I think it's a legit, present comparison. The comparison by the 2017 will obviously be better, but there's enough to go on now. I think Harbaugh has two issues. 1). I'm not sure his heart is really in being Michigan's head coach. There was a lot of pressure on him to do this job, and he felt an obligation to salvage a program that has been an embarrassment. That problem may converge with problem 2). I think his perspective was that his CV would sell recruits, and that he probably didn't have to as much. Harbaugh has an impressive CV for sure, but he still has to make contact and put in the time. While he got a later start, he had much better credentials to sell in that short period than Coach Mac. He could have pulled a better class than he did. He's going to have a rut of a season two or three years down the road, which will stall the program's progress. We just avoided that fate. We will surely dip in talent compared to our rivals in 2-3 years but the drop off won't be as large as it could have been.
