Harbaugh Formula = Investigation/Suspension?

But, can Gator fans wait that long? There are some that are already questioning BN abilities as a coach. Not me, I will give him time to build the program he wants to build.

 

To me, the winning formula is...patience. And I don't see it in this fan base. The Year 1 posts were telling. I get the fatigue but still, Napier isn't Bell, a legacy, and so he has a leash. Chip Kelly looks like he is the next long-term outlook coach to finally turn the corner, but even if he was the buzz hire when we went after him, he would not have lasted here.

 

We have a much tougher schedule. Just look at recruiting rankings and with OU and Texas coming into the league, it’s not getting any easier. Michigan has one team that out recruits them to beat each year. We have 3-4 teams ahead of us, even if we are consistently Top 5 every year.

Of course we need to get into that #1 spot and the rest will take care of itself. IIRC McElwain had the #1 class going into the season where he got canned. So it can be done.

 

He proved it works at Stanford and NFL. That demands some patience

 

Ha . . . how many people on this board panned Harbaugh? Claiming that he couldn't coach. His style wouldn't work. He was a loser, etc. The best was the notion that we were lucky to have McElwain. This isn't aimed at the OP; I'm just pointing out the fickle nature of cfb fans. Harbaugh is and has always been one heck of a football coach.

 

They were talking during the broadcast that he completely reinvented himself and the team the past 2 yrs. In the middle years he tried to turn UM into a OSU and it didn't work.
He went back to what he knew when he was hired. Talked to his brother and brought in the Baltimore Ravens defensive philosophy. And now you see the results on the field.

 

It’s really only a handful of fans who just don’t have patience and have irrational outbursts after a loss. When I look back at this season I see a very difficult SEC schedule against QB’s who had lots of experience and 7 of our 12 games were against a team ranked at the time of the game or are ranked now. We beat 2 of them. Vandy really is the eye sore this year but like I’ve said, that game was cursed and we don’t have the talent to overcome cursed games yet. Yes there were some head scratching calls and yes it seems like Napes struggled with clock management and adjustments. He took over a bad roster, lost 3 possible starters from the defense to the portal (Bogle, Diabate, Hopper) and brought in 3 of our most talented players with Pearsall, Torrence and Johnson. Defense notably struggled this year and at times we had 3-5 true freshman on the field getting experience (Wilson, Mitchell, McCllelan, James all look legit). Win the bowl game, finish with a top 5 recruiting class and go find 3-4 more starters from the portal. We are on our way. Go Gators.

 

For it shouldn’t have to take 6 years, see Nick, Urban, Kirby and now Brian Kelly, notwithstanding LSU’s embarrassing loss to A&M last night.

 

It took Kirby 6 yrs to win a NC. Urban burned out twice and Kelly didn't win anything at ND and too early to tell at LSU.
Saban was already an NC coach when he got to Bama.

 

I doubt any coaching changes will happen going into next year. BN is still building a culture and foundation. If things don't improve, yr 3 will see coaching changes.

 

So...what your saying is that CBN needs to take a pay cut after year 1? Thats how CJH stayed at UM...took a pay cut and cleaned the coaching house.

 

Hes always been a great coach, but his personality is what started to wear on people. There's no doubt he's wanted to win at Michigan more than anyone, he's a Michigan man. So he was always going to get a little extra time than the guy that's an outsider.

 

Three years is far too patient for entitled fans.

 

The rule of thumb is that new coaches have 3 years to win a championship or not win one at all.

I don't think its a hard and fast rule though, as Dabo was able to pull it off and it took longer. Harbaugh could also break that rule as well.

I think that timetable is very unrealistic with the current state of the SEC and our
talent deficit. It will take 2-3 consecutive top 5 classes to do this. This class looks to fall between 6-8, which is better, but not good enough to beat Georgia or Alabama.

The portal does allow you to fill some holes, but I don't think Napier will use it like Mullen did. You can't build a program off the portal. It has to be done the old fashioned way, recruiting 4 and 5* players.

 

These fans seem to be oblivious to the last 10+ seasons of Gator football. They think its still 2008.

But they can always enjoy another 10 years of futility if they want.

 

So it took adapting to a different method for it to finally work. Something Champ, Mac and Mullen didn't indicate they would even attempt short of Champ bringing in different OCs each year. Time will tell if Napier exhibits this ability to adapt. I'm on board with him but certainly have concerns.

For what it's worth I never understood questioning Harbaugh at the onset. He won everywhere he has been and I thought it was a slam dunk hire. His results didn't reflect that until recently however.

 

Ohio State fans want Ryan Day fired for losing 2 in a row to Michigan. His head coach record is 45-5 best in Football

 

I think the majority of the fanbase can and will be patient for a coach with the right demeanor. Mcelwain was talking death threats. Mullen was getting snarky with the pressers and dismissing the significance of recruiting as he was being badly out-recruited by rivals. I think we were plenty patient with Muschamp and the results just weren't there.

Napier doesn't need to win a natty in yr2 or 3 to placate the fans. But, going forward, we can't have inexplicable struggles against a bad usf team or a bad loss to a Vandy team that gets worked silly by Tennessee one week later without significant adjustments to personnel or supporting staff. Show that you can learn from failure, and you'll get patience.