Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan football was inevitable because it's not his ultimate challenge

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh took the job in Los Angeles to coach the Chargers for the same reason humans flew to the moon: It’s out there.

He isn’t running away from the NCAA, or anyone at Michigan, or anyone in Michigan. He isn’t leaving because of money, or NIL or the transfer portal. He’s continuing his journey and chasing what’s next on the horizon.

And next is another shot at a Super Bowl.

Blame Warde Manuel if you want, or U-M's administration, but Harbaugh was recently offered north of $11 million a year to stay, and then reportedly offered more than that at the last hour.

But, again, it’s not the money.

Harbaugh thought he had an NFL job two years ago in Minnesota, but Vikings ownership didn’t offer it to him after a face-to-face interview. That’s the only reason he stayed in Ann Arbor.

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And while he said he wouldn’t chase the NFL again when he recommitted to U-M, and no doubt he meant it in that moment, explorers don’t stop exploring. Harbaugh is an explorer, with a curious, wandering mind.

That drive to see what’s out there, and, more importantly, to understand what’s out there, is what led him to the national title in Ann Arbor. Whatever else is said about his time in Ann Arbor leading one of the biggest brands in college football, no one can ever say he wasn’t curious.

Or open to new things.

He replaced assistant coaches, tried new schemes, asked his players how he could better communicate with them. He adapted, especially after he failed, though he didn’t fail much.

He won the minute he took the job, both on the field and off, barnstorming through the recruit-rich areas of the country, setting up camps, stripping off his shirt, tossing a football around with potential recruits.

He got into Twitter battles, held himself up as a pious example, even if he didn’t realize he was doing it — or didn’t care — and leaned into the stereotype that U-M was elitist.

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“Who’s got it better than us?” was an admission of that, along with an acknowledgment and, frankly, a matter of fact from Harbaugh’s view. He was coaching at one of the best public schools in the country, and he wasn’t afraid to say it.

That endeared him to the school and its alums and fans, especially when he was winning. Then the winning slowed, and it felt like he’d never beat Ohio State, and when COVID hit and shortened the 2020 season, and Harbaugh finished at 2-4, more than a few were ready for him to go.

He took a pay cut. And took a deeper look at how he could change again.

He hired Mike Macdonald to take over his defense. He gave the offensive line and co-offensive coordinator duties to Sherrone Moore, who is the obvious choice to replace Harbaugh as U-M's next head coach.

He brought in several other assistants, most of them young, and then hired Biff Poggi as his associate head coach, but really as his counselor. Poggi helped him reorient and reconnect with his players.

Harbaugh may have an ego — all of us do — but not that kind of ego. For all his quirks, he was self-aware where it mattered, and he wasn’t afraid to ask.

Last year, the Denver Broncos called, and while he was interested, it wasn’t quite right. Besides, he knew what kind of team he had coming back.

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A rare team, by the standards of recent college title teams. Not one stuffed with five-stars, but with players who’d stayed through that dismal COVID season, players who kept developing, and a handful of elite players at critical spots:

Defensive tackle, cornerback, quarterback, playmakers all of them, future pros, too. The roster, and the culture that Harbaugh and his new staff helped create, were too enticing in the end.

He wanted to see it through, to give the College Football Playoff one more chase, to see if all the change, and all the work, would be enough to win it all.

All season, Harbaugh talked about his team in ways he hadn’t any other at U-M. He knew it was different, and when others didn’t believe, he didn’t care. He bet on himself, and on his evolved sense of how to build a locker room.

Now, he is betting on himself again. He is betting that his decade-long absence from the NFL won’t matter so much because he just proved to himself he could change and have it work.

He’s betting on his history, that he has won wherever he’s been, that he stood on a professional sideline less than 10 yards from the Lombardi Trophy and that he can get back there again.

And get into the end zone.

He gets that chance with one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league and a team that should benefit from his skill at instilling toughness and physicality. He can coach without worry of boosters and administrators and the NCAA. He can send scouts wherever he wants.

He’ll miss life in Ann Arbor no doubt, the proximity to his parents, the nostalgia, the relative ease of college town life. It’s hard to imagine he’ll miss the battles with the NCAA, and what may have come his way this fall, when the organization could’ve suspended him for potential infractions involving Connor Stalions.

He’s liberated from that now. The last part of his coaching career will be all football, and only football. A circle back to the beginning, if you like.

But, also, a continued look ahead, to what’s past the horizon, and to what’s still possible.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan football was simply inevitable