Michigan Football: Paul Finebaum is wrong about Jim Harbaugh

Paul Finebaum took his annual swipe at Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh saying he’s the most overrated coach in the country. But he’s wrong.

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh is an easy target for critics and college football analyst Paul Finebaum decided to take another shot at Harbaugh this week, calling him the most overrated coach in college football.

Finebaum, a known SEC homer, has had issues with Harbaugh for one reason or another since he became the head coach of the Wolverines and the long-time analyst has reveled in Michigan football’s failures.

“There’s no getting around it,” Finebaum said. “For what he makes, for that program, he wins the crown. I’ve believed in them a couple of times. Maybe they’ll win at home. And I’m not a hater. I just have been abused by Jim Harbaugh in believing too often that he could get it done. He can’t get it done.”

To be fair, Finebaum predicted big things for Michigan when the Wolverines landed Shea Patterson as a transfer and it never worked out. Also, it’s certainly fair to argue Harbaugh hasn’t met expectations in Ann Arbor, but that’s partially because the expectations were out of control.

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Harbaugh was also a victim of his own success. When he took over, Michigan was in shambles. Brady Hoke recruited well but his tenure ended terribly and by then, the Wolverines couldn’t even compete with Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State, let alone Ohio State.

But in his first season, Harbaugh won 10 games and Michigan actually beat up on some ranked teams. Ohio State still won going away, but Harbaugh took Michigan from Big Ten doormat to College Football Playoff contender in just one year.

In 2016, Michigan football was one bad call (the spot) away from going to the Big Ten title and likely making the playoff. Since then, Michigan had one other chance to win the Big Ten East and faltered, losing in embarrassing fashion as the favorite against the Buckeyes in 2018.

In five seasons, Harbaugh hasn’t won a Big Ten title, beaten Ohio State or a top-10 team on the road. Those are all fair criticisms. In fact, his record against all top-10 teams isn’t very good.

Michigan football still better off with Harbaugh

But some perspective is definitely needed when examining Harbaugh’s time at Michigan. For starters, in the seven years prior to his arrival, Hoke and Rich Rod managed to win 46 games. That’s an average of 6.5 per year. That also included one win over Michigan State.

Harbaugh, on the other hand, has won 47 games in five years, for an average of 9.4 games per year. You can argue that there are more games now than the early Rich Rod years, but still, it’s a staggering comparison. Hoke and Rodriguez won nine games or more once. Harbaugh has done it four times in his first five years, including three 10-win seasons.

He’s also 3-2 vs the Spartans, 3-2 against Penn State and 2-2 against Wisconsin. U-M’s record is 1-1 against Iowa and Notre Dame, as well as 2-1 versus Florida. He’s unbeaten against the likes of Northwestern, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana, Rutgers, Illinois, Maryland and the rest of the Big Ten.

Certainly, 0-5 against Ohio State is what most people care about. Yet again, we need to remember that Ohio State has been on a historic run on the field and in recruiting. It’s hard to compare even to the Jim Tressel era.

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That’s not an excuse, it’s just a fact. However, if Harbaugh had been able to solve the quarterback position, which has been a constant headache since his arrival, Michigan football may have already beaten Ohio State.

If there was a better option than Wilton Speight, who threw not one, but two killer picks, Michigan may have already lifted a Big Ten trophy. If Patterson had been better, he might have gone 1-1 against the Buckeyes too.

And while Finebaum and Michigan fans may not like how much Harbaugh gets paid, financially, that’s a no-brainer for the University. Michigan has been ranked in the top 20 in four of the last five AP polls, which means marquee bowl games and TV slots.

The Wolverines are routinely among the most-watched teams in college football and whether it’s because people like or dislike Harbaugh, he’s part of that. Jim has done an exceptional job sending players to the NFL too, with 11 drafted in 2017, a school record and 10 in 2020.

Besides, he’s not overrated. He’s one of the 10-15 best coaches in the country and if he coached in the Big Ten West, that would be an agreed-upon fact because Michigan would routinely be in Indy as Wisconsin has been. He’d also have 2-3 11-win seasons. That’s just based on the difficulty of the Big Ten East compared to the West.

So not only is Harbaugh not overrated, he’s actually deserving of a contract extension, which will probably feature a raise. That may sound like lunacy to some, but the real lunacy is believing Harbaugh is overrated or should be replaced as head coach.

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My advice to those that think is to be careful what you wish for.

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