Harbaugh to the NFL – Chargers

[Extra Medium]

Harbaugh to Chargers

It will be interesting to see if this leads to transfers and/or decommits. Do they elevate the guys who coached while he was suspended?

[UtesRule]

My thought exactly. Maybe we can use the momentum with the UMich transfer DB we already landed to get more.

[The Miami Ute]

If I was Michigan, I’d go for a legit, experienced, top coach…if you elevate the OC you’re rolling the dice. He can turn out to be like Ryan Day or Jimmy Lake…

[Rick Walker]

The only reason I think it makes sense to elevate the OC is because he got some good head coaching experience this year while Harbaugh was suspended and he did well. Obviously he should go through the complete hiring process and has to pass all the tests.

[The Miami Ute]

I’m hearing that Harbaugh is going to be taking a lot of his Michigan staff with him to the Chargers. Elevating the OC might not even be an option.

[2008 National Champ]

I don’t think he’d be interested but Michigan seems like the type of school that Whitt might listen to if they were willing to back up the Brinks truck. His style would fit perfectly with their upper Midwest, last man standing mentality.

[The Miami Ute]

Maybe 10 years ago. Now? Whitt’s too old and would just be a placeholder HC. Plus he’s never really won big and the constant losing in bowl games has taken some of the shine off.

[AlohaUte]

You realize that he coaches Utah right? Not Michigan, not Bama, not USC. He’s definitely won big and built a middling school on the level of Wyoming to a nationally respected top-20 program. You are wildly underselling him.

[The Miami Ute]

No, I’m not wildly underselling him. I’m just telling it like it is from the viewpoint of someone who’s not an Utah homer. Utah on the level of Wyoming? Are you for real? Maybe in the sixties. Certainly not at anytime this century. You forget that Whitt took over a program that that went 22-2 in the two seasons before he became the head coach.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Whitt’s an excellent coach but when I say “winning big” I mean making the playoffs or consistent Top 10 finishes. If you look at Utah’s record under Whitt, they’ve only finished ranked inside the Top 10 twice in his 19 years in the job. They’ve finished ranked between 11-20 an additional four times. That being said, if finishing ranked in the Top 20 once every three years is your definition of “winning big”, then I’m not opposed to it.

[Utah]

My counter argument would be this: Look at Whitt’s recruiting at Utah: It is amazing for Utah, but it sucks for Michigan.

I’ve always said if USC hired Whitt, he would replicate Pete Carroll’s success. They are the same coach. Whitt would thrive in Michigan. When Rising was not hurt, he took it to Ohio State and Penn St. Hell, even without Rising he kicked USC’s ass up and down the field.

Whitt’s Achilles heel is injuries. You can’t have a team ready to compete for a national title recruiting in the 20’s and 30’s. Unless you get super lucky, and we haven’t.

You give Whitt a top 5 recruiting class and he isn’t going to lose. He would dominate at Michigan.

[The Miami Ute]

It’s quite possible but we’ll never know. Keep in mind that there have been many coaches that, once taken away from their area of comfort, haven’t been successful in big jobs. Look at Florida, who hasn’t had a sniff of the limelight since Meyer left them. Or Michigan before Harbaugh got there… people forget how that program was hot garbage under Rich Rod and Brady Hoke, though both those guys had been consistent winners with other programs.

[AlohaUte]

Utah was at Wyoming level when he joined the team in the 1990’s. Let’s not act like Utah was anything remotely special prior to Urban getting here. We have a top-10 coach in the game and we have idiot fans who aren’t happy about it and think he’s meh. If Whit had Michigan’s roster, he’d likely with the B1G most years.

[The Miami Ute]

Is that what you think? That any coach can go to up to Michigan and automatically win? That certainly wasn’t the case before Harbaugh showed up at Michigan. Rich Rod had, at West Virginia, more AP Top 10 finishes in his seven years there than Whitt has had in his entire career at Utah. AT…WEST…VIRGINIA…then he went to Michigan, thinking the same thing you probably do, and lasted three years. Then came Brady Hoke, coming from good seasons at Ball State and San Diego State, and he lasted four years, getting progressively worse, before he was canned.

Since you broached the subject of the fanbase, I will tell you something about this fanbase that I’ve noticed as an outsider: A significant number of them are extremely insular and soft-skinned. A lot of people here interpret any sort of constructive criticism or disagreement with the status quo as a mortal threat. It really doesn’t surprise me though, and I’ll leave at that.

[UteNamedOg]

Maybe. Whitt would be a placeholder – conjecture, but he seems to follow the “I’ll do it until I can’t do it at 100% mantra”.

I do, however, think he would be successful at Michigan. His persona of being very serious, disciplined, and deliberate seems to work well with teams (technically team) whose play-style is the same. Of course, this is a hypothetical scenario; everyone has a great plan until they draw Bama in the semi’s or have to go man coverage against Marvin Harrison Jr.

As far as the fanbase? Yeah. Everyone’s different, but personally, it’s nice to go to a game and just turn your brain off for an afternoon. Whitt does an excellent job of preparing his team, most of the time it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and every now and then we play Washington. Getting genuinely angry about a game involving 18-22 year olds isn’t a good look.

(Unless it’s ASU. Something about that fan base p**ses me off, they had that cheap-shot on Enis in 2019 on kick coverage, and their degrees clog up the plumbing after games.)

[The Miami Ute]

I’ve always hated USC the worst but ASU was always a close second when they were competent, especially when Todd Graham was there. I mean, we’ve won four straight against them but I remember when they used to beat us like a drum, winning 13 out of 15 contests until our streak started, and their fanbase wasn’t shy about letting us know it.

[UteNamedOg]

I do agree with the coaching philosophy – the 2015 equipment manager probably had to order an angle grinder just to get the maize + blue paint out of Gionni’s facemask. I also agree that Utah should accept the share of the 2008 natty.

Just from an observer’s standpoint I feel Whitt is comfortable here. He gets paid very well, lives close to family, and is able to coach the way he wants to coach. Nabbing an enormous coaching job seems like it would come with an accompanying truck filled with sh*t from national media, boosters, and a fan base with their own expectations on what the program should look like and how it’s expected to play.

[//r00t4Utes]

Or he could turn out like Coach Whitt

[The Miami Ute]

You mean somewhere in the middle? Ryan Day’s record at tOSU is 56-8 with four x Top 5 rankings at the end of the season. He’s also finished #6 and #10 in the other two seasons there.

[AlohaUte]

So to you, Ohio State and Utah are comparable programs with comparable reputations?

[The Miami Ute]

Explain to me what mental gymnastics you underwent to formulate such a question.

[//r00t4Utes]

Looks like it’s official. They hired the OC, who was also the part-time HC, when Harbaugh was suspended.

Also, on a side note, this sorta reminds me of when Carroll left U$C and Chip left Oregon.

[The Miami Ute]

Big, big gamble by Michigan. I understand wanting to maintain continuity, I understand wanting to mollify the players but feel good hires don’t always end well. To me, Michigan isn’t a job for a first time head coach. I mean, even guys that have been consistent winners at other programs haven’t always fared well there. If I’m Ohio and Penn State tonight, I’m popping open a bottle of champagne.

[//r00t4Utes]

Or maybe they saw how the outside big name hires of Rich Rod and Hoke went and thought the promotion from within was better. Along with trying to keep some continuity from the championship coaching staff was better this time around.

There’s no one best way or right way, but I do think a new coach will usually want their own guys and can see the logic of this route.

[The Miami Ute]

The logic of this route is that it’s the easy and cheap button. The guy was already on the payroll and will probably receive a starting salary at about half of what Whitt makes. What’s not to like from a bean counter’s point of view? There’s no guarantee that it’ll work out though, as we saw when Chris Petersen handed over the keys to Jimmy Lake.