Jim Harbaugh wins national championship; is "unfinished business" in NFL next?
Jim Harbaugh has taken his alma mater to the top of college football's mountain. Will he now try again to climb a bigger one?
With Michigan winning the national championship in his ninth year as head coach of the program, Harbaugh will surely have interest in going back to the NFL. He has referred to having "unfinished business" in the pro game. He regards winning the Super Bowl as a bigger deal than what he did tonight.
He likely will become one of the hot candidates for an NFL job. Hotter than he was in 2022, when he believed he'd be hired by the Vikings, and in 2023, when he interviewed with the Broncos.
Last year, he wanted the Chargers job. But the Chargers didn't make a change. This time around, the job is open.
The Raiders are looking for a coach, too. That's where Harbaugh started his coaching career, more than 20 years ago as an assistant. Other teams are searching, like the Commanders and the Falcons and the Panthers. Michigan also will be interested in keeping him. He'll have more options than he's ever had.
And for good reason. He can coach, well. He turned the 49ers around immediately in 2011. And he's thriving in an NIL era that makes it harder for players to put aside "I" and focus on "team."
Is he hard to get along with? Yes. Plenty of great coaches are. They're demanding. They're impatient. They want to win. They want to be surrounded by people who want to win as badly as they do, who will give as much as they give to the effort.
Smart teams keep coaches like that around, even if there are squabbles and arguments and tense moments. And Michigan has kept him for nine years, despite whatever quirks and eccentricities and oddities have made it not always easy and fun and light.
Someone will want him in the NFL. And, if history holds, he'll do well. Again.
