Kirk Herbstreit Gives Honest Take On Michigan, Jim Harbaugh
College Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit recently shared his thoughts on the current state of the Michigan Football program, including Jim Harbaugh's job performance through six seasons.
Not surprisingly, Herbstreit sees plenty of room for improvement.
"Honestly, they're still trying to build it back up," Herbstreit said on the Tobin and Leroy podcast. "Nobody knows Michigan history better than Jim Harbaugh. He's been there five or six years and we keep waiting for it to kind of ignite and go, but up to this point we just haven't seen it, but we'll see. And you know, they haven't been right at the quarterback position in a long time. It's been a long time.
"That and name the last great Michigan tailback. Ty Wheatley, Anthony Thomas...I'm talking like...a (running) back. They've got to win in recruiting and win in development, in order to not just beat Ohio State, but to be a perennial top-five, top-seven team."
Herbstreit's outlook on the program is similar to many others when it comes to Michigan football, including those within the Michigan fan base itself. Under the leadership of Harbaugh, Michigan has been good - but not great. Though Harbaugh has notched three 10-win seasons in his first six years, he's 0-5 against Ohio State and has yet to make an appearance in Indy to compete for a Big Ten championship.
For Harbaugh, the accomplishments that have eluded him so far are the very accomplishments he was expected to deliver when he returned to Ann Arbor. Following an off-season contract negotiation that saw his pay cut by nearly 50 percent, it appears as though the folks at the University of Michigan tend to agree with Herbstreit's assessment.
Put simply, the results have to be better.
