Michigan's John Cooper? We Can Only Hope
In the aftermath of our perennial bloodletting at the hands of the Buckeyes, I have been besieged by two types of Ohio State fans.
First, there's the 80 percent that made me thank Twitter Jack for inventing the mute button. And then there's the other 20 percent drawing comparisons between Jim Harbaugh and their old coach John Cooper. I'm not sure how many of them meant this comparison to be sympathetic or a troll, but from a Michigan fan's perspective we can only hope that's how the Harbaugh era eventually turns out.
Now, before you think I'm trolling my fellow Michigan fans reading this, hear me out. Let's start with the situational comparison.
Cooper took over an Ohio State program whose administration was in disarray over the controversial way Earle Bruce was fired in 1987. Despite a winning record against Bo Schembechler, Bruce only winning two Big Ten titles and earning the nickname "9-3 Earle" was too much for some, despite his being a favorite son. Thus, when his 1987 team went from preseason No.5 in the AP Poll to a 5-4-1 record leading into the rivalry, he was summarily dismissed the week of The Game.
Cooper basically got the Ohio State job because he upset Bo in the 1987 Rose Bowl. A total outsider with no ties to the school, he walking into a hornets nest.
Meanwhile, over in Ann Arbor there was peace and tranquility. Schembechler was in the midst of the closing flourish to his Hall of Fame career. Finishing No.2 in the nation in 1985, winning the Big Ten in 1986, and after a dip in 1987 winning consecutive Big Ten titles in 1988-89 before he retired.
He was anointed the AD, too, ensuring the foundation he established would remain. In other words, Michigan wasn't going anywhere. Bo would choose his successor internally. An offensive innovator with little head coaching experience, who would continue his championship run. Gary Moeller won conference titles his first three seasons at the helm, with quarterback Elvis Grbac rewriting the record book and Desmond Howard the rare wide receiver who wins the Heisman.
Does any of this sound familiar? It should.
Back to Columbus, where Cooper was winning while scuffling. He lost at least three games his first five seasons, just as Harbaugh has. He was 0-4-1 against Michigan, while Harbaugh is 0-5 against Ohio State. He was 0-4 in bowl games. So far Harbaugh is just 1-3. Harbaugh's overall record his first five seasons in Ann Arbor is definitely better than Cooper's first five were, but they each had the same lack of hardware to show for it.
However, Cooper's next five seasons were stellar. He won 83% of his games, including three 11-win seasons, three Big Ten championships, two major bowl wins, three top 6 finishes in the AP Poll, and two victories over the Wolverines.
Fellow Michigan fan, if I told you right now that in the next five years Harbaugh would duplicate that from 2020-2024, you'd take that faster then you can say "go blue." Let's face it, given how things look the day after another painful reminder we're light years behind Ohio State, this seems like the absolute best-case scenario.
So is Harbaugh really Michigan's John Cooper? We can only hope.
