Michigan football: Where Jim Harbaugh stands on ranking of top Big Ten head coaches
Michigan Wolverines football head coach Jim Harbaugh was considered average coming into the 2021 season. Now, he’s risen from No. 7 to being ranked as the second-best head man in the Big Ten, per CBS Sports’ rankings.
That’s what a Big Ten title and College Football Playoff appearance will do, apparently. Harbaugh and Co. exorcised some demons in 2021, beating Ohio State for the first time since 2011, winning 12 games for the third time in program history and finishing the season ranked No. 3.
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The No. 7 standing last year also speaks to just how bad 2020 was for Michigan. The Wolverines dealt with opt-outs and injuries, and posted a 2-4 record. Harbaugh made necessary changes, replacing six of his 10 assistant coaches, revamping his recruiting department and shifting his philosophy on each side of the ball. Perhaps, the dismal year was a blessing in disguise because it led to the success that came next.
“Well, aren’t we all just prisoners of recency bias?” CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli wrote. “After the Wolverines had a disastrous COVID campaign in 2020, our voters ignored the first five years of Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan and assumed he’d forgotten how to coach. One Big Ten title and College Football Playoff appearance later, and he’s back at No. 2 in the Big Ten and the top 10 of our Power Five coach rankings.
“The Wolverines lose a lot from last year’s team but still enter the season as one of the biggest obstacles between Ohio State and a Big Ten title.”
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Harbaugh is No. 9 on CBS Sports’ ranking of the top Power Five head coaches in the country. In the Big Ten, he trails only Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day, who’s 1-1 against Michigan but has lost only one league game since taking over in Columbus in 2019.
“Ohio State didn’t win the Big Ten last season, but it’s going to take more than one year without a conference title to knock Ryan Day off his perch in the conference,” Fornelli explained. “Many will argue this is too high a spot for Day, considering the program he inherited, but you cannot argue that he hasn’t done a fantastic job maintaining what was in place.
“The Buckeyes will once again enter the 2022 season as the favorite in the Big Ten and a favorite to win the College Football Playoff. People will give you that benefit of the doubt when you’ve gone 23-1 in-conference since taking over.”
The full rankings are as follows:
1. Ryan Day, Ohio State
2. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
3. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
4. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
5. James Franklin, Penn State
6. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
7. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
8. Mel Tucker, Michigan State
9. Jeff Brohm, Purdue
10. Greg Schiano, Rutgers
11. Bret Bielema, Illinois
12. Tom Allen, Indiana
13. Mike Locksley, Maryland
14. Scott Frost, Nebraska
