Former Michigan Great Amani Toomer Compares Jim Harbaugh to Paris Hilton
Former Michigan wide receiver and Super Bowl champion Amani Toomer is not satisfied with Jim Harbaugh's first three years at the helm of the storied program. Harbaugh is 28-10 and won 10 games in each of his first two years in Ann Arbor, but Harbaugh's teams have struggled in the rivalry games that matter most. Through three seasons, he is a combined 1-5 against Michigan State and Ohio State, including 0-3 against the Buckeyes.
Toomer, who was first-team All Big Ten in 1994 and won Super Bowl XLII with the New York Giants, expressed his discontent with Sir Khakis on Detroit's 97.1 The Ticket sports radio.
"I'm a frustrated fan. I think that what Michigan signed up for was a Nick Saban, an Urban Meyer. We signed up for somebody who was going to come in and change the culture," Toomer said. "I mean, he had a great first year. The first two years I was excited, but last year he had his best team and they lose to Ohio State? That was a heartbreaker.
"And this year they lose to Ohio State embarrassingly. They lose to Michigan State, another embarrassment. I just think that we deserve better than this."
That's a standard line of criticism, and one that Harbaugh himself would probably take no issue with. In order to become the kind of program that competes for national titles, you simply have to win the big games.
What's notable about Toomer's specific qualms is the comparison he used to illustrate them. Instead of comparing Harbaugh to another coach who has struggled to get his team over the hump—a Mark Richt, for example—Toomer went all mid 2000's on unsuspecting listeners.
"To me, that's not a supermodel, that's Paris Hilton," Toomer said. "That's somebody who's given us nothing, but 'Oh, we're going to Rome. Oh, we wear Michael Jordan shoes. I don't care. I want to beat Michigan State, I want to beat Ohio State. That's the passion that I have for the program."
I'm all for high standards, but I'm going to go out on a limb and call Toomer's criticism of Hilton unfair. She was incredible in The Simple Life and she...DJs?
