about regarding Jim Harbaugh: he a decent human being and...
He. Loves. Michigan.
...Maybe too much.
Honestly I think that Jim tried too hard. He cared too much about the program, was too close to the history, and put all of the pressure in the football world on himself to win something for his Alma Mater and the football program he so much loves, that he was willing to be a target, even if it meant the entire NCAA and media were sniping at him.
He started like gangbusters: Energetic to the point of being hyper- From climbing trees and having sleepovers with recruits, to the "Signing With the Stars", to satellite camps- It was apparent that Harbaugh was going to pull out all the stops in order to get his team to the top. It was the satellite camp experiment that rankled the old dirty money teams, who allied with anther stinky powerhouse, OSU, to get it shut down via their influence in the halls of the NCAA headquarters. After that, the character attacks started. Hours and hours of television and pages and pages of written media were dedicated to picking apart every single move, statement, and nose-pick 😉 by JJH.
As they say: "Pressure busts pipes and also creates diamonds". Well it seems that the pressure broke JJH- I believe that 2018 OSU was the breaking point. Now, in 2020, we're leaking all over the place.
Jim Harbaugh has lost something. He looks like a haunted man. He looks like a man whose dreams have turned to sand and the harder he tries to hold onto them, the more they slip through his fingers. In no way is Harbaugh, IMO, a "fat cat" resting on his laurels, he is, instead a cat struggling, panicking to keep his head above water and keep his life-long dream alive. Nobody loved or respected Bo as much as JJH, and I'm sure the digs about him "not giving a crap" about the program that he wished to restore to glory to honor Bo, really, really cut deep.
I actually feel sorry for the guy.
And before the "well he makes $$$" posts come rolling in, I will ask every single person who reads this post this question:
How would you feel if the opportunity to attain your lifelong dream came to fruition, and, you were literally inches... inches from seeing it all come true only to have it unfairly snatched away- Then, despite whatever you tried and even how hard you tried, nothing could keep it from slipping away, and forever out of your reach?
Man that would be heartbreaking for anyone, no matter how much money you were paid (not as much as being broke though 😋).
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