Calls of “overrated” are now being thrown at the Michigan coach.
The hype and glowing praise of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh simply doesn’t match the results on the field, especially not in the big games.
Saturday’s embarrassing 62-39 loss to Ohio State might finally stop the media masses from fawning all over Harbaugh as if he has won something.
Truth be told, Harbaugh hasn’t won a thing. Championship? Heck, in four years at Michigan, he hasn’t even won a Big Ten title.
In fact, at this point, is it fair to call Harbaugh the M.O.C.O.A.T. Yes, the Most Overrated Coach Of All Time?
He’s paid like he won a championship. At $7,504,000 a season, Harbaugh is one of the top three highest-paid in college football.
The only difference between Harbaugh, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, and Jimbo Fisher, his highest-paid coaching peers in the sport, is that they have ALL won a national championship.
Not Harbaugh.
But this was supposed to be the year. Many were ready to wag their finger at the doubters and say they told you so. They had made a ton of excuses for him in his first three years in Ann Arbor.
It was everybody’s fault – except Harbaugh, of course.
This season, they said, he finally had his quarterback in Shea Patterson. He also had a defense to die for, the No. 1 defense in college football.
Vegas loved the Wolverines, winners of 10 straight after their season-opening loss to Notre Dame, and they were 4.5 favorites in Columbus.
Then the game happened. Michigan was dominated. Ohio State poured it on, scoring more points than Michigan’s previous five opponents combined against the Wolverines.
It was an epic college football game against rivals no one saw coming, especially all those ready to crown “The Great” Jim Harbaugh.
Instead, it was Exhibit A. Not only does Michigan have the most overrated coach in the sport, but its football program is the most overrated in United States history.
For the record, in modern history, Michigan has one shared national championship from 1997.
Yep, that’s it.
The school can claim 11, most before the Louisiana Purchase was still in escrow.
Afterward, Harbaugh fessed up to the debacle for the ages.
“When things go great, then good,” he told the media after the game. “And when it doesn’t, you take responsibility for it. … I thought they played really well in all phases.”
At Michigan, the resume is ugly. Harbaugh is the first Michigan coach to be 0-4 against Ohio State.
Some are even calling him the John Cooper of Michigan. Cooper lost his gig at Ohio State because he couldn’t beat Michigan.
Let’s be honest. Beating Ohio State is in the job description for a Michigan coach.
The Wolverines have now lost a whopping seven straight games to the Buckeyes. Harbaugh was supposed to stop the bleeding, turn water into wine.
Yes, Harbaugh, the former Michigan QB, was supposed to come in on his white horse and save his alma mater and return it back to glory.
Yes, Michigan, with its storied history, wanted to be in the college football playoffs and compete for a REAL national championship finally.
That’s why this has to cut deep in Michigan fans. There is no room for excuses. This was the year Michigan was supposed to finally beat Ohio State game.
Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer was involved in a scandal with one of his assistants and was suspended for the first three games of the season.
Ohio State had an embarrassing loss to Purdue, 49-20. Some even thought it could signal Meyer’s exit from the school.
For sure, this program was vulnerable, ripe for the picking.
Michigan walked into the big game with a stingy defense, the best in the country. Oh yes, Harbaugh was going to be the king of Ann Arbor again, just like he was in college.
Instead, Harbaugh’s hype didn’t add up. His team was beaten thoroughly.
His offensive play calling was boring and not creative at all. It was so predictable.
The crazy thing is that Harbaugh was creative at Stanford and in the NFL with the 49ers.
By the way, those two teams never won THE big games under Harbaugh, either.
