Harbaugh’s issue is big wins, not NFL rumors

Sometimes, the only way to make something disappear is to forcibly remove it.

Such is the case with Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh and the latest batch of NFL rumors, which have been percolating since the day he got to Ann Arbor. Harbaugh’s decision to leave pro jobs on the table in favor of the college arena stunned many back in December 2014, almost to a point of disbelief.

“He’ll be back,” that crowd said, almost with a hint of spite in their tone that someone might not hold the almighty NFL as the end-all, be-all in sports. Harbaugh was asked about those who suggested he wouldn’t be out of the NFL for long at his introductory news conference. And minutes after wrapping up his 10th game at Michigan, a win at Indiana in 2015, someone in Bloomington asked him about the Colts job.

“Stop. Stop,” a frustrated Harbaugh said that day. “Just stop yourself.”

It has happened every year. The speculation, the rumors, the questions. And up until now, Harbaugh has mainly brushed it off. Sunday was different, though.

Sunday, he used some force.

“To make a statement of it, to go on record and to not be asked any more after that,” Harbaugh said Sunday night, when asked why he told ESPN earlier in the day he’s not leaving Michigan, despite continued speculation he might be. “By people that like to yap and ask questions.”

Whether this clears everything up for good is out of Harbaugh’s control. Still, he was able to draw a firm line in the sand on where he presently stands by being forceful about it. Which, for the Wolverines, is good.

He has no plans to leave Michigan.

But Michigan’s obstacles aren’t going anywhere, either. And much like Sunday’s strong statement, force is the only way the Wolverines are going to solve the problems in front of them.

Michigan celebrated its 2018 regular season Sunday with an awards banquet inside Crisler Center. Players and coaches talked about how great the season was, how much progress was made, how much they enjoyed being around each other.

Afterward, Harbaugh continued to stress how important an 11th win would be. Michigan will have a shot at that in the Peach Bowl vs. Florida on Dec. 29 in Atlanta.

All of it, though, remains a consolation.

And one that really can’t be ignored.

“I would say to any recruit or any potential guy who sees what happened in the Ohio State game and is persuaded against coming to Michigan because of that, I would say that alone is a mirage. And you should not be fooled,” Michigan senior defensive end Chase Winovich said. “What we’ve built here and what we’ll continue to build is a powerhouse. That’s the Michigan I’m leaving. A Michigan that’s competitive in its trajectory.

“The sky’s the limit.” Everything Winovich said there, by the way, was unprompted. He began answering a question about Shea Patterson’s possible NFL future and veered into a recruiting pitch.

That Michigan’s 62-39 loss at Ohio State was one bad day.

That it won’t happen again. “We didn’t have our best game that day, obviously,” Winovich said. “It wasn’t us. It happened. It is what it is. We’ll look it in the face. It wasn’t us being way worse than Ohio State. We had a bad day. And they capitalized on it.

“We’re coming back stronger. We’ll remember this (for) next year.”

Some of this is fine. Michigan did have a bad day. One loss doesn’t make the 10 previous wins meaningless. The competitive trajectory, compared to what it was when Harbaugh arrived, is trending upward.

But the season-ending thud at Ohio State, on a macro level, was simply an extension of a problem Michigan has been wrestling with for nearly 20 years. Michigan hasn’t performed well on the biggest of stages this century. Harbaugh hasn’t changed that. And with all due respect to Winovich, that’s not a mirage. That’s just reality.

The constant Harbaugh-tothe-NFL rumors absolutely create recruiting challenges. They’re fueled by people recruiting against Harbaugh and reporters/talking heads/ analysts who too often are confounded by his complete refusal to play the anonymous source game — which leads to incorrect guessing and nothing resembling reporting.

Maybe 5-star safety Daxton Hill, who decommitted and flipped to Alabama on Saturday night, took stock in these rumors. Maybe other factors were at play.

But Michigan’s biggest recruiting problem isn’t a rumor mill. It’s not being able to deliver when all the chips are pushed toward the center of the table. Harbaugh can’t control the rumors. He can control the wins. Michigan has had plenty the past four years but not enough when it mattered most.

A win over Ohio State is the biggest piece of the pie. On a grand scale, it’s about all that matters now. If Michigan can solve the Buckeyes, it can have an awards banquet with the Big Ten championship trophy on display for the first time since 2004. If not, it’ll be more of the same.

Some weeds eventually shrivel up and die without much trouble. Others have to be forcefully removed.

Harbaugh pulled one of them Sunday.

He’ll have to spend the next year trying to figure out how to remove the other.

Jim Harbaugh said Sunday he isn’t leaving for the NFL.