12-07-2020, 03:22 AM
(12-06-2020, 10:15 PM)Benton Wrote: Depends on the definition of success. It's not the NFL where the goal is a Lombardi.
For starters, Michigan is in the Big 10. Harbaugh has to walk into a kid's locker room and say "Hey, how would you not like to play in the SEC? Want to go to the second best conference!? Looking to reduce your chances of going to the NFL!? I'm your guy!"
There's some sarcasm there, but at the start of the season, the SEC had four times as many players as Big 10 in the NFL, which was the second highest. It makes it hard to recruit.
Second, Harbaugh's worst season (until now) was 8-5. Half the time he was 10-3. In NFL terms, that's postseason, where anything could happen. Postseason with a team full of SEC players. Record-wise, he's got half the career length but about the same results as Carr and that guy from the 80s (although, admittedly, they had more Bowl wins).
Harbaugh isn't my favorite, but he's done decent as a college coach and did well as an NFL coach.
No way. If there's one thing we've learned about Harbaugh it's that being a shit talking tough guy motivator doesn't hold up for long when you go out and get your ass handed to you by your chief rivals year after year. In the AFC North he'd be facing the equivalent of four OSU/Michigan and two Bowl games every year and he's 1-10 in those games.
Jim Harbaugh's recruiting problem isn't the Big Ten, it's Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh had competitive classes early at Michigan. He just failed to produce anything with them. And unless he's bringing a new GM with him it's not like he's going to close the talent gap in Cincinnati.
