5 coaches Michigan should have hired instead of Jim Harbaugh
By John Buhler
Jim Harbaugh is almost certainly done coaching Michigan football after the 2020 season.
After 5.5 disappointing seasons, Jim Harbaugh is probably done leading Michigan football.
The former Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback of the Michigan Wolverines did help his alma mater return to some degree of respectability in the wake of the Brady Hoke disaster in Ann Arbor. However, six seasons with no Big Ten East titles and almost certainly no win over the arch-rival Ohio State Buckeyes only yields disappointment of the Harbaugh hire by Michigan in 2015. It was universally praised as the perfect hire at the time but hindsight is 20/20 and now we know that perhaps hiring Harbaugh to lead his alma mater wasn’t the best possible decision after all.
5 coaches Michigan could have hired over Jim Harbaugh
Head Coach. LSU Tigers. player. 817. Scouting Report. Les Miles. 5. Pick Analysis
If Michigan wanted another Michigan man to lead the program not named Harbaugh, there was another candidate to be considered in former LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles. He played his college ball at Michigan under the iconic Bo Schembechler in the early-to-mid-1970s. The former offensive guard achieved success leading LSU and the Oklahoma State Cowboys before 2015.
Back when Harbaugh was hired to replace Hoke, Miles was in his 10th season leading the Bayou Bengals. LSU had won three division titles, two SEC Championships and the 2007 National Championship under Miles’ watch. LSU won at least 10 games in seven of his first 10 seasons taking over for Nick Saban in 2005. The Tigers were a perennial top-15 team under Miles.
The 2014 season yielded Miles his 14th straight bowl appearance, dating back to his second year leading the Pokes in Stillwater in 2002. Under Miles, LSU developed a strong identity of ground-and-pound offense complemented by stellar defensive play at all levels. Throwing the ball was a challenge, but Miles proved he could assemble a strong staff at a blue-blood program like LSU.
From a cultural standpoint, yes, Miles would have been a great fit for Michigan. He is a Michigan man after all. However, his coaching viability quickly dissipated in the coming years. Miles was fired after a 2-2 start to the 2016 season at LSU. Spending 2.5 years out of football, Miles resurfaced as the Kansas Jayhawks head coach in 2019. They have won only three games since.