Come on Eagle. I have a few things to say to this..
1) Michigan doesn't even play Nebraska in the next three years.
2) Even if we did, lol @ saying he'd win his first three matchups against Harbaugh. Riley's an average coach on a team with average talent. I see no reason to believe Nebraska will get better under Riley. Huge contrast from Harbaugh, who is an elite coach on a team with above average talent.
3) 4 years to bring us back? Stop hating plz. Harbaugh will have Michigan as natty contenders by year three. (I have a very good reason for saying this, which I can expand on if you want me to)
Michigan returns 8 starters from a top 15 defense, and on offense we have two 5 star running backs on the roster. Not to mention multiple 4 star WRs, and a talented OL who will have more experience next year. QB is the major question mark, but QB is Harbaugh's specialty. Michigan has enough talent on the team RIGHT NOW to win 9 games. Then you couple that with Jim Harbaugh, who was arguably a top 3 NFL coach (top 5 at worst)? Yeah... This will be an immediate turnaround. Michigan is arguably an easier fix job for Harbaugh than San Francisco was. And look what he did in his first year with SF.
People don't realize the talent Michigan has right now. It's absolutely there, it's just under-developed. Not to mention Harbaugh is bringing in -great- assistant coaches who know how to get the most out of players. (Like, seriously, almost every assistant coach Harbaugh has brought in is exceptionally qualified or wildly over-qualified for his position.)
The Harbausome staff is complete, by the way. (parenthesis gives brief track record of coach)
HC: Jim Harbaugh
OC: Tim Drevno (Harbaugh's OL coach at Stanford and also his OL coach at SF 49ers)
DC: DJ Durkin (Florida's DC under Will Muschamp)
QB: Jim Harbaugh
RB: Tyrone Wheatley (Buf Bills RB coach, legendary Michigan RB)
WR: Jedd Fisch (Jax Jaguars OC) (Yes, we really got an NFL OC to come be a college position coach)
TE: Jay Harbaugh (Jim's son. No track record. But he's a Harbaugh.)
OL: Tim Drevno (On top of being OC, Drevno will also double as OL coach)
DL: Greg Mattison (Brady Hoke's DC)
LB: DJ Durkin (On top of being DC, Durkin will also double as LB coach)
CB: Greg Jackson (SF 49ers DB coach)
S: Mike Zordich (Phi Eagles safeties coach from 2011-2012, Youngstown St DB coach from 2013-2014)
You also said all the same fantabulous things about Hoke ...."he'll out recruit Urban"...blah.
Wasnt aware that Mich didn't play N....wondering why you even brought it up?
I was totally hating and being a homer when i said OSU would beat u guys week one. Our roster is so young and weak. We'll have to get real lucky.
And please remember Harbaugh has had a stacked roster everywhere he's been.
Also...Mich is ranked 97th!!! in recruiting right now, OhSU just landed the #1 RB in the nation and Mr Average Riley just landed another 4star OL.
Harbaugh isn't the second coming....he could end up being as great as u say..but you've been wrong before Benny.
I don't know if you're joking or not. I honestly don't.
No. I did not say these same things about Hoke. Hoke inherited an absolute mess of a roster and the attrition he had to deal with is about as bad as it can get. I never expected Hoke to compete right away. (although he did, by winning a Sugar Bowl in his first year)
Rich Rod's recruiting was absolutely abysmal, but Hoke recruited very well. Due to Hoke's efforts, Harbaugh is walking into a situation that is pretty good and entirely manageable. QB is a question mark, so are WRs. But the OL is good, the RBs are good, and the TEs are good. Everything on defense is great. On defense we have good talent and depth at every position.
Unlike Hoke, Harbaugh is a proven commodity who has not just been "good" everywhere he's been, but he's -excelled- everywhere he's been. He was one of the best coaches in the NFL, going to 3 NFC 'ships and in four years, posting a 49-22-1 overall record, which is a 70% winning percentage, which is 5th best all-time in NFL history.
Jim Harbaugh is already a top 5 coach at any level of football. NFL, college, you name it. Hoke had 8-4 seasons at SDSU before Michigan hired him. Do you not see the gaping contrast? If not, I can't help you. It's just ignorance when you say "Oh, but you said these same things about Hoke too!" because this is clearly a different situation.
It's also very, very false that Harbaugh has had stacked rosters everywhere he's been. From what I've read, Harbaugh's first coaching stop, the University of San Diego, is a tough place to win at. Harbaugh was at USD for 3 seasons. In his first year he went 7-4. The next two seasons he went 11-1.
At Stanford, Harbaugh inherited a team which had gone 1-11 the year before. Clearly, that's a stacked roster. /sarcasm...
In four years, Harbaugh turned 1-11 into 12-1, BCS bowl champs, top 5 team in the nation. He didn't inherit a stacked roster.
He built one.It's also worth mentioning that Harbaugh owned Pete Carroll while Carroll was in the midst of his dominant run at USC. And he did it at
STANFORD of all places, aka the Vanderbilt of the west. Let that sink in. That would basically be the equivalent of a coach at Vanderbilt continuously owning Saban at Alabama. At Stanford, that's what Harbaugh did to Pete Carroll.
Now that Harbaugh is at Michigan? With access to the resources recruiting wise and facility wise that he didn't have at Stanford? It absolutely stands to reason that he can do the same thing to Urban at OSU.
San Francisco wasn't as stacked as people like to believe, either. All they had offensively was Gore and Vernon Davis. They had no WR talent, a young OL which was under-performing, one of the biggest busts of the 2000's at QB (Alex Smith), and an average defense. It's revisionist history to look back and say Harbaugh inherited a stacked roster, since the main core of the team hasn't changed. But that isn't the case. Most of those guys were average players when Harbaugh arrived, and he elevated their level of play.
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As I said earlier, next year at Michigan, Harbaugh will have what will probably be a top 10 defense (considering we're returning 8 starters from a top 15 defense, I don't think saying improving to top 10 is a major stretch), and also two 5 star RBs on the roster. Please tell me that isn't perfect for the downhill, smash mouth offense that Harbaugh likes to run.
Consider this: Next year, Michigan's seniors (and RS juniors) are part of a recruiting class that was ranked #6 overall in the nation. Michigan's juniors (and RS sophomores) are part of a recruiting class that was ranked #4 overall in the nation. Michigan's sophomores (and RS freshman) are part of a recruiting class that was ranked #20 overall in terms of sheer numbers, but that class was #6 in terms of average star rating per recruit.
Assessing that, how can you logically say Michigan doesn't have the pieces to immediately compete? People who think Harbaugh is stepping into a rebuilding job are simply uninformed of the talent on Michigan's roster right now. (And I'm not trying to imply we have one of the best rosters in the nation. We absolutely do not. But there's enough here to win at least 9 games, maybe 10 if we catch a break or two, and be a top 20 team next year.)
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As far as Michigan's recruiting class this year. It's only ranked 97th because we only have 6 commits. Look at the quality of commits though:
Brian Cole = Top 3 WR in the nation, top 50 recruit overall.
Tyree Kinnel = Top 10 safety, top 200 player. 4 star.
Grant Newsome = Top 200 player, 4 star offensive tackle.
Alex Malzone = 4 star QB.
Jon Runyan Jr = 3 star OG, but he's a legacy recruit.
Andrew David = A kicker. Which, yeah.
That isn't even to mention players we might land, like the #1 TE in the country (and former Michigan commit) Chris Clark for instance. We will finish this 2015 class relatively strong, but I only expect to be top 30/40ish in the rankings. Which is fine, Harbaugh is an amazing talent evaluator and he can develop lower ranked players, which he proved at Stanford.
I didn't bring up Riley. You did. You said he'd go 3-0 against Harbaugh in his first three years, so I pointed out that 1) we don't even play Nebraska, and 2) That's a laughable statement. Riley isn't good enough to out-coach Harbaugh, and Nebraska doesn't have the same talent Michigan does.
There's no "Harbaugh '
could' end up great." Because he's already
proven to be great.
OSU landed the #1 2016 RB, btw. That literally has no bearing on what happens next year, which is what we're discussing.
Your being a homer MO..no if ands or buts. If harbaugh was so great, he wouldn't have lost his team. Specialty at QB? Kaep sure showed that.
You being ignorant and uninformed about Harbaugh's coaching ability and on the current state of Michigan's roster does not mean I'm a homer.
And for the love of God, please do not try and use Kaepernick to say Harbaugh's not a great QB coach. You're driving me crazy eagle.
1) For one, Kaep's been the best QB to come out of the 2011 draft. (Yes, even better than the media darling Cam Newton)
2) For two, Harbaugh turned Alex Smith (aka one of the biggest busts at QB ever before 2011) into a very servicable game manager-type QB. I bet you can't name another QB coach who has turned around a QB's career like that.
3) Harbaugh is also the one responsible for developing Andrew Luck into the stud he is.
4) Not to mention, Harbaugh's QB at his FCS school, Josh Johnson, Harbaugh got him drafted in the 5th round. FCS QBs rarely ever get drafted, especially a dual threat guy like Josh Johnson.