I hope I’m wrong, but I have serious doubts about whether Jim Harbaugh is the man for the Stanford football job.

Let me start by saying that, for reasons both professional and personal, I really hope the Harbaugh hire works out.

First of all, I’m a Stanford student. I’m friends with football players, they represent our school and I hope whoever their coach is does well.

Harbaugh has a reputation for being an offensive risk-taker — and it’s a lot more interesting to watch the Boise State offense for instance, than the punt, run, run, third-down punt Walt Harris offense. I’m also told he’s friendly with the media, a welcome change after Walt Harris.

Plus, Jim Harbaugh was an All-American quarterback at Michigan and I’m the world’s biggest Michigan fan. When I was younger, I used to cry every time the Wolverines lost — and, no, I’m not just writing that to get the girls. Now, I get up at 9 a.m. Pacific Time to pay $20 covers to watch Michigan games in sports bars — and get ridiculed for being the only one in the room doing all the cheers. So, suffice it to say, I’ve admired Harbaugh for years.

However, I think Harbaugh’s in for a rude awakening at Stanford.

Start with the fact that, nothing against Harbaugh, this team is going to struggle against the top half of the league next year — just like it has since Ty Willingham left. Knute Rockne could be the coach, but Stanford is still not beating USC or Notre Dame or Cal or Oregon or...well, you get the idea. Next year’s schedule is exceptionally hard, so even three or four wins would take some luck.

Given the struggles that the team will inevitably face next season, Harbaugh’s youthful naivete/enthusiasm could be a recipe for disaster. Fast-forward nine months: Stanford is 2-7 and everyone is as disenchanted as they were at the same point in ‘06. Yet Harbaugh is still getting up in press conferences and saying things like “I vow that I will attack this endeavor with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.” How do you think that’s going to play?

Furthermore, Harbaugh played for Michigan in college and very successful NFL teams in the pros, and then returned to coach 11-1 University of San Diego teams. He doesn’t have a lot of experience with losing teams, and I think it remains to be seen how well he’ll be able to shift his attitude.

Another concern of mine is that there’s a history of yo-yo, knee-jerk hirings here at Stanford, and Harbaugh’s arrival seems to fit the mold. Ty Willingham was viewed as too disciplinarian, so Buddy Teevens was hired (despite other shortcomings) because he was player-friendly. Teevens didn’t win and was called too soft and not skilled enough with Xs and Os, so Walt Harris was hired (despite other shortcomings).

Harris didn’t win, and was deemed too disciplinarian and not confident enough personally and in his aggressive play calling, so Harbaugh was hired. Harbaugh is not going to win at first, and in four years he may well be viewed as not disciplinarian enough and lacking in experience. And then I guess we’ll turn around and hire some cranky old fart (Harris part II) — if we still have a I-A football program by then.

I just hope that Harbaugh was hired because he was the best available candidate, not because his strengths match up well with the previous coaches’ perceived weaknesses.

One more concern is that Harbaugh was the best of an otherwise underwhelming finalist pool (also including Ron English, Mike Leach, Chris Peterson, Al Borges and Norm Chow). Being viewed as the most qualified of the bunch is not all that impressive.

Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby faced one of two situations, and we’ll never know which one. Either those A-list guys weren’t interested (as Norm Chow said) or he was trying to replicate the unknown rabbit-out-of-a-hat success he had at Iowa with Kirk Ferentz.

Personally, I hope that’s not the case. The fact that one guy reminds him of a hire that happened to work well somewhere else, doesn’t mean he should be chosen over better coaches who happen to have different styles. But I have enough faith in Bowlsby to assume that a lot of the better coaches said no thanks.

I give the hire a B overall, but with a caveat that I’m a lot more confident in Stanford football’s future than I was before the new Athletic Director arrived. Is there any doubt that Harris would still be the head coach under Ted Leland?

Time will tell, but here’s hoping Harbaugh has half as much success at Stanford as he has had in his football career to this point.