Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan football for Los Angeles Chargers

Jim Harbaugh did what he came to do in Ann Arbor, and now his time is up.

Harbaugh, 60, on the heels of leading Michigan football to its first national championship since 1997, will not return for a 10th season, instead pursuing a return to the NFL as he continues his quest for a Super Bowl.

Harbaugh will be leaving the Wolverines to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, the team confirmed Wednesday night.

“I want to thank Jim for everything he has done for our football program, athletic department and the University of Michigan over the past nine years,” Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel said in a statement. “Every day, he has worked extremely hard to elevate the stature of Michigan across the world, with the goal of winning championships and developing young men on and off the football field.

“Jim did exactly what he sought to do at Michigan, build our program to consistently win Big Ten Championships and compete for national championships, culminating with a record three straight outright conference titles and the national championship this year. He did the same off the field by graduating his players and providing life experiences through mentorships, internships and team trips around the globe.”

Harbaugh had also interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons' head coach vacancy.

Harbaugh previously confirmed to the Free Press he had hired NFL-affiliated agent Don Yee — Yee represents Tom Brady and Sean Payton among other distinguished clients. Harbaugh said Yee had been "working hard" on the coach's behalf.

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"I don't even think I have time to talk to him right now," Harbaugh said Jan. 12, a few days after U-M won the national title. "The game, since the game, been really working, honestly working, on other people's futures. ... Just looking forward to kind of putting the guys' needs ahead of mine. Just been enjoying it, every minute, every second."

He had reportedly sought a contract extension from Michigan to make for-cause firing harder, with a clause that would “grant him immunity from termination from any finding or sanction” from either of the NCAA investigations the program faces.

“We have been in talks with Jim Harbaugh for the last several weeks and have tried our best to retain him as our football coach,” U-M president Santa Ono said in Wednesday’s released statement. “Jim called me today and let me know that he has made the difficult decision to leave Michigan and join the Los Angeles Chargers in pursuit of his NFL dreams.”

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Harbaugh was hired as the 20th coach in U-M history on Dec. 30, 2014, and nine seasons later brought the Wolverines to the top of the mountain with a 34-13 win over Washington in the national title game.

He will finish with an 86-25 record overall and 60-17 in the Big Ten as he set program history this season after leading U-M to a third consecutive outright Big Ten championship for the first time in U-M football’s existence.

“We have been discussing a new contract that would make Jim the highest paid coach in college football. In the end, he wanted to explore and ultimately decided to pursue a return to coaching in the NFL,” Manuel said. “We can’t thank Jim enough for all that he has done for our student-athletes, staff and Michigan Football. He will always be a huge part of our rich history, and will be remembered as an all-time great Wolverine, as both a championship player and coach.

“Jim has always been extremely upfront with his communication regarding NFL opportunities and has been helpful with this transition in leadership. We had a great conversation tonight when he informed me of this decision to return to the NFL and offered his assistance in helping identify the needs for the program moving forward.”

Of course, the Harbaugh era at Michigan, even the greatest season in the program’s history, wasn’t without its own share of controversy and allegations.

Michigan was served a draft of a notice of allegations from the NCAA in January 2023 detailing a handful of Level II violations for analysts serving in on-field capacities as coaches, coaches overseeing workouts of players via video chat and contact with recruits during a COVID-19 dead period.

Harbaugh exacerbated the matter when the NCAA asked him about the alleged violations and he claimed to have no recollection of any, which the governing body deemed to be misleading, so it tagged him with a Level I violation, the most serious of offenses.

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Harbaugh and the NCAA had seemingly worked out a negotiated resolution where he would be suspended for four games; however, it fell apart in the weeks leading up to the season.

U-M administration suspended him for the nonconference portion of the season (three games) as an act of good faith, and he returned in mid-September. However, Harbaugh was only back in the fold a month before the next scandal hit: The Wolverines were being investigated by the NCAA for sign stealing.

Details emerged about Connor Stalions, a former recruiting staffer who would buy tickets to games of U-M’s future opponents, then pay accomplices to attend the games and take video of their sideline and send them back to him so he could decode the signals and gain an advantage when deciphering plays.

Though Harbaugh was never shown to have any knowledge of the plot, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti suspended U-M’s head coach for three games for violating the league’s sportsmanship policy.

Harbaugh and U-M found out he would be suspended just hours before the Wolverines’ top-10 road game at Penn State; offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore stepped in for him and called 32 straight runs to end the game in the 24-15 victory.

U-M beat Maryland for the 1,000th win in program history, then beat Ohio State for a third consecutive year to round out the regular season, before Harbaugh was reinstated.

Michigan shut down Iowa in the Big Ten title game and rallied past Alabama in the Rose Bowl in OT before topping Washington to complete a 15-0 season.

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Harbaugh had some immediate success in his return to his alma mater, leading U-M to seasons with 10 or more victories in three of his first four years in Ann Arbor; the problem was each of those regular seasons ended with losses to Ohio State, two of them included losses to Michigan State and all but one ended with a loss in a bowl game.

After taking a step back with a 9-4 campaign in 2019, the Wolverines appeared to bottom out in 2020 when they went just 2-4 during the COVID-19-shortened season. U-M never played OSU that year — it opted out of the final two games of the year after a COVID-19 outbreak within the team — and Harbaugh finished year six having never gone to Indianapolis and with an 0-5 record vs. OSU.

That’s when he went to athletic director Warde Manuel with a multipoint plan that emphasized the changes he needed to make, starting with changing his coordinators and moving away from Don Brown’s defense to a Ravens-based scheme in Mike MacDonald.

Manuel allowed Harbaugh to prove his plan, but at a cost, as Harbaugh’s contract was slashed nearly in half. In response, he led U-M to its best season in 17 years in 2021.

“We are working quickly to hire the next head coach for the program and will do everything possible to keep this current staff and team together,” Manuel said. “We appreciate Jim’s dedication and passion for Michigan, the university and Ann Arbor, and I wish Jim and the entire Harbaugh family much success with the Los Angeles Chargers.”

Michigan lost a crushing top-10 clash in East Lansing, 37-33, and it seemed another year may end with the Wolverines short of their goals, but it responded with a road win at Penn State and then for the first time in a decade, a 42-27 win over Ohio State on a snowy day at the Big House.

U-M followed with a 42-3 pounding of Iowa for Harbaugh's first Big Ten title but was dismantled by Georgia in its first CFP appearance. The Wolverines followed up with a 13-0 season in 2022 — that included more history, the team’s first victory in Columbus in more than two decades — but it ended in heartbreak when the Wolverines lost 51-45 to TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.

That all led to 2023, the best season in U-M history, and the program’s first championship in more than a quarter of a century.

Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan football for Los Angeles Chargers