The initial shock from hiring Harbaugh away from the NFL in 2014 seemed like the all time coup, but while we won the press conference in a way that could have never been matched if we made the same hire in 2008 (off a 3-8 year one at Stanford) or 2011, it is clear that we hired a coach at the end of his peak.
It would have taken amazing foresight and a leap of faith to hire Harbaugh in 2008. Yet if Harbaugh had never made the derogatory comments about Michigan academics upon getting the Stanford job, I think it's possible that he would have emerged with the job once the Miles deal fell apart. Beloved former player who did great at FCS San Diego and then pulled one of the great upsets in year one at Stanford (and beat his rival (8-5 Cal) to boot.
Michigan had no such excuses in 2010. That was the year that Harbaugh to Michigan seemed a formality and as the Harbaugh era appears poised to end at year end (I think it's clear he's done with football and will retire), one has to wonder what happened if we made the hire in 2010. The timing would have been perfect. OSU would soon implode under Tressel and the window would have been wide open for Harbaugh in 2011. He would have had a year jump on Urban in Columbus to build his program. But those 49ers years, where we saw a coach turn a losing outfit into one that won 75%+ of his game, that coach would have been our coach.
Harbaugh would have never coached here 20 years. If we got him in 2010, I really think he would have had a 6-7 year run that we thought we were getting in 2014. 2-3 Big 10 titles, a playoff appearance or two and maybe a crown.
Unfortunately it didn't happen and we can only wonder what would have transpired if it did.
It would have taken amazing foresight and a leap of faith to hire Harbaugh in 2008. Yet if Harbaugh had never made the derogatory comments about Michigan academics upon getting the Stanford job, I think it's possible that he would have emerged with the job once the Miles deal fell apart. Beloved former player who did great at FCS San Diego and then pulled one of the great upsets in year one at Stanford (and beat his rival (8-5 Cal) to boot.
Michigan had no such excuses in 2010. That was the year that Harbaugh to Michigan seemed a formality and as the Harbaugh era appears poised to end at year end (I think it's clear he's done with football and will retire), one has to wonder what happened if we made the hire in 2010. The timing would have been perfect. OSU would soon implode under Tressel and the window would have been wide open for Harbaugh in 2011. He would have had a year jump on Urban in Columbus to build his program. But those 49ers years, where we saw a coach turn a losing outfit into one that won 75%+ of his game, that coach would have been our coach.
Harbaugh would have never coached here 20 years. If we got him in 2010, I really think he would have had a 6-7 year run that we thought we were getting in 2014. 2-3 Big 10 titles, a playoff appearance or two and maybe a crown.
Unfortunately it didn't happen and we can only wonder what would have transpired if it did.
