Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh In Danger Of Wearing Out His Welcome?

It’s been said before that Jim Harbaugh wears out his welcome. If Michigan football has a disappointing season, could it become true?

Writing for Yahoo Sports, Pete Thamel tossed around the idea on Tuesday that if Jim Harbaugh doesn’t see Michigan football to some lofty returns this season, he could be in danger of wearing out his welcome.

This isn’t anything new. Back in April 2015, Alex Boone of the San Francisco 49ers said Harbaugh “kind of wore out his welcome.”

“[A]fter a while, you just want to kick his ass,” he said.

For what it’s worth, Harbaugh admitted that it “must be true.”

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Thamel’s story basically centers around this: If Harbaugh finishes third in the Big Ten this season—likely behind Ohio State and Penn State—how much longer will his crazy antics be tolerated? It’s not clear whether Thamel is referring to fans’ or players’ patience growing thin.

But we can still analyze this relevant question and try to decide if it’s something worth worrying about. For the record, this isn’t part of our fact-checking series. We’ll get back to that soon.

“Harbaugh can hang out with Judge Judy, sleep at a recruit’s house and call out opposing programs and athletic directors for NCAA misdeeds,” says Thamel. “… Now it’s time for some actual wins to go viral.”

In two seasons at Michigan, Harbaugh has posted a 20-6 record (10-3 each season). He’s 1-1 against Michigan State and 0-2 against Ohio State. Michigan won its 2016 bowl game against Florida and lost last season’s to Florida State. The Wolverines are 4-4 against top-25 teams in that time.

Without knowing what exactly counts as a “viral” win, I think we can at least consider two shutouts in three weeks against No. 22 BYU and No. 13 Northwestern in 2015, as well as the 41-7 bowl win over the Gators.

The 2016 season brought some very lopsided victories, but maybe none that could be considered viral. Up for consideration would be 49-10 over Penn State (in hindsight) and 32-23 over Michigan State (just because of the dreadful 2015 meeting).

So now we have to ask the question: Is there something Michigan could do this season that would be disappointing enough for fans (or players?) to grow tired of Harbaugh?

Thamel draws a comparison between Urban Meyer’s and James Franklin’s third seasons at their respective schools. Ohio State won a national championship and Penn State won the Big Ten title. If Michigan places third in the Big Ten East, there’s no doubt Harbaugh’s Year 3 will pale in comparison to that of Meyer and Franklin.

But would it really be enough to say Harbaugh is wearing out his welcome? Considering the mood surrounding the program right now, that just doesn’t seem likely.

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However, if Harbaugh’s Michigan teams continue to place third in the Big Ten, never compete for a national title and keep losing to Ohio State, we can come back to this discussion of wearing out a welcome. For now, though, we’re just not there.

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