Paul Finebaum explains how Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL helps Michigan's NCAA case

Paul Finebaum believes Jim Harbaugh has coached his final game at Michigan, and it’ll actually be to the benefit of the Wolverines.

With the NCAA waiting for the opportunity to punish Harbaugh and Michigan, Finebaum believes that if Harbaugh jets to the NFL after winning the national title, the governing body of college football will actually take it easier on the Wolverines.

“I think some will argue he’s running away from college football, and to a degree he may be, but that’s really not the issue,” Finebaum explained, via ESPN’s First Take. “A lot of people are running away from college football right now, because it’s such a badly run sport. It’s not going to change. Every time I’m on a program, somebody is saying, ‘Well, this has to be done, or that has to be done,’ it’s not going to be done, because people still are fascinated by the sport. They’re still watching the big moments. There’s billions of dollars at stake, except there’s simply no leadership. A lot of coaches just simply can’t deal with it. I think Jim Harbaugh has maneuvered that very well. He hasn’t played some of the same games that the other schools have done, but he does have a gun at his head, and that’s the NCAA. I think he’ll choose wisely to leave, because without him being at Michigan, it helps Michigan’s case against the NCAA around the corner, and I think he’ll be giving him a gift quite frankly.

“They’ll miss him. We all know what he’s done. But with him being in the NFL, Michigan will probably get off a lot lighter down the road, without him being there.”

That’s a fascinating take from Finebaum, and a bittersweet development for Michigan fans. Nevertheless, Harbaugh would be able to leave with his head high, and return to the NFL in the good graces of Wolverines faithful.

Moreover, Stephen A. Smith agreed that Harbaugh won’t be at Michigan next season, believing that the Wolverines leader simply has nothing left to prove after accomplishing his goals in Ann Arbor.

“Of course it was. Of course it was,” Smith said, asked if it was Harbaugh’s swan song in Houston. ” … There’s no reason for him to stay at Michigan at this point. What else is there for him to accomplish? You go to Michigan for three reasons. No. 1, to beat Ohio State. No. 2, to contend for national championships. No. 3 is to actually win one. Now we know we won one in 1997, but even that was shared with Nebraska. Because of that, this is really their first modern outright championship of the modern era. We get what that’s all about.

“What else is there for him to do on a college football level? … Of course you go back to the pros after this. There’s nothing left to prove.”

Time will tell what Jim Harbaugh decides to do, but it could actually be to Michigan’s benefit if he moves on, at least that’s what Paul Finebaum and others believe.