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It was expected, and on Wednesday, it happened. Jim Harbaugh is no longer the head coach of the Michigan football team as he is moving back to the NFL to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. The Wolverines were prepared to make Harbaugh the highest paid coach in college football, but it sounds like they brought out the big guns too late. Harbaugh was already in the final steps of becoming the head coach of the Chargers, and on Wednesday evening, he made it official. Now, Michigan needs a new head coach, but before we get to that, let's take a look at where Harbaugh is leaving the program.
The Michigan football team finished up their 2023 season two weeks ago with a win against Washington in the national title to cap off a perfect 15-0 season. Fans of the Wolverines have been waiting for a season like this for a long time, and they finally were able to pull it off this year.
There were a lot of ups and downs that Michigan went through to get to the national title game, and a lot of their key players that came back this season could've gone to the NFL. They all came back for one common goal: to win a national championship. The Wolverines accomplished that goal, and now, they are hoping to continue that success going forward, and the momentum they have built can help make that happen.
Let's take a look at what this team went through to get to where they are now. It can't be overstated how important it is to the future of this program.
First, head coach Jim Harbaugh started off the season at home for the Wolverines as he faced a self-imposed three-game suspension because of some minor recruiting violations. That wasn't a big deal, however, as Michigan started the season with home games against East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green. The Wolverines were fine for those games, but that wasn't the only suspension that Harbaugh would face in the season.
Around the halfway point of the season, news broke that the Michigan football team was being investigated for illegal sign stealing. The culprit ended up being a low-level staffer named Connor Stalions.
Now, Michigan football is at the mountaintop of college football, but can they stay there? Their first year after winning the national title could prove to be mighty difficult.
The Wolverines could break the record for most players drafted this season. A ton of key players from this national title team are leaving, and if they lose their coach too, things could easily go downhill in Ann Arbor, and Michigan does not want that to happen.
The good news for the Wolverines is that their defense should be in pretty good shape next year, and that was a major strength of this year's team. However, they are losing their starting quarterback, starting running back and their entire offensive line. The offense ran through those positions, and those guys are all going to be very difficult to replace.
The most difficult person to replace, however, will be Jim Harbaugh. Everything that was just typed shows how important this hire is for Michigan football. They have gotten to where they want to be in the college football world, but they are also losing everything that has gotten them there. This is such a crucial hire, and while it looks like Sherrone Moore is a lock to be hired, the Wolverines should also take a look at Luke Fickell.
The case for Luke Fickell
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's state the obvious: Luke Fickell did spend one season as the head coach of the Ohio State football team, Michigan's arch rival. Before the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes in 2021, the last time they had beaten them was in 2011, when Fickell was at Ohio State. He is an Ohio guy, so even if Michigan did want to go for Fickell, he might not want to go coach there.
However, Fickell is the type of the coach that would be a good fit for Michigan. The Wolverines have never been the type of the school to offer kids money to come there or anything like that. They have an approach that is more centered around success at the school. If a player comes to Michigan and they do very well there, they will be fine with NIL. But if they don't, they aren't going to get as much. A lot of people thought that this style was going to doom Michigan because schools like Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia and others are getting all of the top recruits. However, Harbaugh proved all of those doubters wrong this season with the run to the national title.
Without a crazy NIL strategy to get the top recruits in the country, Michigan needs a guy like Harbaugh. Someone that can develop any player into a national champion caliber player. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, they aren't going to get someone like Harbaugh. He is one of the best football coaches in the game. They do need to get someone as close to Harbaugh as possible though, and Fickell has shown that he can win in a difficult setting. What he was able to do at Cincinnati was very impressive, and it earned him a job at Wisconsin. His first season there was a little shaky, so that's something to keep an eye on, but Fickell is still looked at as a very good college football coach.
Michigan is more than likely going to go with Sherrone Moore, and while he doesn't have much head coaching experience (only the four games that Harbaugh was suspended), he has been around the Michigan football program and Harbaugh for so long. He knows the blueprint for success there, and he saw exactly what Harbaugh was able to do to be so successful. Who knows if it will work out if Moore gets hired, but hopefully for the Wolverines, they get someone that is good at developing talent. That is what got them to the top, and that's how they'll stay there.
