It was announced Friday that Michigan Wolverines head football coach Jim Harbaugh has won the AP College Football Coach of the Year Award.

Harbaugh is the first Michigan coach to take home the award since its inception in 1998. He is also the first coach from the Big Ten Conference to win the award since Joe Paterno in 2005.

Harbaugh finished with 22 first place votes among the 53 total votes from the panel, for 103 points. Cincinnati's Luke Fickell finished 2nd with 88 points and 16 first place votes.

The Wolverines are having one of the best seasons in recent memory. They finished the regular season 12-1 and won the Big Ten title for the first time in 17 years. That propelled Michigan to their first ever College Football Playoff berth.

The big bugaboo that Harbaugh and Michigan could not get past was their rival Ohio State. Harbaugh and Michigan had lost all five of his previous matchups against the Buckeyes. If that continued, Harbaugh might have been on the hot seat. But he finally got that monkey off his back.

Michigan drubbed Ohio State in The Big House last month, 42-27. It was one of the crazier scenes anyone has ever scene as seemingly all 100,000 fans in attendance stormed the field after the win.

The Wolverines then defeated Iowa in the Big Ten Championship. Michigan therefore punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history. They are the #2 seed and will square off against #3 Georgia in the Orange Bowl on December 31st.