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 Chris Klieman.

The case for Chris Klieman

Chris Klieman is currently the head coach of the Kansas State football team, and he has been there since 2019. Before that, he was the head coach of the North Dakota State football team. Klieman hasn't been the coach of traditional power house football program, but he has still been successful at every head coaching job, and that is the sign of a good college football coach. He hasn't had the resources that bigger schools have, and it hasn't mattered. What he has been able to do at Kansas State has been especially impressive, because there are some big schools that he has to compete with.

In 2022, Klieman and Kansas State won the Big 12 by knocking off TCU in the Big 12 title game. The Horned Frogs went on to the play in the national title game. The Big 12 had schools like Texas and Oklahoma that the Wildcats had to go up against, and they were still able to come out on top in the conference. When it comes to NIL and other recruiting resources, Kansas State was way behind Texas and Oklahoma, but they still won the conference and they have been successful under Klieman. That shows that he is a good football coach and that he gets the most out of his players.

That is the type of coach that Michigan needs. The Wolverines have one of the biggest brands in college football, but they never recruited like it under Harbaugh, and it didn't matter. Harbaugh didn't go after all the five-stars and the top ranked talent, he went after guys that wanted to play at Michigan and that wanted to get better, not players that wanted to get paid before they even stepped foot on campus. Harbaugh always did more with less, and it's going to be impossible to find someone as good as him. All the Wolverines can do is get someone that has shown that they can develop talent at a high level.

Klieman would probably be a decent fit at Michigan because of his track record, but it looks like a near certainty that the Wolverines are going to hire Sherrone Moore. Moore doesn't have any head coaching experience besides the four games that Harbaugh was suspended, but he has been with Harbaugh for awhile now and he has seen how to be successful at Michigan. While he doesn't have the track record that some other coaches in the country have, he does have that learning experience under Harbaugh. Who knows, that could end up being the most valuable thing.