https://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnists/jeff-seidel/2022/02/03/michigan-football-jim-harbaugh-nfl-minnesota-vikings-drama/9319063002/
Jeff Seidel at the Freep. It's pay-walled.
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The Wolverines now are coming off a tremendously successful 12-2 season, which included beating Ohio State for the first time under Harbaugh, winning the Big Ten for the first time in 17 years and reaching the CFP for the first time.
And what did Harbaugh do?
He made it known that he was interested in the NFL. He started looking for a new patch of dirt to build something.
That’s who he is.
That’s a pretty ballsy thing for a guy who has such a complicated legacy at Michigan: The program is in a better place than when he arrived. That much is obvious. But he was never the savior that many expected.
There has been no "Ten Year War" with Ohio State — just five straight losses before beating the Buckeyes in their down year.
There has been no run on Big Ten championships — just a single crown in the last seven years, the same as Michigan State and Penn State, while Ohio State has four.
There has been no dominance over the Spartans — Harbaugh has yet to beat MSU coach Mel Tucker.
There has been little success in bowl games – Harbaugh has a 1-5 bowl record, the second worst in school history.
There was no national title — just a blowout against Georgia. Yes, Michigan is coming off a CFP appearance. Give Harbaugh credit for that. He did a fantastic job last season after getting humbled with a pay cut. But he failed to lift this program to the elite level — and by elite, I’m talking Georgia-level.
Harbaugh has a 61-24 record at Michigan — a .718 winning percentage, which ranks 11th in school history, according to Sports Reference.
For this, he has been compensated like no other football coach in Michigan history. He has made $50 million in his seven years, according to USA TODAY. So what has Michigan gotten for that money?
Harbaugh has injected juice and life back into the program; and, by all accounts, he runs a clean program.
You could argue that Michigan is on the right track, that things have turned.
But you can just as easily argue that Michigan will have a hard time repeating last year’s success.
Did you see Ohio State in the Rose Bowl? The Buckeyes have some serious talent returning next year.
Yes, Michigan has high-end talent on offense in Donovan Edwards and J.J. McCarthy shows promise.
But Michigan also has serious concerns on defense. The Wolverines have lost two stud defensive linemen and a stud defensive back. Oh, and someone else. Someone significant — its freakin’ defensive coordinator.
I think it would be ill-advised to assume Michigan is going to take a step forward next year. Or even stay at the same level.
More likely, it will take a step back.
To be clear, Harbaugh has a lot of work left to do. College football has changed dramatically in the past seven years. This is not the same job that Harbaugh took back then. Everything is different in the age of NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) and the transfer portal.
But something else has changed: coaching salaries.
With the big bucks being thrown around to college football coaches — yes, Harbaugh can thank Mat Ishbia for raising the bar for everybody — Harbaugh is about to get a massive raise.
I’m sure he’ll sign an extension soon, and he deserves it in the current marketplace, coming off such a great year.
But still, I have one last question.
After the reports that he had already said goodbye to some in the Michigan program.
After the reports that he told recruits that he was considering leaving.
After all the twists and turns of this never-ending soap opera.
How in the world can he walk back into Schembechler Hall?
It’s Harbaugh, silly. Nothing fazes him. He puts the bizarre into "bizarro world."
So after all this drama ... nothing has changed.