Jim Harbaugh needs to quit as Michigan Football’s head coach

It’s about time for Jim Harbaugh to walk away from the Michigan football program simply out of what’s good for the Wolverines.

What was clear to every Michigan football fan who watched the Wolverines get destroyed Saturday night is that Jim Harbaugh should no longer be the head coach.

Whether his tenure ends now or at the end of the season, his time in Ann Arbor has run its course and that was as apparent as ever in Wisconsin’s 49-11 beatdown of Michigan football.

Following back-to-back losses in what some players called a must-win game, the team was flat again. There was no fire, no effort and certainly no enthusiasm.

Beyond that, there was just bad football, all over the place.

Michigan couldn’t block, it couldn’t tackle and for much of the first half, it could barely gain a yard. Joe Milton threw two quick interceptions and Wisconsin ran for over 300 yards.

It was shocking but with the recent trend of the Wolverines, I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised. Still, this is now three straight weeks in which Michigan hasn’t led for a singe second.

In three consecutive games against Indiana, Michigan State and Wisconsin, the Wolverines have allowed more than 400 yards of total offense. Just the Hoosiers and Badgers alone racked up 87 points in two games. That’s 43.5 points a game and they aren’t even the so-called elite.

In his assessment afterward, Harbaugh was blunt about what went wrong:

"“As I said, every part is not close to where it should be. Stopping the run, stopping the pass, running the football offensively, throwing in the passing game, all things thoroughly not where they need to be in terms of execution. So that starts with me, starts with our coaches and also every person here.”"

At least he knows there is blame to go around. Everyone is to blame but as former President Harry S. Truman once said, “The buck stops here.” And that’s why the only person to blame for Michigan football’s failures is Jim Harbaugh.

Whether he has worn out his welcome or whether he’s just a beaten man, Jim isn’t the same guy he was when he took the job and it’s painfully obvious now, he’s done what he can do.

Harbaugh did some good things and he did help Michigan find itself again. But in the chase to beat or be Ohio State, the Wolverines lost their identity and now they are back to where they were in the Brady Hoke era, unable to compete with the likes of Wisconsin and Michigan State.

Of course, it’s obvious Harbaugh needs to go, which at Michigan means it’s time to start talking an extension. At the very least, don’t expect Warde Manuel to pull the trigger.

That means it will be up to Jim. Maybe a team like the New York Jets will come calling and that will be his out.

But if not and things don’t turn around quickly, he needs to go. Michigan football deserves better than this and Harbaugh knows that better than anybody.