(I’m going to ramble for a minute, so if you want to get straight to the part about Harbaugh, skip to graph three.) Despite wearing scarlet-colored glasses, I have accepted that Harbaugh has to be at least somewhat good at what he does. You can’t achieve his level of success at multiple stops otherwise, we have to assume. Success in college, however, can come from many avenues. If someone is a great recruiter and lines up a team that is almost always superior to its opponent, does that actually make him a great coach? That was the debate last week after the overrated/underrated list came out. I thought it was telling when he topped the list as being the most overrated coach in America, and no, I don’t feel he was voted that solely from peoples’ jealousy.
Back in December, I was listening to the local sports station in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was shocked because they were talking football, which only happens about 33% of the time in October/November anyway in this basketball-obsessed state. I was further surprised because they were talking about The Game, even more odd because it was well after the fact. The local guys were talking to Steve Logan, who is by far my favorite football media guy. For those unfamiliar, he has a great twang and a country saying for every situation (unlike the ESPN talking heads who write their “off-the-cuff” sayings and test them with focus groups, Logan’s are all natural). He has tons of coaching experience, including being the head coach at East Carolina and an assistant in the NFL. His specialty is quarterbacks. He explains the game in wonderful depth, but does so in a way that even the less familiar don’t feel like he’s talking over their heads. He often shows up on the local media here, but I think the reason he hasn’t been picked up by the big networks is because he’s a bit of a loose cannon. One time he admitted that he lost a big-time recruit at ECU because an SEC bagman came calling and was able to write a bigger check than he could offer. In short, he tells it like it is.
During the radio show, they asked Steve Logan about the whining Jim Harbaugh had been doing since the OSU game. He started talking specifically about the pick-six by Malik Hooker, which, as we all remember, came on 1st and 10 with the ball at that team’s own 6, and gave the Buckeyes a critical spark. (Even though I’m using quotes I may end up paraphrasing a little, as it has been a while since I heard this.) “When they broke the huddle and the quarterback was walking up to the line, I started screaming, ‘No! No! No!’” Logan said. “Not that I care who wins, but I just hate bad football. I don’t care about that team, but I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since I saw that play. The quarterback is walking up and he sees they have the two guards covered. He has to recognize that’s an old Buddy Ryan trick from the 46 defense, and that he’s about to get two linebackers crashing up the middle, and the last place in that stadium that he wants to be standing is under center. He needs to be calling for an audible, getting into the shotgun, and checking into a play that’s going to get the ball out his hands. Fast!” “So he just didn’t recognize the defense?” he was asked by the show’s host. “Obviously,” Logan said. “But whose fault is that? I have never had a quarterback play for me that wouldn’t have recognized that coverage instantly and known what to do. And that includes high school. It’s funny you have this coach throwing his players under the bus, complaining about the refs, complaining about the spot, complaining about everything he can think of, pointing his finger at everybody, and never once does it occur to him that he may be part of the problem. It’s amazing that a guy like that can sleep at night.”
Amen. Harbaugh is landing some big-time players now, and that’s going to cover a lot of his warts. But at some point he’s going to be exposed for the snake oil salesman he is. Here’s to that place burning to the ground when it finally happens.
