By Jordan Long
Yesterday, the New York Jets lost in overtime to the Green Bay Packers 44-38. The loss dropped their record to 4-11. The Jets might be looking for a new head coach once the season ends. There are reports the Jets will fire Head Coach Todd Bowles next week. If they do, they are going to pitch a contract offer to Jim Harbaugh who is the Head Coach of the Michigan Wolverines.
Bowles should be gone. He has been with the Jets since 2015. The Jets have not made the playoffs since he took the job. The closest they came was in 2015 when they went 10-6. His overall record in New York is an unimpressive 24-39, a winning percentage of .381.
In the NFL it is a “what have you done for me lately” league. Bowles is not a winning coach. His record tells his story with the Jets. They need someone new to take over this team to have a chance to make the postseason next year.
Harbaugh makes a lot of sense. He has experience in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014. In his 4-years the 49ers were an impressive 44-19-1, a winning percentage of .695 with 3 trips to the playoffs. San Francisco made it all the way to Super Bowl 47 and lost to the Baltimore Ravens 34-31. His worst season was 2014 when he went 8-8.
Harbaugh decided to go back to college with Michigan to turn their program around. In his 4 years he has with a record of 38-13. Michigan hasn’t missed a bowl game. They were close to making the College Football Playoff this season, but ended at #7.
The Jets are going to try to entice him to come back to the NFL. They would like to pay him around $7 million a year. New York hopes that will be enough to lure him to the “Big Apple”.
Money is not the issue. Harbaugh has one of the largest salaries in all of college football. He is being paid $7 million a year by Michigan.
The problem the Jets are going to have is to convince Harbaugh to leave Ann Arbor, Michigan. The NFL is a decent job but college is better. Harbaugh is able to recruit the players he wants in hopes of helping Michigan make a run at the College Football playoff. He can also oversee a program to make sure his athletes are staying out of trouble. The goal at Michigan is to win a national title but if they are in a bowl game and he has a winning season, that works as well.
This is not the case in the NFL. Many of the players in the NFL are paid more than the coach. They can decide if they want to listen to him or not. When they are finished with practice, Harbaugh can’t as easily oversee them to try to keep them out of trouble. The other difficulty with the NFL is the Jets’ goal is to win a Super Bowl, one poor season and the coach is gone.
Harbaugh is better off staying at Michigan. If he decides to take the Jets’ job, hopefully he can turn them into a Super Bowl contending team. Only time will tell.
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It will be interesting to know what he chooses to do.