Is Michigan Better Off With Jim Harbaugh?

While most fans would agree that the Michigan Football program is better today than it was prior to Jim Harbaugh's arrival, we thought it would be interesting to take a closer look.

It wasn't all that long ago that fans were eagerly awaiting a decision on Jim Harbaugh's future in Ann Arbor.  As the disastrous 2020 season came to an abrupt end, many within the fan base believed that the man who was once thought to be the "savior" of Michigan Football would be shown the door by Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel.  After all, Harbaugh's struggles through six seasons had been well noted and his inability to build a program capable of competing with the college football elite - mainly Ohio State - was often a hot topic.

While Harbaugh's shortcomings have been subjected to intense scrutiny (and deservedly so), most of the criticism has been the result of a clash between expectation and reality.  The expectation was that Harbaugh would return the Michigan Football program into a national powerhouse, the reality is that Michigan remains a mid-tier Big Ten football program - still struggling with its top rivals within the conference.  

Though Harbaugh has come up woefully short in terms of the expectations that everyone had for him in Ann Arbor, the majority of the fan base still seems to agree that the program is in better shape now than it was prior to his arrival - or what is otherwise known as the RichRod/Hoke era.

As a result, I thought it would be interesting to compare Harbaugh's first six seasons to the six seasons prior to his arrival in order to see just how much the football program has improved under his leadership.  I looked at everything from overall records, recruiting rankings and AP rankings. The results are below.   

Recruiting Rankings

• 2010-2015 Big Ten average: No. 3
2010-2015 National average: No. 19

• 2016-2021 Big Ten average: No. 2
2016-2021 National average: No. 11

Overall Record

• 2009-2014: 43-33

• 2015-2020: 49-22

Overall Winning Percentage

• 2009-2014: 57 percent

• 2015-2020: 69 percent

Record vs Ohio State

• 2009-2014: 1-5

• 2015-2020: 0-5

Record vs Michigan State

• 2009-2014: 1-5

• 2015-2020: 3-3

Big Ten Record

• 2009-2014: 22-26, 46 percent

• 2015-2020: 34-16, 68 percent

Big Ten Divisional Titles (outright)

• 2009-2014: 0

• 2015-2020: 0

Big Ten Championships

• 2009-2014: 0

• 2015-2020: 0

Record vs Top 25

• 2009-2014: 4-19, 17 percent

• 2015-2020: 10-16, 38 percent

Record vs Top 10

• 2009-2014: 0-8, percent

• 2015-2020: 2-12, percent

Bowl Record

• 2009-2014: 1-3 (2 missed bowl seasons)

• 2015-2020: 1-4 (1 missed bowl season)

AP Top 25

2009-2014:

• Finished ranked within the AP Top 25: 2 times

• Finished with a higher final ranking: 1 time

• Highest final ranking: No. 12

2015-2020

• Finished ranked within the AP Top 25: 4 times

• Finished with a higher final ranking: 1 time

• Highest final ranking: No. 10