CBS Sports writer Tom Fornelli ranked the 65 power conference head coaches in college football this week, and placed Michigan Wolverines head man Jim Harbaugh No. 12 on his list.
This was actually a three-spot increase from 2019 when the outlet had him pegged at No. 15 overall, despite the fact that Harbaugh's club suffered through a disappointing 9-4 campaign last year.
"I've said plenty of times that, fairly or not, the world at large tends to spend more time focusing on what Harbaugh hasn't done at Michigan than what he has done," Fornelli wrote.
"I don't think he's gotten enough credit for turning the program around, which isn't to say there's not plenty of work left. All that said, I was still surprised to see him climb in the rankings after a 9-4 season and failing to beat Ohio State again.
"I also can't help but wonder what happens if he does beat Ohio State. He might jump into the top 10."
The discussion surrounding Harbaugh's tenure at Michigan begins and ends with Ohio State (again, fairly or not) and the 0-5 record he has compiled against it. Coaches are defined by how they perform in the rivalry, with OSU's John Cooper (1988-2000) being another good example of a coach whose legacy was tarnished due to a poor record against Michigan (2-10-1).
Ohio State's Jim Tressel (2001-10), on the flip side, was revered in Columbus thanks to an 8-1 mark against the Wolverines.
As for the aforementioned CBS list, it rated Harbaugh as the third best coach in the Big Ten behind OSU's Ryan Day at No. 10 and a bit of an eye-opening choice of Penn State's James Franklin at No. 9 nationally and the top coach in the conference.
Day is a difficult coach to critique when considering he has only been OSU's head man for one full season, while Franklin, on the other hand, has produced a 2-3 head-to-head record against Harbaugh and also has a lower winning percentage at PSU than Harbaugh does at Michigan (70.8, compared to Harbaugh's 72.3).
Here's how CBS rated the rest of the power conference coaches on Michigan's 2020 schedule:
• Washington's Jimmy Lake — No. 56 (out of 65): The 2020 campaign will be his first as a head coach after taking over for the successful Chris Petersen (55-26 record with the Huskies) in Seattle, who stepped down in early December to spend more time with his family.
• Wisconsin's Paul Chryst — No. 17: He has enjoyed a wildly successful tenure in Madison, compiling a 52-16 record with the Badgers that has featured three trips to the Big Ten championship in his five years on the job, though the league title has eluded him each time.
• Michigan State's Mel Tucker — No. 55: Tucker's head coaching career has been brief, with the 2019 season at Colorado (5-7) being his only one in the collegiate head coaching ranks, and a brief 2-3 stint as the Jacksonville Jaguars' interim head man in 2011 being his only one in the pros.
• Minnesota's P.J. Fleck — No. 15: After an underwhelming first two years at Minnesota that saw Fleck compile a 12-13 record, he finally broke through last year with the Gophers and led them an 11-2 season that featured an Outback Bowl victory over Auburn, which was apparently enough for CBS to view him as the fifth best coach in the Big Ten.
• Purdue's Jeff Brohm — No. 44: He enjoyed a successful stint at Western Kentucky from 2014-16 that saw him go 30-10 before putting together an impressive 7-6 debut campaign at Purdue in 2017, but has seen the wheels fall off a bit in West Lafayette by going just 10-15 in the two years since.
• Maryland's Mike Locksley — No. 61: He endured a disastrous tenure in Albuquerque with New Mexico from 2009-11 (2-26 record), but began his Maryland tenure with a bang last year (2-0 start and averaged 71 points between the two victories) before dropping nine of his final 10 games and finishing the year 3-9.
• Rutgers' Greg Schiano — No. 39: Rutgers is hoping to recapture the magic Schiano brought to the program while serving as its head coach from 2001-11, when he compiled an overall record of 68-67 and enjoyed six winning seasons.
• Indiana's Tom Allen — No. 46: He has upheld the competitive nature that previous coach Kevin Wilson established in Bloomington, with Allen going 5-7 during his first two years on the job in 2017 and 2018 before finally breaking through with an impressive 8-5 campaign last year (the program's most wins since it went 8-4 in 1993).
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