Detroit Sports: A 2017 Wishlist Item for Every Team
By Matt Snyder
Michigan Football
Matt Snyder: For NFL Teams to Leave Jim Harbaugh Alone
Jim Harbaugh’s return to Michigan didn’t immediately vault the Wolverines to the tippy top of the college football world, but he did restore the Michigan football program to a place of national prominence.
In his first two seasons at the helm, Harbaugh has helped to guide the Wolverines to a pair of 10-win seasons and trips to two of the traditional New Year’s bowl games. They were very literally one inch away from knocking off Ohio State on the road, a result that would have meant a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game and a (probable) spot in the College Football playoff.
Michigan football is back, baby, and they’re not gong anywhere. [Whispers] Unless Harbaugh jumps back to the NFL.
It’s sort of an absurd thought at this point after just two years at Michigan, because, by all accounts, he’s happy where he is and has no intention of leaving the program. But we will, inevitably, hear his name every time an NFL job comes open.
We saw this earlier this month when the Los Angeles Rams fired head coach Jeff Fisher. It took about 30 seconds for Harbaugh’s name to be tossed out as a potential candidate for the job.
Perhaps he will one day return to the professional ranks — even though he can make as much (or more) money as a top college coach — but hopefully that day does not come until he has added a boatload of hardware to the trophy cases inside Schembechler Hall.
The question is no longer if Michigan will have success under Jim Harbaugh but how much dominance they will be able to build. Just as long as the NFL stays far away.