Jim Harbaugh opens up on what it means to lead Wolverines to title as a Michigan man

In his ninth season as the head coach at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh finally did what he came to Ann Arbor to do. He brought a national championship to his alma mater.

After the game, Harbaugh opened up about what it means to him to lead the Wolverines to a title as a Michigan man.

“It feels great,” Jim Harbaugh said. “I told the team last night that that means so much to me to be a Michigan man. Bo Schembechler would talk about the team, the team, the team. When I was growing up, my dad coached here from ’73 to ’79, coached the secondary for Bo. He would come home and tell us things Bo said. And all the time we talked about the team, the team, the team and what that meant — no man, no player, no coach bigger than the team.”

Beyond Harbaugh’s dad coaching under Schembechler, Harbaugh himself would play quarterback for him toward the end of his tenure with Michigan. That was an experience that has clearly had its impact on Harbaugh’s outlook on football.

“And then when I played here at Michigan as a quarterback in the ’80s, you heard it a lot, all the time — the team, the team, the team. And we brought that back when I came here in 2015 — the team, the team, the team. And we’ve made some additions to it. We talk about what’s good for the bee is good for the hive and what’s good for the hive is good for the bee. We talk about all kind of things,” Harbaugh said.

“But that’s what it comes from. Just doing something that’s bigger than for yourself, caring about somebody other than yourself, never being outworked, doing right. You don’t lie. You don’t cheat. You don’t steal. And you give it the very best to your God-given ability. That and more.”

Since returning to Michigan to be the program’s head coach, Jim Harbaugh has compiled an 86-25 record, won the Big Ten three times, and now adds a national championship. All of that success has been a little sweeter for him because it has come at Michigan, a place where he’s proud to have his identity tied.

“I mean you could probably write a book, what it means to be a Michigan man. But some day, when they throw dirt over the top of me, if somebody who is eulogizing me, who was on this team or one of my teammates, when I was playing at Michigan, if they would simply say, ‘He was a Michigan man,’ that would mean everything. Would mean everything to me,” Harbaugh said.

“And there’s no question there’s probably about 110 guys like that on our football team. And there’s some young guys, some freshmen, some young sophomores that didn’t quite know what it means yet, but — like I didn’t when I was a freshman and a sophomore in college. It took time to realize just what a magnificent thing it is to be part of a team, where everybody has your back, everybody supports you unanimously. We slip and we fail sometimes. But that’s what a Michigan man does. He makes it right. So as I said, I’m not the definition-maker of what a Michigan man is or isn’t, but that’s what’s inside me. That’s what I think of it.”

There are now questions about Harbaugh’s future and if he’ll leave Michigan for the NFL. Whatever does happen, he’ll always be a Michigan man, though.

“And probably like anybody’s life or life story. It would take a book to write it all. And that’s what I think of being a Michigan man. It would probably take a book to put everything into it. But very proud, very proud to be a Michigan man,” Harbaugh said.

Paul Finebaum weighs Jim Harbaugh’s legacy at Michigan following national championship

The day after Michigan won the national championship, Paul Finebaum went on First Take and shared his thoughts on Jim Harbaugh’s legacy.

“It is going to be a great legacy. Some would argue that it’s complicated, and most legacies are complicated, but in Jim Harbaugh’s case, he came to Michigan to resurrect a once proud program after nearly winning the Super Bowl and going to three NFC Championship Games. So, they needed him desperately. He was the favorite son. He played there. We all know that. What does he do? He resurrected it. It was difficult It was painful and he almost didn’t make it, and that’s what makes it such a Hollywood ending. Some will throw up all the things that happened this year, and I don’t want to act like I haven’t been talking about it. I have and at one time I wondered out loud, right here, if this championship would be tainted,” Finebaum said.

“But after watching this program over the last couple weeks mow through the end of the Big Ten schedule with Harbaugh on the sideline, beating Penn State at Nittany Lion-ville, State College, after winning at Maryland, beating Ohio State, winning the Big Ten Championship, and then beating Alabama at the Rose Bowl. Then, what happened last night? There’s really not much debate, there’s no debate in my mind, this is the national champion, this is a deserved national championship, and I don’t think anybody is gonna complain in the future.”