Chargers' Jim Harbaugh still the one Michigan Wolverines let slip away

Chris Roling | 20 Hours Ago

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Chargers

Michigan football might be coming off the upset win over Ohio State, but the sting of losing Jim Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers remains a constant point of conversation.

It doesn’t help that the Chargers have won five of their last six and sit at 8-4, fully in control of a playoff spot. While things in Ann Arbor combusted, Harbaugh has simply done what he does everywhere, just as he did all those years ago with the San Francisco 49ers, too.

Some of it, at least, comes down to the Chargers being willing to open up the checkbook on that reported five-year deal worth $16 million per season.

That’s a recent conversation spotlighted by Forbes’ Terence Moore: “First, with that contract, Harbaugh wouldn’t have been the highiest-paid college football coach. Georgia’s Kirby Smart holds that distinction at $13.2 million per season. Even if Michigan had given Harbaugh Smart-type money, it still would have fallen short of what he received from the Chargers to pump life into a hemorrhaging franchise with just two playoff berths in the past decade.”

Michigan, by comparsion, came in at a reported 10-year deal worth $125 million.

Kudos again go to Chargers brass for doing what needed to be done. Now Harbaugh has done his part, doing a soft rebuild in tandem with new general manager Joe Hortiz that has underrated signings like Poona Ford making up the nuts and bolts of an elite defense and trades with the New England Patriots looking like outright robberies while drafting breakout rookies like Ladd McConkey and multiple starting cornerbacks.

While the Wolverines struggle to pick up the pieces, the wildest part about the Chargers is that the only way to go is up after Year 1 of Harbaugh as he and Hortiz get more of their preferred building blocks in the door.

Just talked to Jim Harbaugh. On the Michigan victory today over Ohio State he said, “Pull it down! Great job by the men in blue today. Legendary achievement.” @InfSportsNet pic.twitter.com/wa1zJSNqHK
— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) December 1, 2024