Want to know how difficult it is to win a national championship?
With the retirement of Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh’s decision to leave Michigan for the Los Angeles Chargers, only three current head coaches have won them: Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney with two each and Mack Brown with one.
Want to know how fleeting the coaching landscape can be in college football?
In just over three weeks since the College Football Playoff went down, three of the four coaches from those schools are no longer there. Saban retired, Harbaugh returned to the NFL on Wednesday, Kalen DeBoer took the Alabama job and the lone survivor is Texas coach Steve Sarkisian.
The only constant in life - and in sports - but especially in college football is change. And now Michigan is going through one of its biggest in program history dating back to the late 1800s.
Harbaugh will go down as one of the greats.
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He delivered an unequivocal national championship to Ann Arbor by beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl and then soundly pounding Washington to win the title.
The Michigan Man won 77 percent of his games, went 37-3 in his last three seasons, took the Wolverines to the playoff twice and polished off his college coaching career by winning the biggest prize of them all.
He’s been a winner everywhere he’s been - 29-6 at San Diego, he turned Stanford into a powerhouse and had a 12-1 season in 2010, he never really even came close to a losing season in Ann Arbor. Maybe most important to some is that he has beaten Ohio State three-straight times, driving Buckeyes coaches, players and fans nuts, so crazy that some wild ones have called for coach Ryan Day’s firing after the loss in November.
In four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, Harbaugh took his team to the Super Bowl once (losing to his brother, John) and two other NFC Championship Games.
The final stage of Harbaugh’s coaching career could be chasing that elusive Super Bowl ring with the Los Angeles Chargers, who certainly have the skill to be in that conversation if not for a few more pieces. If Harbaugh can win the Super Bowl (and maybe even if he doesn’t) he should go down as one of the best coaches of all time.
Harbaugh is one of the best, no doubt about it. But he also leaves behind a complicated legacy at Michigan and an uncertain future.
Two things can be true at once: Michigan was undoubtedly the best team in college football this season and the sign-stealing allegations benefited the Wolverines.
At least one recruit was told by Harbaugh that he had no knowledge of what former recruiting staffer Connor Stalions was doing. That might never be fully determined but the NCAA investigation is ongoing. Those findings could tarnish Harbaugh’s memory in Ann Arbor but the most loyal fans probably won’t care much unless it’s egregious.
We don’t need to relive the sign stealing stuff. Everyone except the die-hard Michigan fans accept that an edge was obtained by knowing the signs of opponents - and having Stalions whispering in the ear of coaches on the sideline. It happened and the NCAA will determine the penalties.
Players and recruits have talked highly of Sherrone Moore as a potential - if not pre-ordained - replacement for Harbaugh. During two three-game suspensions of Harbaugh this season, Moore filled in phenomenally well and won some tough games for the Wolverines.
But Moore is also only 37 years old, has only some coordinator experience and has never led a program as head coach. He might now be handed the keys to a Lamborghini.
Other names will probably get some mention but the feeling in Ann Arbor is that Moore will be named Michigan’s next head coach.
One of the last memories of Harbaugh at Michigan will be holding up the national championship trophy, hugging his parents, hugging his brother who surprised him on the sideline and bringing a title back to the Wolverines. It was a beautiful ending to a phenomenal college coaching career.
But now there are more questions than answers at Michigan. Who’s the next coach? If it’s Moore, can he keep up this level of winning? And how hard does the NCAA guillotine come down on the Wolverines for the sign-stealing mess?
Just like in all of college football, whether it’s the coaching carousel, the transfer portal or recruiting, things change fast. Real fast.
