Paul Finebaum: Michigan football will never win with Jim Harbaugh
By John Buhler
Paul Finebaum is not a fan of Jim Harbaugh or the Michigan football program’s direction.
Jim Harbaugh took a massive pay cut to receive a multi-year extension to remain the Michigan football head coach, but all this means to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is that the Wolverines are no longer interested in winning championships.
“As far as Harbaugh, it’s the strangest marriage in the history of matrimony, how these two sides could find some commonality,” said Finebaum on WJOX FM Monday. “But it also shows you why Michigan is not a winner any longer on the top level of college football, nor will it be a winner as long as Jim Harbaugh is the head coach.”
Here is to five more years of khaki pants and no trips to Indianapolis whatsoever
Since Harbaugh arrived back at his alma mater in 2015, Michigan has never won the Big Ten East. Though the arch rival Ohio State Buckeyes are the creme de la creme of the Big Ten for a reason, one would have thought Michigan would have made it to the Big Ten title bout under Harbaugh by now. Michigan did not win a single game at home in 2020 prior to Harbaugh getting his extension.
The idea behind the extension is to allow for an easier exit, should either party want to go in that direction. Harbaugh may go back to the NFL if the right job opens up. Keep in mind he did have tremendous success in his four years leading the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014. Then again, it has been a long time since Richard Sherman broke up that pass to Michael Crabtree.
Six years into the Harbaugh era in Ann Arbor, are we even sure he is the fourth-best head coach in his own division? Ryan Day has made the College Football Playoff twice in two years leading Ohio State. James Franklin won the Big Ten back in 2016 at Penn State. Tom Allen has done a phenomenal job at Indiana. Greg Schiano is a legend at Rutgers, now in his second stint there.
Ultimately, Finebaum’s opinion of Harbaugh is merited and shared by many. There is a reason why so many people feel Harbaugh is the most overrated head coach in the Power 5. He is living on a past reputation built with the 49ers and the Stanford Cardinal before that. If he wants to change the narrative surrounding him, he has to winning and winning big in the Big Ten. Beat Ohio State.
Harbaugh may have great job security now, but is that what Michigan football fans really want?
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