Even though everyone in the college football world anticipated this day would arrive sooner rather than later, the gut-punch feeling Michigan fans still experience two weeks after hoisting the national championship trophy doesn’t go away.
Jim Harbaugh is heading out of Ann Arbor to join the Los Angeles Chargers as head coach of the NFL.
Harbaugh became one of the most sought-after coaches this year because of the incredible things he was able to do in his nine seasons at Ann Arbor. Since taking over as head coach at his alma university back in 2015, he has helped lead the Wolverines to an 86-25 record, helping to revive the winningest program in the history of the sport.
Before Harbaugh assisted in ending the Wolverines’ eight-game winning streak in 2021, Michigan’s fierce rival Ohio State had altered the course of the program.
Following three consecutive victories over the Buckeyes, three straight conference titles, and three consecutive trips to the College Football Playoffs, the Wolverines finished this past season with a perfect 15-0 record and the program’s first national championship since 1997.
In the most recent installment of his podcast, “The Number One College Football Show,” college football expert RJ Young of FOX Sports stated of Harbaugh, “He was able to take players that others didn’t think were that good and turn them into a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.” “He altered Michigan’s culture. There was no better way for him to leave there.”
Young continued by describing how Michigan made every effort to retain Harbaugh, including reportedly extending his contract by 10 years for $125 million, which would have placed him among college football’s highest-paid coaches.
“They understood that [Jim] Harbaugh was the perfect man for Michigan,” Young stated. “I don’t know another head coach that could stimulate his program the way that Jim Harbaugh was able to stimulate the Michigan Wolverines, given all that they were able to overcome.”
This season, there includes two three-game sanctions; the first stemmed from a self-imposed penalty for engaging in unethical coaching and recruiting methods during the COVID-19 dead period. The Big Ten imposed a second penalty for the last three regular season games in the midst of an ongoing NCAA investigation into a suspected sign-stealing scheme.
“He missed six games due to suspension, and yet this team, led by J.J. McCarthy and Blake Corum, all decided they were just gonna go and win,” Young stated. “The things that the media reported about this team didn’t concern them. They were certain to prevail.”
Given that Harbaugh is now pursuing his career in the NFL, where will the Wolverines now look?
“I think you need to try to do as much as you can to keep that culture intact, and 37-year-old Sherrone Moore gives you the best opportunity to do that,” Young stated. “At this point, Warde Manuel’s most crucial action is that. Now is the time for you to press the button that announces Sherman Moore as the University of Michigan’s next head coach.”
Moore joined Michigan’s staff in 2018 and has subsequently advanced through the coaching ranks. Following his hiring as a tight ends coach, he was promoted to offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator in 2021, coinciding with the Wolverines’ on-field improvement.
In four of the six games this season that Harbaugh was suspended, including the final three regular-season games, Moore served as the acting head coach. In those games, he guided the Wolverines to a perfect 4-0 record, which included victories over Ohio State and Penn State, two of the Big Ten’s top teams.
Thanks to a recent NCAA exemption, Michigan players now have a 30-day window to access the transfer portal following Harbaugh’s decision to go. That might encourage Manuel and the university to make a decision about the program’s future head coach as soon as possible.
“You are at a disadvantage when you have these kind of coaching changes this late in the cycle,” Young remarked, alluding to the number of players that Alabama and Washington have lost recently as a result of Nick Saban’s surprise retirement and Kalen DeBoer’s decision to leave the Huskies in order to take the Alabama job.
“You have to recruit the guys that are already on campus, and the best way to do that is by elevating the guy that you know they all want to follow and the guy that has proven he can win football games.”
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