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Ex-OSU assistant Zach Smith on Jim Harbaugh: ‘His program falls apart at the end’
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Former Ohio State assistant coach Zach Smith isn’t afraid to speak his mind. If you tune into his Menace 2 Society podcast, that’s not something you really need to be told.
On a recent episode, Smith talked about some of the top coaches in college football, providing fans with an inside perspective of what sets some of the guys under the headset apart from the rest. One name he didn’t include was Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.
When Harbaugh’s name did come up, Smith acknowledged that he’s been a good football coach in the past. During his time at Michigan, though, Harbaugh has yet to deliver on high expectations, especially at the end of the year.
“He’s had a lot of success at a lot of stops. He’s been a really, really good head coach at times,” Smith said of Harbaugh. “Somebody sent me this stat…in the last four games of the season at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh is 7-9. If you combine all the last four games [from his four seasons at UM]. His program falls apart…His program just falls apart at the end.”
To go further into that stat, three of those seven wins came in Harbaugh’s first season in Ann Arbor (2015). The remaining four wins over the last three years have come against Maryland, Rutgers and Indiana twice.
Michigan is 0-4 in games against Ohio State and 1-3 in bowl games under Harbaugh, as well.
“He’s not really in that conversation. He’s had successes at Stanford, successes in the NFL but he hasn’t done it at Michigan, and that’s what we’re talking about.”
Smith points out some of the same criticism that Harbaugh has heard over the last four seasons. In 2019, with Urban Meyer gone, many believe this could be the year Michigan finally takes down Ohio State and wins the division.
If that happens, maybe Harbaugh will earn a spot in the conversation as one of the top coaches in college football this time next year.
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