As Michigan fans have started to come down a bit from Blue’s latest true road loss, a 24-17 decision to Notre Dame Saturday night UM president Mark Schissel seemingly indicated where the University is at when it comes to Jim Harbaugh‘s job status.
During a get together with the Detroit Economic Club, Schissel mentioned that Harbaugh is not on the ‘hot seat’ and has ‘four more years’ of his contract left in Ann Arbor.
.@DrMarkSchlissel on @CoachJim4UM: "He's not on the hot seat. He's under contract for four more years." #econclub
— Detroit Economic Club (@deteconomicclub) September 5, 2018
Now there’s a few things to take from this statement.
First it’s a pretty ambiguous statement and doesn’t seem to point to any kind of resounding support for the Michigan head coach. It’s not like Schlissel came out and said ‘well I hope he just doesn’t fire me’ like Ohio State did with Jim Tressel several years ago before ultimately firing him over the tattoo gate. So if anything Schlissel’s comment really can’t be settled one way or another.
Second, the seat isn’t hot but is it warm? Unless this season is an unmitigated disaster (i.e. a losing record or playing in some bowl game the first week of bowl season) Harbaugh shouldn’t lose his job. In his fourth season with Michigan, Harbaugh has had two 10 win seasons with a 28-12 record.
However this really doesn’t excuse a whole lot for Harbaugh.
The Michigan coach is the highest paid football coach in the Big Ten and the fourth highest paid coach in all of college sports behind Nick Saban at Alabama, Dabo Swinney at Clemson and John Calipari at Kentucky.
Sure Michigan has a winning record under him but he’s failed to capitalize when it counts. Currently Harbaugh has yet to win a true road game against a ranked opponent, is 0-3 against Ohio State and 1-2 against Michigan State and has yet to win the Big Ten East. In fact, under Harbaugh Michigan hasn’t finished above third in the division which is in direct correlation to him being unable to beat his rivals. The Wolverines are also 9-9 in their last 18 games.
That’s simply not going to get it done and I’m sure it isn’t what Michigan fans, alumni and the administration thought they were signing up for when they handed Harbaugh sacks full of cash to get the program turned around. And because of his high price tag, it’s within perfect reason to expect a Big Ten East title out of the Wolverines this season. Hell, it’s within perfect reason to expect a Big Ten title out of Michigan this season. Harbaugh has his players, he has coaches, he has to get it done.
Finally though what worries me about the ambiguity in Schlissel’s statement is the essence of a lack of urgency with the football team. Again nothing is settled and I may simply be blowing smoke but what’s truly terrifying is that the school is still awestruck over the fact that they have Harbaugh as their head coach and that he’s going to really dig into the job to the point where he dictates when he gets to leave.
We’ve seen this before too. Not necessarily with Michigan but in the Big Ten. Take for instance Joe Paterno at Penn State. If it wasn’t for the Jerry Sandusky scandal, Paterno was going to be the coach of the Nittany Lions until he decided he wanted to retire or he died, whichever came first. Likewise Penn State suffered from it.
Bottom line, Michigan shouldn’t be married to a head coach because of a name. Again, not saying that Harbaugh needs to be fired but the seat needs to be getting warm at the very least, especially if a Big Ten Title or at the very least a Big Ten East Title isn’t in the cards for the Wolverines in 2018.
