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ESPN’s resident SEC expert Paul Finebaum gave some harsh criticism of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s recent recruiting methods on College Football Live Tuesday.
“He doesn’t need the attention anymore now,” Finebaum said. “If he doesn’t win on the field — and a lot of people think he has a really good chance of making the Playoff — then I think this ‘cred’ or ‘street cred’ or whatever you want to call it is going to go down. Until now, he has made a big name for himself but you forget, you think maybe he’s coaching at some small college in Idaho. He’s coaching at the University of Michigan. I don’t think you have to do that much at Michigan anymore.”
Harbaugh has brought Michigan plenty of attention during his first two seasons as head coach in Ann Arbor, whether it be rap music videos, subtitle shots at SEC coaches on Twitter or satellite camps. Jonathan Vilma, who was featured alongside Finebaum on College Football Live, responded by crediting Harbaugh for recruiting outside Michigan’s typical confines.
“The reason [Michigan] doesn’t [have a recruiting advantage] is because it has made some serious mistakes at the head coaching position the last two times out,” Finebaum said. “They made the right choice now, but all I’m saying to Harbaugh is, ‘okay, you’ve made your point. You’ve gone across the world. You’ve done this, you’ve done that, now win!’ Last year you looked like a chump when Urban Meyer came into your house and beat you 42-14. You’re going to Ohio State this November, you’re playing at Michigan State and Iowa. Start winning games or you’re not going to have any credibility when we come back next year at Big Ten Media Days.”
Looks like Finebaum is yet another person ready to tell Harbaugh to “get off his lawn.”
You can watch the full video on ESPN here.
Jason covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
