Buckeyes Now

Former Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel Rates Jim Harbaugh’s Tenure At Michigan

The Wolverines finally got their first win in the rivalry under Harbaugh with a 42-27 victory in November.

Andrew Lind

Former Ohio State head coach and current Youngstown State president Jim Tressel joined the 1 Star Recruits podcast this week for an interview that covered everything from whether or not he misses coaching to his thoughts on the job Jim Harbaugh has done at Michigan.

As you may recall, the 69-year-old Tressel went 9-1 against the Wolverines during his time in Columbus from 2001-10, including the vacated 2010 season. He also won seven Big Ten titles and one national championship with a double-overtime victory over Miami (Fla.) in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.

The 58-year-old Harbaugh, meanwhile, just wrapped up his seventh season in Ann Arbor, which included his first win against Ohio State, the Wolverines’ first Big Ten title since 2004 and their first trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals, where they lost to eventual national champion Georgia.

With that, here’s what Tressel had to say about Harbaugh’s legacy at Michigan.

“Because of his lack of winning in The Game and lack of winning in the postseason – I’m not sure what his postseason record is but I can’t think of any gigantic things that you would remember – 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 1-star (rating) on the win-loss thing.”

It’s unclear if Harbaugh will be able to add anything to his legacy with the Wolverines, as multiple reports suggest he’s interested in coaching in the NFL again. But if he does return, Tressel clearly believes Harbaugh has a long way to go before he’s mentioned as one the rivalry’s great coaches.

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Andrew Lind
ANDREW LIND

Andrew Lind is an Ohio State beat writer and photographer at BuckeyesNow, founder of The Ohio State Uniform Database and the NCAA and NFL writer at SportsLogos.net.

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