Jim Tressel has harsh review of Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan tenure

Ohio State has had some incredible coaches of their football program, and Jim Tressel is right up there with the best of them. The Sweater Vest is third in Ohio State history in wins behind Woody Hayes and John Cooper. He’s behind only Urban Meyer, Ryan Day and Carroll Widdoes in winning percentage at .828.

Tressel was just about as good as they come with the Buckeyes, including a 9-1 record against Michigan. He knows how important winning “The Game” is, and that is why he has a harsh assessment of Jim Harbaugh’s tenure as the head coach of the Wolverines.

Tressel was a guest on the “1 Star Recruits” podcast last week and talked about many subjects, including Harbaugh. He was asked to rate Harbaugh’s tenure as Michigan’s coach on a scale of 1-5. Tressel said he couldn’t give a true rating because what matters most is the connection a coach establishes with their players. However, based on performance, he gave Harbaugh a one.

“Because of his lack of winning in The Game and lack of winning in the postseason, that makes it tougher to have a win-loss legacy,” Tressel said. “I really don’t know what his legacy is with his student-athletes and what the relationships are and so forth. And that’s the ones that last the longest anyway. The public is going to assess – as they should – the win-loss records. But the impact that you have with your students, that’s really what your record is and honestly I’m not sure what those relationships are.

“So, I guess I’ve got to give him a one-star on the win-loss thing.”

That’s harsh.

Harbaugh has had four double-digit win seasons in six full seasons as Michigan’s head coach. But it took him until his sixth try to finally beat Ohio State, win the Big Ten and advance to the College Football Playoff.

Until this past season, Harbaugh had not been living up to expectations at Michigan, but putting him at a one out of five seems awfully unfair. I guess when you go 9-1 against Michigan, though, you earned the right to give poor marks to anyone not up to your standard.