Can't we just let Jim Harbaugh enjoy his Michigan football national championship win over Washington in the College Football Playoff final before whisking him off to the NFL? No, no we cannot. Because Harbaugh has been and still is the centerpiece of not just the college football season but arguably the NFL as well, with him being a sought-after name for one of the head coaching vacancies.
Going back to last season, and even before that, Harbaugh's name has been heavily rumored for several jobs across the NFL. But whether we want to naively believe this or not, he had a vision for Michigan football, and ultimately, finished his story on Monday night, bringing the Wolverines their first national title since 1997.
Being that Harbaugh has finally brought to Michigan what they hired him for, does that mean that the former San Francisco 49ers head coach will be heading back to the NFL? That remains to be seen, but if so, the question then becomes who replaces him in Ann Arbor?
Before Harbaugh, Michigan looked to have drifted off into irrelevancy and being left behind like so many other great historical programs have over the past two decades. We've seen it happen with the likes of Nebraska, Miami, and others, and Michigan was pretty much there. That was partly because they had multiple swings and misses on head coaching hires. Plus, with the landscape changing in college football, athletes were looking at more modernized programs in warmer weather SEC climates.
All that has changed now, but that's because Harbaugh changed it in only a way in which the quirky head coach could do. Whoever comes in now has to try to sustain that. A lot easier said than done. Nonetheless, if the 60-year-old head coach does depart back to the NFL, here's who could be some interesting candidates to be the next Michigan football head coach.
Sherrone Moore – Michigan OC
Considering the circumstances with Michigan just winning the national title and that the Wolverines would potentially be behind in the hiring process, the easiest transition would be to go straight to Sherrone Moore. Michigan fans already got a taste of what it would be like if Moore were the new head man this season when he had to become the interim coach in lieu of Harbaugh's suspensions. The most impressive was that Moore won Michigan's last three games, which were against No. 10 Penn State, Maryland, and arch-rival No. 2 Ohio State.
Lance Leipold – Kansas head coach
Arguably the most sought-after coach in college football is Leipold, who has completely overhauled a Kansas program that was beyond awful before him. But it's not just Kansas that Leipold has been successful at; he's been a winning coach everywhere he's been. At Wisconsin-Whitewater, he won six national titles in eight seasons. He also improved Buffalo, getting them into three bowl games. It's doubtful many would have a problem with this hire in replacement of Harbaugh.
Eli Drinkwitz – Missouri head coach
Already sporting a block M, Drinkwitz could be a great hire for Michigan football. But besides that, Drinkwitz got Missouri to an 11-2 season, ranked No. 8 in the country, and did something that any Michigan fan would approve of: beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl this season. Plus, Drinkwitz has been a wiz in Missouri's use of NIL, bringing talent that once may not have come to Columbia.
Jedd Fisch – Arizona head coach
No one surprised the country more, that is if they even paid attention to them, than the Arizona Wildcats in 2023. Fisch took a one-win team two seasons ago and got them to 10 wins this season, in what was a highly contested Pac-12 in its final season. Arizona did so by beating a number of ranked opponents and nearly had a shot at the conference title.
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