Jim Harbaugh Leaves Michigan For The Chargers: It All Worked

Now that he’s off to the Los Angeles Chargers, I hereby officially resign my post as the Grand Poobah of the Jim Harbaugh Apologists Club.My work here is done, as I apply to become the Dear Leader of the Be Careful What You Wish For If You Actually Want Ryan Day Fired Society.I spent years arguing with my Michigan friends – of which there are entirely too many – and Michigan State and Ohio State acquaintances over just how good Harbaugh really was (and is).It was tight there for a while – by the way,

it’s not like I owe the guy money or anything, and I loathe being on the pro-Michigan side of any debate – but my stance was always the same.1) If Harbaugh ain’t it at Michigan, what else you got?2) Just wait, things will definitely turn. (I’m retiring the “it took Dabo seven years” line now.)3) Throw in his NFL resumé, and Harbaugh is a far, far better football coach than you think. And while I disapprove of the alleged methods, over the last several months I’ve gone full Days of Thunder …4) “Rubbin’, Son, is racin'” … welcome to college football.And in the end, after ALL of that, it worked. It all worked, even if it took a while. Again, there was a lot of water to carry when his teams were getting trucked by Ohio State and failed time and again against the top-ranked programs. But even after a 2-4 2020 season when it looked like he might be sacked six years in, there were still signs this would all turn. From the start, Harbaugh was different. He cranked up the interest in Michigan football, shook things up overall, and it gets lost in the narrative that he won a lot of games before the explosion over the last three years.Forget 2020, he had three ten-win seasons in his first four campaigns, a nine-win season, and a down year going 8-5 in 2017.But he couldn’t beat Ohio State, had a problem with Michigan State, and bowl games were a big, big issue. That last one was fair, and it wasn’t one I couldn’t argue against.It gets lost in the narrative that his Michigan team won a bowl in his first season, and didn’t take down another until it beat Alabama in the College Football Playoff last season. (BTW, TOTALLY forgotten is that Bo Schembechler didn’t win a bowl game in his first 11 seasons as the Michigan head coach.) Whatever. Before Harbaugh, Michigan was losing ticket sales by the truckload, bottoming out in a 5-7 2014 season – the legend of the buy-a-Coke-get-a-Michigan-football-ticket thing that year was hoo-ha, but the snafu showed just how far the program had sunk.From 2004 to 2014, Michigan hit the double-digit win mark twice, had two losing seasons, and sputtered through the transition from Lloyd Carr to Rich Rodriguez and then Brady Hoke.Pete Fiutak on X | CFN on XCollege Football News on FacebookPete Fiutak on Threads | CFN on ThreadsMeanwhile, while Michigan was floundering, Harbaugh was two passes away from coaching in three Super Bowls in his four seasons as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. And then he moved from movies back to TV.Again, three 10-win seasons in his first four years, but that wasn’t good enough. Okay, so how about 37 wins in the program’s – the assistants should get credit for half of last year’s regular season wins – last three years for the winningest three-season run in the history of Michigan football?And now some want him to stick around and try to keep it all going. But college football – even at Michigan – isn’t the NFL.Some are assuming he’s pulling a Pete Carroll and getting out just before the door gets kicked in. So what if it is? It’s not like he committed any crimes or anything.So you don’t like the guy? So you find his methods slightly askew? So you think there might be a fresh coat of taint applied to the last three campaigns?Vacate it all, get your erasers out, shake your fists at the cloud if you must – you’re not getting that spiffy combination of Michigan National Champion hat, sweatshirt over the t-shirt,

and bumper sticker next to the license plate cover off of any Wolverine fan.Harbaugh was a winner at the University of San Diego, he built up Stanford into a college football player, was a whale in his time with the 49ers, and then restored the glory at Michigan.Six double-digit win seasons in eight years and a shortened 2020, three Big Ten Championships, three College Football Playoff appearances, and the first unanimous national championship since 1948. That’s not bad.Since the AP Poll started in 1938, no Michigan head coach had ever led three straight teams to three straight top 3 finishes until Harbaugh pulled it off.No Ohio State head coach has ever done that.