ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Maybe some people have doubts. Maybe some wonder if last season’s Big Ten championship was an outlier, or if NFL ambitions still linger. Jim Harbaugh clearly has heard it all, and with spring football underway, well, he figured it was a swell time to quell.
“The state of Michigan football is scary good right now,” Harbaugh said, his inflection rising, his smile beaming.
It was unclear if he was predicting championships, projecting personal fulfillment, or simply excited about the talent he sees in practice. But for 30 minutes Tuesday, he rattled off the reasons he enjoys his team, even as he detailed how sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy is dealing with an ailing shoulder that prevents him from throwing for a while. No surgery necessary at the moment, and also no immediate Cade McNamara-McCarthy battle for the starting job.
Nothing was darkening Harbaugh’s mood, and whether he was fence-mending or narrative-bending, it didn’t really matter. Five weeks ago he was in Minnesota interviewing for the Vikings head coach job. He returned without an offer, and according to him, without a desire to explore the NFL again, happy to be back.
Of course he had to say all that. Going forward, it’s about showing he meant all that. After finishing 12-2, beating Ohio State, winning the program’s first Big Ten title in 17 years and reaching the playoff, he should have another explosive offense, with two of almost everything. McNamara and McCarthy at quarterback; Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum at running back; Andrel Anthony, Cornelius Jonson, A.J. Henning, Ronnie Bell and others at wide receiver. Three of the five starters are back on what was an imposing offensive line.
Harbaugh has a new five-year contract and an assurance with AD Warde Manuel he’s done looking around. He hired another batch of rising young assistants, including defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, and promoted quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss to co-offensive coordinator with Sherrone Moore. Josh Gattis left for the University of Miami, a curious lateral move, shortly after Harbaugh ended his NFL flirtation.
On Gattis’ departure, Harbaugh said he “didn’t see it coming, but now we’re rolling.” He surely knew something was coming, amid the uncertainty at the time. The message Tuesday – if a message can be delivered six months before the season – was that uncertainty is over.
“Just ultimately decided this is where I wanted to be,” Harbaugh said. “Like I said earlier, right now it’s scary good. To try to define what that is, you know the law of averages is going to catch up to you at some point, but that’s the place we want to be. As I walk around our field, with coaches and players, it’s people that are engaged. … When you’re around this kind of team, the days just fly by. I could coach a long time.”
Harbaugh said his life-long desire to win a Super Bowl – unfulfilled when his 49ers lost to his brother John’s Ravens – has been quenched. Well, at least quelled.
“Yeah, we could win college football’s greatest trophy, we could win the national championship,” he said. “And that’s plenty good.”
So, the NFL door is closed?
“Yeah,” he said. At 58, Harbaugh knows doors close as windows close, and perhaps for the first time in his seven seasons here, he seems fully comfortable with his staff and his standing.
Beating the Buckeyes quieted a lot of criticism, as did the 42-3 pounding of Iowa in the championship game. Even the 34-11 loss in the playoff to Georgia didn’t dampen the accomplishment. His new contract essentially restores his base salary to $7 million-plus, and although he won’t admit it, probably ratchets his enthusiasm. There’s still a low buyout – starting at $3 million and dropping to zero by the end – but it’s hard to imagine another courtship anytime soon.
Everything is sunshine and saccharine in the spring, and those huge clashes against Ohio State and Michigan State are far off. There are questions on the defensive side, including whether Minter, hired away from Vanderbilt, can match what Mike Macdonald did in his one season. Aidan Hutchinson, David Ojabo and Daxton Hill were dominant, and all will be drafted high.
After looking elsewhere briefly, Harbaugh is emphatic he’s looking only one direction now. Almost symbolically, he revealed the team’s offseason trip would be a July excursion across Michigan, from the Upper Peninsula to Sleeping Bear Dunes to Detroit.
“We’ll connect with Michigan, connect with our fanbase, do some camps, do some service work,” Harbaugh said. “Why Michigan? That’s why — the possibilities are endless.”
He was talking about the state, while not-so-subtly talking about the state of the program. After a 12-2 season, with an advantageous 2022 schedule, the possibilities are bountiful, with the standard cautions attached.
Returning home seems to be the theme, and themes never happen by accident with Harbaugh. He brought more former Michigan players into the program, hiring Mike Elston from Notre Dame as defensive line coach, and adding Denard Robinson as assistant director of player personnel. He promoted former UM offensive lineman Grant Newsome to tight ends coach, elevated Weiss and switched Ron Bellamy to wide receivers coach. The school’s all-time leading rusher, Mike Hart, will be in his second year as running backs coach and an integral part of the offensive staff.
It’s almost as if Harbaugh tried other ways for several years before returning to what – and who – he knew. It probably helps that the school’s commitment to NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) initiatives for players continues to grow.
“I love Michigan, I love everything it does for our players,” Harbaugh said. “Just (adding) more people that have that love-love feeling about Michigan and the program, as opposed to the love-hate. Some out there love to hate us and hate to love us. Our biggest competitors, I think you probably know them.”
Harbaugh has felt all ends of the love-hate spectrum, from Buckeyes, Spartans and even his own fan base. He still has battles to wage and things to prove, but in his mind, he’s back to fully engaged, which is where he needs to be.
