Ad Disclosure
Jim Harbaugh embracing high expectations, continues to set major goals
Published:
With a winless record against Ohio State and no division or conference titles to his name, you’d think that Jim Harbaugh might try to rein in some of the expectations at Michigan. That’s not what the fifth-year head coach is all about, though.
Harbaugh recently made an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast to talk about handling high expectations, something he’s dealt with since arriving in Ann Arbor five years ago. Now, though, there’s even more pressure for the “Michigan Man” for the 2019 season.
There’s already an expectation that Michigan should defeat Ohio State, win the B1G East and challenge for a spot in the College Football Playoff. Other coaches may just worry about one game at a time, but Harbaugh isn’t backing down from wanting to accomplish those goals.
“The pressure, we look at it as a challenge,” Harbaugh said. “My daughter Katie was working on a little project this morning and it asked for a definition of a bold beginning. She starts writing an example of an elephant charging or something like that. It’s like Pop, Jack Harbaugh says ‘attack each day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.’ That’s what we’re doing. This is a bold beginning, a new season.
“We’ve done a lot of good. We haven’t made the Playoffs and beat Ohio State. Our goal here is to win multiple championships. Our goal is to win the next game for us and the last game for us defines the season. We have big goals, big aspirations.”
It’s not as though Michigan has produced a bad product during Harbaugh’s tenure. The Wolverines have won 38 games, including three 10-win seasons in a four-year span. That’s nothing to scoff at.
In Ann Arbor, though, those accomplishments mean very little if you can’t win The Game and aren’t consistently competing for B1G titles. Harbaugh understands those are the hurdles he has to overcome.
This fall could just be the year Michigan leaps over that obstacle. Even Harbaugh thinks his team possesses the experience and talent to make a serious charge.
“I think we’ve got a special team,” Harbaugh said. “It’s a young and enthusiastic team, but a very experienced team,” We’re really good at the quarterback position, really good up front on the offensive line. I think people are going to be surprised how good we are not h defensive line because we lost quite a few good players, but we’ve got some really good young players I’m excited to see. Maybe the fastest defensive line we’ve had.”
Michigan’s first 11 games are important, for sure. But very little matters if they don’t beat Ohio State or claim a division title. The Wolverines head into the season with a lot of confidence, maybe more so than any other season the past four years.
Maybe it will finally translate to a B1G title. Or at least a win over Ohio State.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB