Michigan Football: 3 Things that must happen if Jim Harbaugh isn’t fired

Adjust the recruiting strategy

For the most part, Harbaugh has recruited pretty well at Michigan football but there have been some issues. The 2017 class fell apart with transfers and didn’t live up to the hype and that’s sort of been a theme for a number of highest-rated recruits.

Gary had all the talent in the world but didn’t reach his potential in Ann Arbor. We can debate the fault of that, but it’s a fact. The same goes for Donovan Peoples-Jones, the No. 1 WR in his class or Aubrey Solomon, even Daxton Hill could be put in that conversation — Nico Collins too.

Michigan has sent plenty of guys to the NFL, there is no debate about that, but they aren’t having elite careers with the Wolverines and then doing it, like the guys in Columbus are.

That’s not to say Michigan shouldn’t recruit the top-ranked kids, but they need to find the right ones sort of like John Beilein did, not just the ones they can get. The Wolverines also need to start recruiting Ohio again and even though it will take being competitive against Ohio State and beating them to really get a foothold, that area has to be a bigger priority.

Harbaugh should focus on shoring up the state of Michigan and Ohio. Just recruit those places relentlessly and while that should be a given, it hasn’t always been under this staff.

They need to bring in guys that understand how to recruit the Midwest and to be honest, that’s one reason why Matt Campbell and others appeal so much to me if Harbaugh is fired.

Beyond all that, Michigan needs to take advantage of the new rules that allow college athletes to make money. The athletic program is one of the best in the country at marketing and basically has a letter in the alphabet set aside for Michigan.

It’s time for the football program to put that to use. Michigan isn’t going to be dirty, but it can sell a way to get recruits money that isn’t cheating and maybe can help them compete against the schools that use bag men.

Essentially, when you get down to it, if Harbaugh stays, the staff needs to be overhauled on both sides of the ball and the entire operation needs a restart. Maybe that means Michigan football should just get a new head coach.