Jim Harbaugh makes about $8 million per year in a results-oriented business, and the results now speak for themselves. His football team is 2-4 in 2020, 11-10 dating back to the final two games of 2018.
There's a reason Michigan has yet to extend Harbaugh's contract beyond next season. His progress at his alma mater has stalled.
Harbaugh would rather look at the "process." Despite the Wolverines' struggles this season, which continued Saturday with a loss to previously-winless Penn State, Harbaugh said Monday he likes where his team is headed.
"Players that are improving, coaches attacking it, a team that’s competing, a team that’s really working at it," he said. "I know there’s disdain for the process by some, but to us that’s the whole ballgame. So keep coaching and learning."
Disdain for the process?
"Outside of the program, I think people are being very results-oriented. And the process, to us, is very important," Harbaugh explained. "So, process not as important outside of the program as it is to us inside the program."
Let's be clear. There's disdain for the process because the process isn't working. Not like it was when Harbaugh first arrived. Back then, the savior could have sold this line of thinking -- that it takes time, that it requires patience, that eventually the process will yield results.
But people aren't buying it in Year 6. People don't want to hear it. By now, Harbaugh was supposed to have Michigan competing annually for Big Ten titles and pushing for a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines have two wins this season and four embarrassing losses.
Ohio State's still to come.
Yes, Michigan lost a bunch of key players from last year's team. Yes, this year's team has been hit hard by injures. And again, people don't want to hear it. The roster should be deep enough at this point in Harbaugh's tenure to withstand attrition, expected or not. Recruiting -- which Harbaugh said Monday is "going good" -- should be consistent enough to churn out a product worth watching every year.
Harbaugh pushed hard for the Big Ten to proceed with the 2020 season amid a global pandemic. Harder than probably any coach in the conference not named Ryan Day. Now his team is dealing with a potential COVID-19 breakout with two games remaining in a hugely disappointing campaign, the rest of which has been cast into doubt.
Has all of this been worth it?
"I believe it has been worth it," Harbaugh said. "There are challenges in football, there are challenges in life, and responding and rising up to that challenge is something that I believe in very strongly. So that’s how I feel about it."
At this point, the same question could be asked of Harbaugh's tenure at large. Has all of this -- the money, the scrutiny, the failures in big games -- been worth it? The answer from Michigan will be dictated by its decision on his contract after this season.
Because Harbaugh isn't being paid for the process. He's being paid for the results he's failed to deliver, whether he wants to admit it or not.