UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[drok]

This is NOT a good class. But I'm also not going to look at UFM's first class and wonder why we didn't do the same.

[iam416]

drok:

Rational, IMO.

[Mackenzie]

I don't get it. For the most part, I think it would be fair to say that JH was, far and away, the best head coach M could have hired. WE appointed and annoited him. Pretty much all the guy said in his introduction speech was "promise to do his best." I can't think of anything that I've read or heard to even suggest that he has done less. And now, even before the ink is dry on his contract, he's a failure because he didn't/couldn't flip some recruits. Worse, his best isn't good enough because UFM was able to do more when he was first hired. Fuck UFM! Go Blue! Go Coach Harbaugh!

[drok]

"This <Michigan thing> sucks. It's not as good as <unreasonable comparison to school not in same situation>."

[iam416]

BTW, drok....I said this earlier and it's worth saying again, but there's no running from the UFM comparisons, fair or not. That is exactly who JH will be measured against. How did JH do in his first month recruiting? How did JH do in his first season at M? How did JH do with his first full-on recruiting class? And how does all of that compare to UFM?

There are gads of reasons why any of those questions aren't apples-to-apples or fair or whatever...but you guys hired your "Rockstar" HC....and your rival hired their "Rockstar" HC 3 years earlier....people are going to keep score because most people (and all M fans) view JH as AT LEAST UFM's peer if not his superior....so, let's compare....gonna happen.

[drok]

Fair enough. I just don't want him run out of town 1 month in without a fair shake.

[Hannibal]

"This <Michigan thing> sucks. It's not as good as <unreasonable comparison to school not in same situation>."

So Michigan is in a perfectly unique unlicky situation that nobody has ever experienced before and it's all nobody's fault. Just like RichRod was in a completely unique unlucky situation and nothing else was his fault either.

[iam416]

Fair enough. I just don't want him run out of town 1 month in without a fair shake.

LOL. My informal take is that the M fanbase view of JH breaks down roughly as follows:

GOD: 78%
Son of God: 21%
Comparable to Various Coaching Legends: 1%
Mere mortal: Hannibal

[Hannibal]

Gus Malzahn's transition class at Auburn was ranked in the fucking Top 10. He picked up five 4* recruits and 1 5* recruit after he was hired. What was their special lucky situation that makes the two uncomparable?

Steve Sarkisian's transition class at USC was ranked in the Top 10. That was after a somewhat unpopular decision to fire the interim coach who recruited a lot of that class. Sark pulled in 2 5* guys and 6 4* guys, and he didn't have much of a track record to sell those guys.

Harbaugh's finish is about the same as or slightly worse than Franklin's at Penn State. Franklin was recruiting guys who thought that they might not be in a bowl game until their junior year, and he didn't have any star decommits to get back into contact with. O'Brien was never in on any big recruits before he left.

"It's not fair to compare <insert name of Michigan failure here> to the success of <insert example of success here> because of <insert excuse here>."

[Hannibal]

Jim Mora Jr.'s transition class ended up ranked #13 in the nation. He inherited a team that was further removed from historical success than we are. He pulled in 6 4* guys and 1 5* guy after he was hired.

[hack]

So Michigan is in a perfectly unique unlicky situation that nobody has ever experienced before and it's all nobody's fault. Just like RichRod was in a completely unique unlucky situation and nothing else was his fault either.

It's MICHIGAN's fault. It's awesome that we have Harbaugh. It's hard to envision anyone else doing better. Saban would come in here and get railroaded just like RichRod did, because Michigan doesn't just want to win, it wants to win with a specific style. And it doesn't know how to get there, really. Mary Sue is gone and Dave Brandon is gone, and those are great things, but their negative legacies can't just be wiped out instantly. And there are still dinosaurs prowling Ann Arbor who might resist positive change. This is an exceptionally dysfunctional institution. We're very lucky that we have a guy who not only happens to be one of the best football coaches on the planet but who comes to us with as much respect and credibility as anyone could. He has a better shot at insulating the football program from the dysfunction than prbobably any other coach on the planet. Its regrettable that it had to get so bad before it got better, but I'm extremely thankful that the stars aligned as they did.

[drok]

Hanni - I agree it's a poor class. I'm just tired of hearing from you how everything is terrible. It's not. Let's wait and see a bit.

[jaadam4]

If Harbaugh can turn Stanford into a BCS team then I'm a believer. I don't really care what the bean counters say

[iam416]

Hanni:

While your UCLA and Auburn comparisons are nice, it strikes me that there were two "transitional" coaches in the B10 this year. I wonder how they compared to JH?

[Hannibal]

Well we did steal Rueben Jones from one of them. Heh.