Amid Scandal and Scrutiny, Jim Harbaugh Leads Michigan Back to the Mountaintop

In a season mired by controversy—and with his coaching future up in the air—Harbaugh shepherded the Wolverines to a national championship as only he could.

HOUSTON — Jim Harbaugh emerged from the winning locker room with a Diet Coke in his right hand and joy in his heart. The Michigan Wolverines football coach extended his left hand for a series of middle-aged-man high fives to various friends of the program who were loitering in the hallway at NRG Stadium, then disappeared behind a door for the postgame interview after beating the Washington Huskies 34–13 for the College Football Playoff championship.

Harbaugh’s comments were his usual kaleidoscope of thoughts—all over the place, analogies and bromides colliding with each other, but consistently effusive in praise of his undefeated team.

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Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

He compared one J.J. McCarthy pass to “flicking the old booger off your finger.” He cited the teamwork of bees: “What’s good for the bee is good for the hive, what’s good for the hive is good for the bee.” He said he “can now sit at the big person’s table” in his family with father Jack, who won an FCS national title at Western Kentucky in 2002, and brother John, who beat Jim to win Super Bowl XLVII with the Baltimore Ravens. He dubiously declared, “We know we’re innocent” regarding the NCAA investigations hovering over his program, which led to two separate suspensions of Harbaugh during the season.

Harbaugh listened to his players answer questions—running back Blake Corum, defensive back Will Johnson and quarterback McCarthy—occasionally chiming in his own comments. Then he got up and tried to leave with the players but was asked to remain seated for questions directed solely at him.

After resolutely avoiding making comments about his uncertain future for weeks, there is no more avoiding it. That doesn’t mean he answered the questions head-on, but whether Jim Harbaugh is going to coach at Michigan or coach in the NFL in 2024 is now a present-tense topic, not something down the road.

Harbaugh and the Wolverines celebrate after beating Washington to win the national championship :: Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

“I just want to enjoy this,” Harbaugh said. “I hope you give me that. Can a guy have that? Does it always have to be what’s next, what’s the future?”

Now it does. The most intriguing, polarizing figure in college sports has arrived at another career crossroads, having traveled a college-NFL-college coaching path up to this point. There is expected to be NFL interest in hiring him back at that level, and there is interest from Michigan to sign Harbaugh to a new contract.

The coming days will be rife with speculative drama as everyone searches for insight. He delivered on the lofty dreams that came when his alma mater hired him in 2015. Does he now ride off into the sunset, job done, or come back for more?

Did Harbaugh offer a cloaked answer late Monday night in an interview with Scott Van Pelt on ESPN? “I told the kids this week we’re moving spring practice back,” Harbaugh said. Van Pelt followed up by asking, “So you’re looking forward to the spring in Ann Arbor, are you?” And Harbaugh affirmed that he is.

Or was that empty talk signifying nothing? Only Harbaugh probably knows for sure.

College Football Playoff National Championship Gallery

The only certainty out of this night was Michigan proving itself to be the best team in the nation—the toughest, the most physical, the most complete and the most cohesive. The Wolverines’ only other national title of the past 70-plus years was a split championship in 1997, with the Nebraska Cornhuskers winning the other half back in the days when polls decided who was No. 1. This one comes with no doubts.

The Wolverines routed Washington early with an explosive running game, reeling off touchdowns of 41 and 46 yards by Donovan Edwards and a 59-yard dash by Blake Corum to set up a field goal. Then the Michigan defense rose up, holding the Huskies’ potent offense to just a field goal after halftime and their lowest point total in two seasons under coach Kalen DeBoer. They intercepted Heisman Trophy runner-up Michael Penix Jr. twice and limited Washington’s explosive plays with sure tackling and tight coverage.

“Jesse Minter, A-plus-plus the whole way,” Harbaugh said of his defensive coordinator.

This performance was the final exclamation point on Michigan’s claim that the signal-stealing scandal carried out by former staff member Connor Stalions was not the reason why the Wolverines have gone 40–3 the past three seasons. Stalions has been out of commission for weeks while Michigan won its biggest games, beating Penn State, Ohio State, Alabama and now Washington. The stolen signals may have benefited the Wolverines at varying points the past three seasons, but they didn’t have them or need them to win this national title.

McCarthy (left) and Harbaugh are bringing home Michigan's first national football title in 26 years :: Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

Still, that doesn’t mean this championship is without taint in the eyes of many. The NCAA has been investigating allegations that Stalions spearheaded a brazen and extensive scheme to record opposing teams’ signals in advance of their games against Michigan. Nobody has refuted the alleged scheme, which is part of the outrage toward the Wolverines from Big Ten rivals and others around the sport.

There is every reason to believe Michigan blatantly broke rules this season and got caught red-handed—but the NCAA’s crime-and-punishment system grinds too slowly to process the case this season. It will stretch well into 2024. So the Big Ten office stepped in and sanctioned Harbaugh, suspending him for the final three games of the regular season. That bookended a three-game suspension at the start of the season that was sparked by a different NCAA investigation into impermissible recruiting contacts during the COVID-19 dead period.

But Harbaugh pushed back at the notion that his missing 40% of the games created additional stress or struggle for his program. “Off-the-field issues—we’re innocent,” he said. “We stood strong and tall because we knew we’re innocent.”

That’s a difficult claim to defend. Harbaugh has been charged with a Level I violation in that investigation, the most significant at the NCAA’s disposal. The Stalions investigation could lead to Level I allegations as well, and even if Harbaugh knew nothing about the scheme—which he has maintained—he would be charged for violating head coach responsibility rules. The 2024 season could include further suspensions for Harbaugh if he’s still a college coach.

Washington’s First Taste of Defeat Doesn’t Go Down Smoothly

If this was it at Michigan for Harbaugh, it at least ended in triumph and joy.

It ended with him bear-hugging 84-year-old Jack Harbaugh and lifting him off the ground. It ended with an embrace from John Harbaugh, who flew in from Baltimore for the game and will try to add another title to the family collection in the upcoming NFL playoffs. It ended with the Michigan fan base showering Harbaugh with roars as he stood on the postgame stage accepting the CFP trophy. It ended with a hug and handshake from school president Santa Ono, who has been an unabashed cheerleader throughout the scandals. It ended with Edwards jumping on the back of 6'6", 320-pound offensive lineman Trevor Keegan for a whooping, hollering ride into the locker room.

And it ended with Jim Harbaugh declaring that he will follow through on a promise he made earlier: that if Michigan goes 15–0 and wins the national title, the 60-year-old would get his first tattoo. It will probably be on his right shoulder, he said—the 15–0 record and a block M.

Ten years ago, another 60-year-old coach got a tattoo to commemorate a national championship. That was Rick Pitino after the Louisville Cardinals beat the Michigan Wolverines for the men’s basketball title. The NCAA ultimately vacated that championship for rules violations within the Cardinals’ program—the only national title in a major sport that has been erased from the record books.

Jim Harbaugh could follow the Pitino script: a title, a tattoo and vacated wins by the NCAA. Par for the Harbaugh course, the rest of his 2024 is going to be eventful, intriguing and controversial.