Harbaugh is headed to Hollywood.
Michigan Wolverines head football coach Jim Harbaugh, who led his beloved team to a national championship earlier in January, the highlight of his controversial nine-year tenure with the program, is departing his alma mater to make a return trip to the NFL, where he will coach Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Detroit News on Wednesday.
Harbaugh, 60, a former Michigan and NFL quarterback, was a first-round pick in the NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears in 1987 and spent two seasons (1999-2000) in the twilight of his career with the Bolts and making 17 starts for the team.
While strongly considering a very lucrative contract-extension offer from Michigan of six years and $11.5 million annually that would have leaped frogged him to the nation’s highest-paid college football coach, Harbaugh interviewed with the Chargers last Monday, January 15, just seven days after the 15-0 Wolverines won the national championship with a 34-13 win over Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington Huskies on January 8 and two days after a parade for the team in Ann Arbor and a celebration at the Crisler Center. It seemed like it was destined to be Chargers-or-Bust for Harbaugh, who also interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons on January 16 and reportedly was set for a second interview.
Now, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel will have to look high and low to find a coach to fill Harbaugh’s big shoes, although the next coach could possibly be in their building. There has been strong speculation offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sherrone Moore, 37, who was 4-0 as acting head coach last season, with significant wins at Penn State and in the regular-season finale against Ohio State, will be promoted to head coach.
Embed from Getty Images“It would be sad for us because of what he means to Michigan,” Manuel told The Detroit News mere hours before the national championship game when asked how Michigan would respond if Harbaugh were to leave for the NFL. “But, if that’s his choice, I’m going to be happy, and I’m going to support Jim for the rest of his life.”
Harbaugh guided the Michigan program to an 89-25 record. The Wolverines’ last three seasons were their most dominant, as they went 40-3, including three consecutive Big Ten championships and three straight College Football Playoff semifinal appearances. Michigan took the ‘L” in both of its first two semifinals before getting off their back, beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day and then Washington for the national title.
During Harbaugh’s Michigan coaching career, he led the Wolverines to six seasons with 10 or mor victories and the last three with 12-plus wins: 12-2 in 2021, 13-1 in 2022 and 15-0 in 2023, a program-best, making Michigan one of four teams in college football to achieve that feat.
The fact that Harbaugh is returning to the NFL does not come as a shock to anyone, after courting the previous two seasons. He hired high-powered agent Don Yee, with deep NFL ties, especially to the G.O.A.T. Tom Brady, who is also a Michigan man, early last December, to hammer out negotiations with Michigan while also exploring interest from NFL teams. In 2022, Harbaugh flew to the ‘Twin Cities’, Minnesota for an interview but returned without an offer and inked an extension with Michigan through the 2026 campaign. Last season he was in conversations with the Denver Broncos regarding their opening before Sean Payton landed the job.
Harbaugh began his head-coaching career at the University of San Diego (2004-2006) and finished with back-to-back 11-1 season. He then took over at Stanford (2007-2010) and in 2010 the Cardinal went 11-1. But in 2011, Harbaugh left college coaching for the big league and became head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, whom he led to three NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl after the 2012 season. He lost Super Bowl XLVII to his older brother John head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. Harbaugh had an impressive 49-22-1 record with the 49ers, including 5-3 in the postseason.
In recent months, the rumors of a Harbaugh return to the NFL grew louder. During Michigan’s postseason run, he dodged questions about those rumors with various versions of response that included that he and the team had a “one-track mind” and he was focused on winning a national title.
“Every single year I’ve been here, that’s always been a rumor,” Trevor Keegan, who had been Michigan’s starting left guard and is now moving on to the NFL Draft, said last month prior to the Rose Bowl. “Obviously, there’s been the NFL stuff up in the air and stuff like that, but we know he wants to win a national championship, and that’s all that matters right now.”
During the team celebration last Saturday night at Crisler Center, Manuel told the packed house he was doing everything he could to keep Harbaugh with the Maize and Blue at Michigan, a sentiment he shared with The Detroit News before and after the national title game.
“I am working on getting this man a new contract. I promise you,” Manuel told the crowd. The cheers roared in response, and Harbaugh, sitting on the stage to Manuel’s right, patted his heart, then placed his hands together as he acknowledged the crowd.
A proposal with special clauses was presented from Harbaugh’s side to Michigan last Friday and included pushing the start date of his contract to February 15, which would give him ample time to consider NFL options. His buyout had dropped to $1.5 million on January 11. It also included language regarding a penalty matrix for NCAA investigations and also a three-person arbitration committee to make crucial decisions such as a firing, taking it out of the hands of Manuel.
All of that is null and void at this point. Harbaugh is moving on to the next chapter of his career back in the NFL and will try to check “Super Bowl champion” off his list now that he has a coveted college football national championship. He walks away from Michigan with a positive program culture the players have said grew deeper the last three seasons and is now firmly entrenched. Players from the 2023 season said they saw Harbaugh grow as an individual and they have learned valuable lessons from him that they will take them for the rest of their lives.
