Let's begin with this.
Michigan under Jim Harbaugh:
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) September 21, 2019
~0-4 against Ohio State
~1-9 vs. top-10 opponents
~0-7 as an underdog
~1-6 on the road against ranked opponents
~Five losses by at least 21 points, including three of their last five games
Most of those stats are bad. Terrible, even. But frankly, they're also pretty much par for the course for the Michigan Wolverines over the last decade and change. That they're a mediocre program that can't win big games isn't news and probably not something anyone reading this needs to be reminded of.
But here's the thing: this is really about Jim Harbaugh, and how secure his position is as the head football coach at the University of Michigan after a really, really, really bad loss to Wisconsin. One of the things that I've noticed over the years as I've written about college sports is that tenures of high profile coaches tend to end very quickly. Either through incompetence or scandal, things snowball out of control and teams that looked to be a lock for postseason glory in August can find themselves conducting a coaching search a few months later.
That Harbaugh has lost the last three out of five games is telling. That he's lost those games by wide margins is telling. That he had no answers for how his team played yesterday is telling.
And, as follows, the anger and vitriol coming from Michigan fans is very telling.
Michigan Man is fed up pic.twitter.com/q7HPMbWsZu
— ESPN Drunk (@EspnDrunk) September 21, 2019
I tried.. I really did.. Your below average coaching is not worth 8 million dollars a year. Hang up your khakis coach, youre finished.. this is not Michigan Football anymore.. #fireharbaugh
— AuthenticMichiganfan (@AuthenticMichi1) September 21, 2019
I am starting to feel bad for Michigan fans. My buddy just sent me this. They deserve better. #speedinspace #fireharbaugh pic.twitter.com/vLh9RaHkhn
— Adam Smith (@AdamTSmith2) September 21, 2019
I might be late to the party but YES I WOULD FIRE JIM HARBAUGH NOW AND HIRE NICK SABAN TODAY TO TAKE OVER MICHIGAN.
— matt badish (@badish_matt) September 22, 2019
UPDATED Season Predictions:
— Fire Jim Harbaugh (@GoBlue_TB) September 22, 2019
Rutgers: L
Iowa: L
Illinois: L
Penn State: L
Notre Dame: L
Maryland: L
Michigan State: L
Indiana: L
Ohio State: Forfeit
PROVE ME WRONG!
Im done. 56 years of memories at the Big House. Bleeding Maize n Blue Growing up with Bo, Ufer, Coach Carr bringing us a National Championship, then sitting through Rod, Brady, and now this pretender #harbaugh. If you lose <5 well be surprised #michigan #goblue @UMichFootball
— Jeff Sharpe (@jeffreydsharpe) September 21, 2019
Michigan Football is broken and a complete SH*T show! Sick and tired of the ignorant coaching! Done with the embarrassment!
— Jim Lloyd (@wolverineguy43) September 21, 2019
Someone painted the rock with #FireHarbaugh after todays 35-14 loss to Wisconsin
— Mich. Daily Sports (@theblockm) September 21, 2019
(: @mmsheeaa) pic.twitter.com/SgMIVlEOqg
I can't claim to know what the future of Michigan football holds, but I hope they never truly slip into irrelevance. Because it'd make schadenfreude like this much harder to come by.
