ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Jim Harbaugh will be departing the University of Michigan for the head coaching position with the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers. With news of his departure, Harbaugh leaves Michigan having delivered a national championship, three consecutive Big Ten championships and wins over Ohio State, but he leaves Michigan with uncertainty about the future and a very complicated legacy.
Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel and president Santa Ono released statements following the Harbaugh news.
Manuel said:
“I want to thank Jim for everything he has done for our football program, athletic department and the University of Michigan over the past nine years. Every day, he has worked extremely hard to elevate the stature of Michigan across the world, with the goal of winning championships and developing young men on and off the football field. Jim did exactly what he sought to do at Michigan, build our program to consistently win Big Ten Championships and compete for national championships, culminating with a record three straight outright conference titles and the national championship this year. He did the same off the field by graduating his players and providing life experiences through mentorships, internships and team trips around the globe. We have been discussing a new contract that would make Jim the highest paid coach in college football. In the end, he wanted to explore and ultimately decided to pursue a return to coaching in the NFL. We can’t thank Jim enough for all that he has done for our student-athletes, staff and Michigan Football. He will always be a huge part of our rich history, and will be remembered as an all-time great Wolverine, as both a championship player and coach. Jim has always been extremely upfront with his communication regarding NFL opportunities and has been helpful with this transition in leadership. We had a great conversation tonight when he informed me of this decision to return to the NFL and offered his assistance in helping identify the needs for the program moving forward. We are working quickly to hire the next head coach for the program and will do everything possible to keep this current staff and team together. We appreciate Jim’s dedication and passion for Michigan, the university and Ann Arbor, and I wish Jim and the entire Harbaugh family much success with the Los Angeles Chargers.”
– Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel
Ono said:
“We have been in talks with Jim Harbaugh for the last several weeks and have tried our best to retain him as our football coach. Jim called me today and let me know that he has made the difficult decision to leave Michigan and join the Los Angeles Chargers in pursuit of his NFL dreams. For the fans, the players, and for me personally, we are sad to hear of Jim’s departure. His drive and ambition turned our program around, delivered our first national championship in a quarter century and maintained Michigan as the all-time winningest team in the history of college football. I thank Jim for all he has done for the University of Michigan and respect his decision. He has been an extraordinary leader and a friend. I will be cheering for Jim as he embarks on this next adventure.”
– Michigan president Santa Ono
Harbaugh said following a 34-13 win over Washington in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game about Harbaugh’s mission being complete to revitalize a Michigan program, “It’s been a team effort all the way. Nothing fancy. No surprises. Just good old-fashioned, roll-up-your-sleeve hard work and teamwork, and it’s been a beautiful thing. So often the goal is to, you’re chasing perfection, and it’s hard to be perfect. And it rarely comes around. You hope to achieve excellence along the way. But, gosh, it’s perfect. It was a perfect 15-0.”
While Team 144 will forever be remembered as perfect for what they did on the field, Harbaugh’s legacy is not crystal clear.
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Harbaugh on the surface did indeed restore the Michigan program as the nation’s best, delivering the program’s first national championship since 1997, but the program has graduated a significant number of seniors and notably underclassmen such as quarterback JJ McCarthy.
As Harbaugh departs, leaving Michigan to confront his aftermath that includes multiple investigations by the NCAA.
In December 2023, the NCAA sent Michigan a notice of allegations (NOA) related to recruiting violations and coaching activities conducted by the football staff. The allegations include the following:
- Analysts coaching on the field
- Coaches watching players work out via video chats
- Messaging recruits during a COVID-19 dead period
- Texting a recruit outside the allowable time period
- One Level I violation against Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh for obstruction of an ongoing investigation
Michigan has agreed previously to several Level II allegations, including SMS communications during the dead period of recruitings, analysts performing nonpermissible and no contact on-field coaching, and coaches watching workouts via Zoom during the COVID-19 shutdown.
The other ongoing investigation is the Connor Stalions’ espionage scandal that led to Harbaugh being suspended for a second time during the 2023 season’s most consequential games for Michigan against Penn State and Ohio State.
In October 2023, Stalions was identified as the central figure of the espionage ring, where Stalions allegedly purchased tickets with great viewpoints of the sideline of future U-M opponents. Stalions would find willing personnel who would attend these games and document opponent’s signals on the sideline that weren’t available from television angles.
Stalions would take the illegally documented signal and attempt to decode the signals, something Stalions allegedly did at 35 games across the country which involved Big Ten opponents and potential opponents in the College Football Playoff.
Harbaugh has always maintained the innocence of his program and was succinct in his response to expand on his reasoning about Michigan’s innocence, “People asked how we dealt with the distractions, and that was one of the ways we dealt with it. We knew we were innocent. We stood tall, upright and innocent.”
In a lot of ways around the Michigan program and those loyal to Michigan football, Harbaugh will forever be seen as a martyr and be seen as a sympathetic hero.
The Harbaugh tenure has plenty of other blemishes to it and within the last year they were brought to the forefront. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) joined a University Police investigation in former offensive coordinator Matt Weiss being able to access classified documents he did not have proper authorization to view.
Football staffer Alex Yood was dismissed after a disturbing video surfaced of Yood attempting to solicit sex from a minor.
The Schembechler name got Shemy a job, but couldn’t save him from his flippant behavior on social media.
Another one of the casualties from the Stalions espionage fallout was linebacker coach Chris Partridge, who allegedly destroyed evidence involved with the Stalions investigation, was terminated for discussing details of an ongoing NCAA investigation with anyone associated within the Michigan Football Program or anyone outside Michigan.
All issues stemming from the culture Harbaugh created in Ann Arbor, Michigan is left to respond and answer for the litany of issues stemming from the Harbaugh regime, Harbaugh won’t be answering any questions about what he or his staff did or didn’t do.
Michigan is left to defend itself to the NCAA and avoid any future punishments that the NCAA may levy against them.
Harbaugh leaves a Michigan program with a lot of questions, his replacement will likely be offensive coordinator Sheronne Moore, and Moore won’t have the benefit of having one of the most experienced teams in the country or a veteran quarterback. With Michigan players now having 30 days to transfer, Alabama saw the realization players came to play for Saban and not Alabama, some feel the timing by Harbaugh should mitigate a mass exodus but that is not guaranteed.
Michigan has also been denied the opportunity to see if Harbaugh could sustain Michigan as a perennial playoff team and amongst the nation’s elite. As the majority of his core from his three consecutive playoff teams are now gone, was Harbaugh rebuilding or reloading Michigan? We will never know what his impact would have been had he stayed.
Harbaugh will be celebrated by the Michigan faithful for being an All-American quarterback and the coach who revived Michigan back to a national power, reversed the course in the Ohio State rivalry, and won a national championship. The NCAA won’t strip Michigan of its national championship, but what it levies from the numerous infractions will impact Michigan in some form.
With those clouds surrounding Michigan, the unknown of the aftermath of Harbaugh’s departure, Harbaugh’s legacy is complicated because what he accomplished leaves him as an icon in Ann Arbor. All what could have been is now gone and what he left behind complicates Michigan’s future as well as Harbaugh’s legacy.
