Without getting into the debates of whether Harbaugh is capable of turning around the culture and returning to better coaching form or of whether Harbaugh “deserves” the opportunity to try to do it, he should not be retained for 2 reasons:
1. The roster is currently a mess as is, and will be made significantly worse with the anticipated mass exit of additional players through the transfer portal. Specifically, gaping holes at defensive tackle and cornerback will prevent success for the foreseeable future. The cupboard is not well stocked. No coach (be it Harbaugh, Matt Campbell, Mario Cristobal or Luke Fickell) will be able to produce what the Michigan fan base would deem to be a successful season for at least the next couple of years. The near future is bleak. However, a new coach gets some latitude and patience from a fanbase. It can erode quickly, but there is a degree of tolerance while a new coach implements his system, recruits his players and builds his system. However, an extended Harbaugh would receive no such patience. The degree of negative noise surrounding the program would be many decibels higher that it is now. All of the problems we are seeing today (instability, recruiting, national perception, a microscope on every problem, an irate fanbase, etc.) will be magnified next year. It would resemble the last year of Mark Dantonio. An extension would simply be kicking the can on a problem and delaying the inevitable, and making it worse and that much harder to recover from. An extension is setting Harbaugh up to fail.
2. Related, for any chance of success, Harbaugh would have to dramatically reconstruct and improve his coaching staff. And, fair or not, regardless of an extension, Harbaugh would be on an extremely hot seat next year. The general national consensus would be that a Harbaugh termination would be probable. And dreams of an all-staff staff of stud assistants would not be realized. No one jumps aboard the Titanic. People stay away. The high likelihood is that next year’s staff would not be any better than the current staff, which is mediocre at best, compounding the issues identified in #1 above. Whereas, the maximum stability that a new coach would bring would make the assistants positions much more appealing.
Similarly, there are 2 options for Warde. A Harbaugh extension or an end to the Harbaugh relationship. If the latter, there is an argument that it is better to wait until after early signing day to try to lock in the current commits. However, there is no logic in not making an announcement right now if the former is the decision. Staying silent while Harbaugh dangles in the wind and we are bleeding recruits, only to later announce an extension would be a massive miscalculation by the AD.
So to summarize, the logical decision is to opt for a new coach, which also matches up with the current action/in-action coming out of the AD office.
But, the alternative, an extension of Harbaugh combined with the failure to timely announce it, represents the worst of all worlds: a bad decision, and an illogical handling of it.
Let's all hope that is not the case.
1. The roster is currently a mess as is, and will be made significantly worse with the anticipated mass exit of additional players through the transfer portal. Specifically, gaping holes at defensive tackle and cornerback will prevent success for the foreseeable future. The cupboard is not well stocked. No coach (be it Harbaugh, Matt Campbell, Mario Cristobal or Luke Fickell) will be able to produce what the Michigan fan base would deem to be a successful season for at least the next couple of years. The near future is bleak. However, a new coach gets some latitude and patience from a fanbase. It can erode quickly, but there is a degree of tolerance while a new coach implements his system, recruits his players and builds his system. However, an extended Harbaugh would receive no such patience. The degree of negative noise surrounding the program would be many decibels higher that it is now. All of the problems we are seeing today (instability, recruiting, national perception, a microscope on every problem, an irate fanbase, etc.) will be magnified next year. It would resemble the last year of Mark Dantonio. An extension would simply be kicking the can on a problem and delaying the inevitable, and making it worse and that much harder to recover from. An extension is setting Harbaugh up to fail.
2. Related, for any chance of success, Harbaugh would have to dramatically reconstruct and improve his coaching staff. And, fair or not, regardless of an extension, Harbaugh would be on an extremely hot seat next year. The general national consensus would be that a Harbaugh termination would be probable. And dreams of an all-staff staff of stud assistants would not be realized. No one jumps aboard the Titanic. People stay away. The high likelihood is that next year’s staff would not be any better than the current staff, which is mediocre at best, compounding the issues identified in #1 above. Whereas, the maximum stability that a new coach would bring would make the assistants positions much more appealing.
Similarly, there are 2 options for Warde. A Harbaugh extension or an end to the Harbaugh relationship. If the latter, there is an argument that it is better to wait until after early signing day to try to lock in the current commits. However, there is no logic in not making an announcement right now if the former is the decision. Staying silent while Harbaugh dangles in the wind and we are bleeding recruits, only to later announce an extension would be a massive miscalculation by the AD.
So to summarize, the logical decision is to opt for a new coach, which also matches up with the current action/in-action coming out of the AD office.
But, the alternative, an extension of Harbaugh combined with the failure to timely announce it, represents the worst of all worlds: a bad decision, and an illogical handling of it.
Let's all hope that is not the case.
