A Realistic Expectation For Michigan Football In 2021

The expectations in Ann Arbor are the same as they've always been and that they will always be.

The Michigan Wolverines will take the football field in just 152 days, opening the 2021 season against Western Michigan on Sept. 4 at the Big House. 

Though there is excitement surrounding the upcoming college football season, there is also a great deal of skepticism - at least as far as Michigan fans are concerned. For the most part, fans point to the fact that Jim Harbaugh has completely overhauled his coaching staff and that the Wolverines are relatively young and inexperienced at several positions. The belief is that it will take a year (at least) to gel and to compete at the level that most expected when Harbaugh arrived back in 2015.

In short, 2021 is largely viewed as a rebuild year.

So, what is a reasonable and realistic expectation for the Michigan Football program in 2021? Here it is: Beat Ohio State and win the Big Ten Championship. That’s it. That’s the expectation.

Now I get that most - if not all - Michigan fans don't have that expectation for the football program in 2021.  They've lived through year after year of preseason hype, only to be let down in the most brutal and painful ways during the season - particularly that last week in November.  It's perfectly understandable that fans would dial back their expectations to match what they've seen play out on the field year after year, but those dialed back fan expectations are certainly not reflective of what the expectations are at Michigan.

Standing at the podium during his introductory press conference nearly seven years ago, Jim Harbaugh clearly understood the expectation at Michigan.  "This is Michigan," said Harbaugh. "There are no turnarounds at Michigan. This is greatness. A long tradition of it."

Those words were as true back then as they are today.

It might be the first year in Ann Arbor for many of the coaches that are now a part of Harbaugh’s staff, but it’s far from being the first year of their coaching careers. This is a group of extremely talented and experienced coaches, including new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald who arrives at Michigan after spending seven years in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens.

Michigan also welcomed in new running backs coach (and former Michigan Great) Mike Hart, who spent the last four years as the running backs coach and associate head coach at Indiana. New defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist arrives in Michigan after spending last season with the Dallas Cowboys as cornerbacks coach, along with a number of years of college coaching experience in various roles. After hiring Macdonald, Harbaugh went back to the Baltimore Ravens well one more time, adding Matt Weiss as the new quarterbacks coach. Weiss spent 12 seasons in the NFL with the Ravens and served as an assistant coach to Jim’s brother, John.

In addition to the newcomers on staff, Harbaugh also retained some key pieces of his coaching staff - including offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, Sherrone Moore - who now serves as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, defensive line coach Shaun Nua and strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert.

The Michigan coaching staff certainly became significantly younger during the off-season, but this new group is far from inexperienced.  

Top to bottom, Michigan has everything it needs to beat Ohio State and to win the Big Ten championship this season.  Not next year, the year after that or the year after that.  Now.  The struggles of the past are simply that, struggles of the past.  Skepticism aside, the expectation for Michigan in 2021 remains the same as it's always been and will always be. The only question is whether or not Jim Harbaugh and co. will finally live up to that expectation in year seven.