Michigan and Texas Football are Missing the Road Back to Greatness

Today I want to talk about two different college football teams, and their head coaching situations. One is Texas, and the other is Michigan. I will save Michigan for last because that is my school, my team, and I have some strong, and anger, towards how Jim Harbaugh is handling that mess.

First let’s talk about Texas. I am surprised, but maybe I shouldn't be, that they fired Tom Herman. Yes, they never met expectations, they were always a perennial top 10 team and would go on to win 6 to 8 games and then play in a lower tier bowl. Herman did not deliver Texas back to the promised land their fanbase had hoped. But, he was only there for, I think, three years. That is not really a long enough time to get the program on his terms. I felt like they didn't give Charlie Strong enough time, but Herman was there as long as him, so maybe this is what Texas does now. Herman also recruited fairly well, had good players coming in, but this past season, I guess to the big wigs, wasn't enough for him to keep his job. Again, surprising, but not really when you break it down. Texas is a blueblood. They are football in that state. I'd go as far to say that the Longhorns are more important than the Cowboys. Full stop. And the team was just not good enough. They weren't winning the Big 12. They couldn't keep up with Oklahoma. They were losing early season non conference games that they had no business not winning. Texas was, and still is, trending down. That is not good enough for them.

Also, I do not think that hiring Steve Sarkisian is going to solve the problem. Does Texas not remember his time as head coach of Washington? Or when he was the OC for the Falcons? It was a disaster. Some people will say he did great at USC, and Alabama's offense this season is top of the line, but look at the talent discrepancy. I could call plays for Alabama, and definitely that USC team he was the OC on, and we'd average 40 plus points a game. USC back in the early 2000's, and Alabama now, they get the best of the best. They always have the top talent. Third stringers on those teams would start on almost any other D-1, power 5, top 25 team. That's the truth. Sarkisian will not have that at his expense at Texas. He will have to go out and do the recruiting himself, and the kids he will go after, a lot of them will choose Alabama or the university of Ohio State and Clemson before even thinking about Texas. Hell, they will have to fight Oklahoma just within their conference. While firing Herman was a surprise, hiring Sarkisian makes even less sense to me. But maybe he will work out, who knows.

Now on to Michigan. This whole situation is an absolute mess, and Jim Harbaugh is the only person to blame. I wasn't on board when Michigan hired him, grew to like him very much, even without living up to his own personal expectations, and now what he is doing, just dragging everyone along while openly looking for an NFL job, it is just, quite frankly, embarrassing and annoying. It is so frustrating that he is dragging his feet, not signing the extension that has been on the table for over a week now and not telling anyone what he plans on doing. His players, his assistants, even AD Warde Manuel has no idea what he is going to do, and that is wrong. Everyone has done anything and everything he has wanted since they hired him in 2014. They have bent over backwards to his every whim, and this is how he decides to handle himself. It is gross. People get so mad at players for transferring every year when they don't play, but applaud coaches when they wait out their own college team for an NFL opening. That is wrong. Coaches can leave whenever they want, no matter how unsuccessful or successful they are, and no one bats an eye. But, if a player transfers after one season, without knowing anything about that kid, the media and coaches will destroy that kid. That is the upsetting part.

The real personal problem with me, I want Harbaugh back as Michigan's head coach this upcoming season. I don't think the options on the table are any better. I think if they make a change they will be back to a full rebuild, a full culture change. They will lose a ton of players to transfers. I think a lot of this solid recruiting class they have will ask out, and rightfully so. It would be a total letdown if Harbaugh continues to wait and wait and wait. I also do not know that the NFL is necessarily breaking down doors to get to him, but I imagine there are talks going on, which is going to make this never ending extension situation drag out longer and longer. If he doesn't sign the extension with Michigan by tomorrow, I fully believe he is going to leave for either the Jets or Chargers job, and leave Michigan an even bigger mess than when Lloyd Carr was all but forced to retire. Warde Manuel, the coaches still on staff and players are all waiting, but Harbaugh seems fully content to just sit and make them wait even longer, until he has exhausted any and all other options. That is wrong, but damn it, I hope he returns. That is my own nonsense that I have to work through.

These two schools, which were once great, and are now not, are going in separate directions, but I feel like both are going to end up in the same spot, the middle.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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