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This season will determine if Jim Harbaugh belongs in the ‘elite’ conversation

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Ask the question and you’re going to get mixed responses.

Is Jim Harbaugh an elite coach?

Some will point to Harbaugh’s tenure at Stanford and how he turned around a failing program. They’ll talk about his Super Bowl appearance five seasons ago. Most recently, Harbaugh supporters will reference the immediate impact he’s had at Michigan, taking a floundering 5-7 program and churning out a pair of 10-win seasons.

College football analyst Joel Klatt is one who’s all in on Harbaugh.

“Michigan is a top-10 program perennially with Jim Harbaugh as the head coach,” Klatt told Colin Cowherd in July.

Doubters are quick to stifle any mention of Harbaugh and the “E” word in the same sentence. Legendary SEC radio host Paul Finebaum is one of those voices reluctant to give the Michigan head coach too much credit.

“Jim Harbaugh, as one of my colleagues pointed out last night, has back-to-back third-place finishes in his division. He hasn’t even advanced past third place in his division,” Finebaum said. “He hasn’t beaten his rival. He did make it to the Super Bowl a couple years ago and lost to his brother. So you could argue he’s not even the best coach in his own family.”

The only thing Finebaum forgot to mention was Harbaugh’s 1-4 record against teams ranked in the top 10.

The bottom line?

The jury is still out on Harbaugh.

Let’s be clear. Harbaugh isn’t teetering the lines of good and average. His body of work has solidifying his standing as one of the great football minds currently walking the sidelines. But when it comes to the elite discussion – and whether or not Harbaugh belongs in the same category with the likes of Nick Saban and Urban Meyer – that’s where the debate begins.

Year 3 has become the first checkpoint in college football. The results are a compass, giving a pretty accurate reading of which direction a program is heading. Harbaugh’s third season in Ann Arbor is just as significant, but for other reasons.

Michigan enters the 2017 season having lost 10 of its 11 defensive starters. A slew of offensive talent is gone, too. The Wolverines will open the year with Florida and have road trips to Happy Valley and Madison to battle Penn State and Wisconsin. Ohio State lurks at season’s end, too.

If football was strictly about what the paper told us, you could probably wad up Michigan’s 2017 B1G title chances and start working on a new sheet for the 2018 season.

RELATED: Watch: Harbaugh Asks Charles Woodson to be Honorary Captain for ‘The Game’

Every coach goes through this, though. Even Saban and Meyer.

Ohio State was loaded with talent in 2014, but youth and inexperience was supposed to hinder the Buckeyes’ success, at least to an extent. The program was one year away from making any kind of noise at the national level.

We all know how that turned out. The Buckeyes added B1G and national championship hardware to their trophy case.

Alabama has so masterfully perfected its assembly line that nobody really seems to notice what the program loses on a year-to-year basis anymore. Sure, some Crimson Tide teams are more dominant than others, but all of the parts are interchangeable.

Saban and Meyer don’t rebuild. They reload.

It’s why Alabama has won four national titles during Saban’s tenure. And why Ohio State claimed a championship in 2014 and has reached the College Football Playoff two of the past three seasons.

Harbaugh’s trying to prove he’s on that that same level.

This might be the most uncertain year of Harbaugh’s brief stint in Ann Arbor, including his inaugural season. When he walked in to the job in 2015, he inherited a mess, for sure. But Brady Hoke didn’t leave the program in complete disarray when he was terminated.

Despite his struggles as an “X’s” and “O’s” guy in the B1G and his inability to develop players, Hoke still did fairly well on the recruiting trail. Harbaugh inherited some pretty athletic guys to work with. You remember the NFL Draft, right?

RELATED: B1G Coaches Talk Anonymously about Michigan

A similar circumstance presents itself this fall.

Michigan is loaded with talent. Harbaugh’s efforts on the recruiting trail suggest that Michigan is going to be a contender in the B1G and in the national picture for quite some time. But it’s hard to ignore how much the Wolverines are forced to replace after last season. And even though Harbaugh is regarded as “the best developmental coach in America,” according to Klatt, preparing so many fresh faces for Saturday afternoons is a daunting task.

Sure, Michigan has a few newcomers who can jump into the fire without getting severely burned. Donovan Peoples-Jones is probably going to have an immediate role in some capacity at receiver. And freshman DT Aubrey Solomon is already a beast on the defensive line:

But pure athleticism and ability doesn’t win games, at least not the important ones. Michigan fans understand that well. It’s not enough that the Wolverines are riddled with four-star and five-star talent. There’s a lot of raw talent that must be developed quickly.

That’s not an easy task. Even for the best in the biz.

There’s a huge difference between replacing a few pieces and reconstructing a team though, especially in one of the top conferences in college football. Harbaugh is trying to ignite a fire with a  few sticks and stones and he’s doing it on the windiest night of the year.

Measurements of success fluctuate. The word “elite” is thrown around frequently. Even if Harbaugh is successful and Michigan is competing for a College Football Playoff bid, what’s the line we draw to throw him into the conversation with Saban and Meyer?

RELATED: Michigan Adds Another Five-Star Recruit to 2019 Class

Another 10-win season? A win over Ohio State? Or does any of it even matter if Michigan doesn’t at least win its division and make the trip to Indianapolis in Year 3 of the Harbaugh era?

We’ll save that debate for another day.

Every coach goes through this. The elite ones make you forget about the “rebuilding” process. Harbaugh has an opportunity to prove he’s capable of creating the same culture Saban has developed at Alabama and Meyer at Ohio State.

This is a defining season for Harbaugh. And one everyone will look at 2017 the next time the question is asked, “is Harbaugh elite?”

Dustin Schutte

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