Michigan Football: The pros and cons of firing Jim Harbaugh

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Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /

Why Michigan should fire Harbaugh

I don’t think we need to relive all the poor records from Harbaugh’s tenure. If you are reading this, there is a good chance you know his record by heart.

But outside of Ohio State and top-10 teams, his record was actually pretty good going into this season. He was 3-2 against Sparty, 3-2 against Penn State and 2-2 against Wisconsin.

But after losing in rough fashion to all three programs, as well as a loss to Indiana, it feels like Michigan is falling back to the pack, not getting closer to the top and Ohio State.

I understand that the coaching staff was dealt a tough hand with lots of players gone, but with numerous high-ranking classes and a team that still ranked in the top 20 according to 247 sports team talent rankings, U-M should never go four games without leading for a single second.

But since the win over Minnesota, Michigan has led in just one game. That was against Rutgers after it had to rally from 17 down. So essentially, in the last five games (300 minutes), Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan football has been in the lead for about 10.

That’s just unacceptable and that more than anything makes me believe players on this team have quit on their coach. This entire program seems to be going through the motions.

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When is the last time Harbaugh got upset with a player or coach? For the life of me, I can’t remember. On Sunday night, Juwan Howard called out his best player in front of the entire team.

Jim, on the other hand, doesn’t do anything even after his team makes bone-headed mistake after bone-headed mistake. Throw a clipboard, scream at a kid, get in Don Brown’s grill — just do something.

Instead, players who commit the same mistakes over and over again, are left in the game and patted on the back. There’s no accountability and the fact that Don Brown still has a job is a great testament to that.

If Harbaugh could get back to being the guy he was when he first arrived, I would be all for him staying. But he’s not that guy anymore and frankly, as much as he might say otherwise, he seems perfectly content losing.

The thing he said about outsiders caring only about results and not about the “process” sounds like loser talk to me, plain and simple.

Harbaugh looks like a beaten man. Maybe a five-star QB, a new coaching staff and a more experienced roster next season can re-invigorate him?

Next. 3 Logical targets if Jim Harbaugh is fired. dark

But if not, than Michigan football will rue the day it passed on Matt Campbell to keep Jim Harbaugh and to be honest, if Campbell wants the job as some reports have speculated, Manuel should make the bold move and get him — before he becomes an elite coach elsewhere.

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