Michigan football: Expect Wolverines to be vastly improved this season
By Joel Greer
Anyone familiar with the name “Harbaugh” expects the Michigan football team to show plenty of improvement during the 2015 season.
After all, new head coach Jim Harbaugh has the most decorated resume in Michigan history. And that includes Fielding Yost, Fritz Crisler, Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr —all who had winning percentages in the .790s or higher.
College coaches Urban Meyer, Les Miles and Nick Saban have all won NCAA titles, but never led a team to the Super Bowl.
December 28, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh (center) stands in front of defensive back L.J. McCray (31) and defensive back Marcus Cromartie (47) for the national anthem before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi
Harbaugh paced the Super Bowl’s sidelines
To get there, Harbaugh had a huge hand in rebuilding the NFL San Francisco 49ers as he did with the Pac-12 Stanford Cardinal.
Incidentally, the former Michigan quarterback lost that Super Bowl (XLVII) to his brother John. Their dad Jack had been an assistant at Michigan (1982-86), so it’s obvious Jim comes from quite a coaching family.
He’s already left his imprint in Ann Arbor, albeit recently off the field.
Student ticket sales have nearly doubled since former athletic director Dave Brandon lost favor with the student body. Current athletic director Jim Hackett not only hired Harbaugh, he’s watched over an increase in general public sales.
The Michigan State and Ohio State games are already sold out, and only single-seats remain for Oregon State and Rutgers. Limited tickets are available for Northwestern. (Of course, tickets can usually be found through after-market ticket brokers like stubhub.com).
Even beyond Jim Harbaugh, there is a lot to like for the Wolverines going forward.
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