Jim Schembechler

I don’t know Jim Harbaugh from Adam. However, after several years of seeing his coaching career, whether at Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers, or here at Michigan, I have a hunch as to what his answer would be to the question, “Who have been the most influential figures in your life?” I believe the answer to that question would first be his faith as an outspoken Christian, therefore Christ, trying to walk as close to him as possible should be the goal of any Christian, Jim being no exception. Second, would be his father, a collegiate football coach for most of his life including at Michigan. And third, would be the college coach during his time as a quarterback at The University of Michigan, Bo Schembechler.

Emulation

We, whether consciously or subconsciously tend to try and emulate the figures that have had the most influential impact on our lives. Jim’s spiritual leader, Jesus,  was a figure that stood on his principles, not being afraid or worried about the public’s perception of his stances. Harbaugh is often criticized for his comments and beliefs, Jim has received criticism from people of the political right for his relationship with his former player Colin Kaepernick, never disparaging him and standing by his friend, inviting him to throw at halftime of Michigan’s spring game to have the throwing session filmed by filmmaker Spike Lee for an upcoming documentary. By the political left, as Jim, in the ultra-left environment that is the University setting has been criticized for his stance on abortion, being featured in pro-life ads and at a public speaking engagement for a pro-life organization in which Jim said, “Let’s have the courage to let the unborn, be born.” His father he emulates by being a coach, a family man, and an Ann Arbor resident. Jim’s introduction to coaching began while he was still playing in the NFL, helping his father while he was the head coach at Western Kentucky. During his father Jack Harbaugh’s coaching career, he coached as part of the staff at Michigan under Jim’s other influential figure, Bo Schembechler. Bo is Jim’s guiding light in the realm of football. Schembechler’s legacy, in many ways, is embodied by and lives on through Jim.

Se Acabó la Fiesta

The game plan that played out Saturday was a head-scratching one. At times, Michigan’s coaching strategy felt like that of a team that was happy to simply be there while at other times appeared to be of a team that believed they had this semi-final game in the bag and looked almost cautiously conservative as to preserve health and future sleeve tricks. In the first drive of the game, after getting down to the RedZone in a hurry, a familiar villain showed up, redzone struggles. On a 4th down play from the 2-yard line, rather than being conservative and kicking the field goal, the team decided to be aggressive. With the top offensive line in the country, who could blame them? After the timeout, the team conducted a Philly Special, a trick play designed to confuse the defense by having the quarterback leak out of the right, becoming a receiver for a position player, in this case, the freshman tight end Colston Loveland, to throw the ball to. The play was unsuccessful and resulted in not only a turnover on downs but newfound momentum for the underdog TCU team who successfully weathered the storm and held the wolverines to a scoreless first possession. This play, a strange one at that, was a microcosm of what was to come.

After the message-sending victory that was the Ohio State game and then the following week’s Big Ten Championship game, the previously unbeaten Wolverines had nearly a month off. For having nearly a month to prepare for the upcoming playoffs, the team looked at times, ill-prepared. Seeing a defensive set that is an unfamiliar one in the big ten, a 3-3-5 stack, the offensive line, tight ends, and running backs at times looked utterly at a loss when it came to blocking assignments. Our tight ends who have been a major part of both our passing game and running game, consistently missed kick-out blocks, letting defenders slide underneath them to blow up the running play. In a head-scratching decision, but one that was also used during the Ohio State game to Michigan’s success, the team decided to withhold their athletic quarterback from utilizing his legs in the first half. On read-option plays, rather than forcing the linebacker in space to make a decision on whether to crash down to the running back or hold his position to defend a possible quarterback keep, they made the decision for him, only deciding to hand off to the running back allowing the defender to simply crash down every time, blowing up the play and allowing what felt like unceasing tackles for losses. Rather than utilizing a strength of the team, exceptional blocking and an athletic quarterback by running quarterback power schemes where one or two lineman pull, kicking out the linebacker while the other picks up an interior linebacker in the hole, forcing a one-on-one tackle in space from the safety on quarterback J.J. McCarthy, we instead opted for forcing tight-windowed throws. Although the team was not feeling the loss of running back Blake Corum in their previous two games, the deficit showed itself in this game. Corum, a back that is made for the zone-blocking schemes Michigan runs, has exceptional vision, balance, and quickness, being able to bounce and burst through seams of daylight. Edwards, albeit an exceptional talent, lacks in vision and patience, and is more of a one-cut and get downhill back, one not cookie-cut for the zone-scheme. Due to Edwards’ hand splint, he and the offense were unable to utilize what is arguably his best trait, his pass-catching ability which creates production and opportunity through mismatches.

On the defensive side of the ball, for most of the game it felt like the gameplan of a team that doesn’t feel like they could survive on their own merit, needing to constantly bring pressure in an attempt to force a turnover or get a tackle for loss. For a defensive unit that was only allowing 13.5 points per contest, we called a game that was outside of our identity. Granted, the strength of TCU’s team was found in its receiving group and Michigan dug itself into a hole which requires more risk-taking but I don’t know that it is much different of a look that they saw two weeks prior against the Buckeyes. Michigan did something that it did very little of throughout the year, running some 3-man front looks. The blitzing scheme felt as if Don Brown was once again the defensive coordinator with Michigan bringing the house, often, to try to generate a pass-rush, leaving the secondary and the remaining linebackers on islands against a receiving group that features the likely number one receiver in the 2023 NFL draft. Rather than trusting the same defensive group that turned off the spigot for opposing offenses in second halves all season, their game plan felt panicked instead of simply trusting your highly talented secondary to be able to handle the TCU passing attack.

In a game where they were the better team, they rid themselves of their identity. Rather than dictating the lesser team beat Michigan at their game, they came down to TCU’s level trying to win in a big-12-style game. Rather than being confident, but not arrogant, in their supremacy, they went outside of themselves and found defeat in the process.

Bo Knows

Like that of Bo Schembechler, Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan program has ascended to being the best program in the Big Ten after winning consecutive Big Ten Championships. Like that of Bo, instituting a smash-mouth, physical brand of football that is built upon an offensive line, a running game, and a defense. Schembechler’s accomplishments in his 21 seasons as Michigan’s head coach include a 78% winning percentage and 13 Big Ten titles. Jim’s winning percentage with the removal of the 6-game covid season is 77.41% and despite coaching in a far more competitive Big Ten conference which is home to arguably the best top-to-bottom coaching in the country, he has won consecutive conference titles. Unfortunately, much to the chagrin of both Michigan coaches and Michigan fans, Harbaugh also shares a similar pattern with his coaching idol in the form of unsuccessful post-season play. Bo Schembechler’s bowl game record in his 21 seasons was 5-12 which included a 2-8 Rose Bowl record and going winless in his first five bowl games. Ironically, Jim Harbaugh’s last game as a Michigan player was a defeat in the Rose Bowl after beating Ohio State and winning the Big Ten in the previous game. Jim’s current post-season bowl at Michigan record is now 1-6, with his only win coming in the 2015 Citrus Bowl, his first year as Michigan’s head coach.

Fans of an older generation remember the limited success that Schembechler had when they’d travel out west for the Rose Bowl.  Harbaugh, in all that he has accomplished during his tenure, has lost his last six post-season bowl games including Saturday’s disappointing loss to what appeared to be the lesser team, TCU in the semi-final game. The fair criticism of Schembechler was that he coached stubbornly in his bowl games, never breaking the mold to make accommodations for teams that played a style that was different than they had seen all season in conference play. Ironically, Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl was the exact inverse of this. Rather than sticking to what got Michigan to the playoffs in the first place, they over-accommodated for their opponent by playing Big-12 football, letting their opponent off the hook in the process. In a year that felt as if it was lined up perfectly for Michigan with a beatable TCU team, an Ohio State team they already dominated, and a Georgia team that is a far cry from last year’s juggernaut, they managed to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.

Reality

As Michigan fans it may be time that we accept reality for what it is, for better and for worse, Jim Harbaugh is Bo Schembechler. The bad, coming in the form of disappointing post-season play, also comes with the good, in the form of year in and year out being a double-digit win team and one with the expectation of winning the Big Ten.

While the feeling of disappointment is still fresh, it is important to add context. For one, Jim Harbaugh is an exceptional coach. The “Fire Jim” sentiment of a couple of years ago was void of patience and has been proven to be incorrect. Michigan, after being irrelevant for the last decade and a half, has managed to get over the Ohio State hump, won it’s second consecutive Big Ten title, and achieved the first 13 win season in school history, all things that in the not-so-distant past felt impossible to accomplish. We are inevitably in the midst of “Harbaugh to the NFL” part of the off season. While this essay is critical in nature, I am after all comparing him to one of the greatest coaches in college football history. I believe that Michigan’s ceiling, whether it results in a National Championship or not, rests best on the shoulders Harbaugh, who is the best possible coach for the program. Additionally, the off-season brings within it a feeling of hope and high expectations. Michigan, a young team outside of a couple of offensive linemen and receivers, will be returning nearly all of its talent including in the defensive unit that was top three in the country. With the inclusion of the best transfer class in the country, Michigan’s goals heading into next season will be nothing short of beating Ohio State at home, repeating as Big Ten Champions, and returning to the College Football Playoff where they have left much to be desired. While we should not take the level of success achieved within these last two seasons for granted, we can also hope that Harbaugh follows in the footsteps of another one of his predecessors, Lloyd Carr, and finally win the big one.

Go Blue