A day after MGoBlog went all-in on Jim Harbaugh becoming Michigan's next football coach – even going so far as to print t-shirts, school insider John U. Bacon took to Twitter to say the two words long-suffering Wolverine fans wanted to hear: It's done.
I just got off the phone with more sources tonight. It's done. Jim Harbaugh is coming to Michigan - and his friends are flying in Monday.
— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) December 28, 2014
Harbaugh, a two-year starter at quarterback for legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, will be an instant shot in the arm for a football program that's been mired in an extended hangover since Lloyd Carr retired in 2008. He's a good coach, unlike Brady Hoke, and a Michigan Man, unlike Rich Rodriguez, so he has an instant leg up on the last two hires.
As a head coach, Harbaugh has been a winner at every step of his career. After taking over at San Diego in 2004, he took over a team that had gone 6–6 and went 29–6 in three seasons. In 2007, he took over at Stanford and turned a team that had gone 1–11 in 2006 and improved his mark every year in Palo Alto before finishing with a 12–1 record and a top five ranking in 2010.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | SAN DIEGO | 7–4 | 4–1 | 2nd | |
| 2005 | SAN DIEGO | 11–1 | 4–0 | 1st | |
| 2006 | SAN DIEGO | 11–1 | 7–0 | 1st | |
| 2007 | STANFORD | 4–8 | 3–6 | T–7th | |
| 2008 | STANFORD | 5–7 | 4–5 | T–6th | |
| 2009 | STANFORD | 8–5 | 6–3 | T–2nd | L, SUN |
| 2010 | STANFORD | 12–1 | 8–1 | 2nd | W, ORANGE |
Harbaugh made the jump to the NFL in 2011, taking over in San Francisco and promptly led the 49ers to a 13–3 record and a berth in the NFC Championship. The following year, he guided his team to the Super Bowl. In his four seasons with the 49ers, his team has a 43–19–1 record with three appearances in the NFC Championship game and that trip to the Super Bowl in 2013.
While at Stanford, he earned a reputation for beating on Pete Carroll and his loaded USC teams so often that it led to exchanges like this. And let's not forget he once guaranteed a win over Ohio State in Columbus as a senior in 1986 – and then delivered, 26–24 – to send his team to the Rose Bowl. He's what you want in a coach: highly competent and confident.
He'll have about a month to try to salvage a recruiting class that's currently ranked 90th nationally by 247Sports – behind powerhouses FIU, Southern Miss and Texas State, among other programs – but Hoke didn't leave the cupboard empty, particularly for the style of football Harbaugh prefers.
For Ohio State fans, there seems to be two wildly divergent camps when it comes how they like their Michigan Wolverines. There are those that want to see Michigan lose every game from now until the end of time. And there are those that want a strong Michigan, to give meaning to a rivalry that's taken a hit recently and for a small contingent, for the betterment of the Big Ten.
I'm not sure either camp is wrong, but I happen to hang with the latter because it's just weird to be more nervous for a game against Minnesota than you are for a game against the heathens from the north. That, and it's going to be so much easier to hate the Wolverines again.
Welcome back to relevance, Michigan. It's been a while.
