Column: Jim Harbaugh didn't bet on himself, he bet on Michigan football and won

Michigan football has seen it all under Jim Harbaugh. Whether it be dominant stretches of championship-caliber football or heartbreaking moments and missed opportunities. If there is a cover-all bingo card with all of the things this program has been through since its last win over Ohio State in 2011, it would be filled.

Harbaugh hit the reset button last offseason, flipped over every stone imaginable to reboot his staff and let some roster attrition sort itself out. What was left behind was a group that loved Michigan and desperately wanted to be the group that righted the ship.

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What a difference 11 months makes.

Michigan is heading to its first Big Ten Championship game after a 42-27 effort against Ohio State that was never as close as the score indicated. This was simply a Wolverine team that was not going to be denied. All hope was not lost going into the game, but it came with the knowledge it would take Michigan’s best game to give them a chance.

They left some plays on the field and still exorcised every single demon that has plagued the program.

Can’t close out big games. Check. (Michigan State loss aside)

Can’t stay out of their own way. Check.

Can’t beat Ohio State. Check.

Can’t get to Indianapolis. Check.

Last season’s 2-4 mark, COVID year or not, was so humbling – and quite frankly, embarrassing – that it required massive changes across the board. Michigan looked uninspired and poorly coached, a shell of its former self and the early days of the Harbaugh era. With a contract decision looming, it was completely justified to question if he was the guy moving forward.

The powers that be in Ann Arbor saw what we saw and felt what fans were feeling. The previous six years were not what anyone signed up for. Egos were going to have to be put aside to keep it going. Concessions and compromises had to be made.

Michigan and Harbaugh came to an agreement on a reworked, incentive-laden contract in January. His base salary was cut in half from $8 million to $4 million with a low buyout number. The message was clear. Beat Ohio State, go to Indianapolis and beyond and have a shot to earn it back.

Harbaugh did not have much of a bargaining chip last offseason and Michigan is a place he loves and does not want to leave. The narrative was that he bet on himself, stubbornly or otherwise, and that this decision was the two sides kicking the can down the road.

The biggest bet was not on himself. Harbaugh’s been doing this a long time and has pumped out 10-win seasons in his sleep at multiple programs. The gamble that he could get Michigan back to that was not much of one at all.

The biggest bet made was the idea that Michigan football could do more. Be more. Beat Ohio State. Play in Indianapolis. Finish in the final four. Harbaugh’s gamble was not on himself as much as it was that the program he loves and calls home could break through and be in the conversation with the national elites.

There is still work to do, but it’s nearly time to run the betslip to the window to collect.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel deserves an enormous amount of credit for what occurred on Saturday. He never felt, heard or interalized any pressure to keep Harbaugh, but he saw the on-field result in 2020 like the rest of us did. That was not acceptable and required an all-hands-on-deck effort to fix. Even the most levelheaded of supporters thought it was time to make a change.

What Manuel did was stay the course, adjust the pay based on the totality of the first six years and give Harbaugh the chance to go to work and earn to get it back.

Go to work. Earn it. That is the seed that was planted for the 2021 Michigan football team.

A tone was set from the first winter workout this year, led by senior pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, running back Hassan Haskins, center Andrew Vastardis, offensive tackle Andrew Stueber, third-year quarterback Cade McNamara and a cast of others. Every day, every rep, every second of time they spent in Schembechler Hall was a competition against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Those who stuck around stuck together, fought for each other and set themselves up to defy the odds.

Harbaugh put together a staff of young, hungry, collaborative teachers of the game and things jelled from the start. He flipped the entire recruiting department over and hired people of the same ilk. Fresh energy, new ideas. It was all needed in Ann Arbor.

Week after week, this Michigan group has stayed focused and played inspired football together. They looked like a well-coached football team from the start and never flinched in the face of adversity. Why would you be scared of anything when you’ve seen everything?

Harbaugh and his coaching staff, led by coordinators Josh Gattis and Mike Macdonald, set an identity and knew what they wanted to be from the jump. They never wavered and stressed execution. For most of the season, Michigan’s players have done everything asked of them and more. That drive has come from within, but the guys on the sidelines have to put them in positions to succeed. That has been an issue in the past, too. Not this year.

This is simply what it is supposed to look like.

Make no mistake about it, that game may have broken Ohio State for the time being and given them every bit the identity crisis that Michigan had walking out of Columbus in 2018. The Buckeyes were favored and looked surprised they were in a fight. When the punches kept coming, they folded.

The script between the two programs completely flipped in this game.

What can’t happen is another 10-year wait before beating the Buckeyes now. A foundation has been set and Michigan knows it can win the way it wants to if it imposes its will. Hutchinson told the media all week that we would not see a scared team on Saturday. Like most things this year, he called his shot and made sure it materialized on the field.

Playing unafraid and together has been the mixture all season. It is why Michigan football will play for its first Big Ten Championship on Saturday.

This is one of the great coaching jobs in Michigan history. It took a ton of effort to pull off and some painful years, but the Wolverines are in this position because Harbaugh and Manuel agreed it was still possible. They worked together to put a plan in place to get it done. This season was expected to be a rebuilding year, but Michigan flipped us all the double bird and decided to have its cake and eat it too.

It learned lessons and worked tirelessly to provide answers. It got better every single day.

Time will tell if this reboot has staying power, but a foundation has been laid and Michigan found another rung on the ladder to climb up to. They have shown they can beat Ohio State and get to Indianapolis now. That is the expectation most people have for the program and now they have a result to sell. This should pay dividends both in the building and on the recruiting trail while the build continues under Harbaugh.

Beating Ohio State is Michigan’s Super Bowl and the celebration will go longer than the others. But they have an actual championship to play for this weekend. Focus must reshift quickly, and it likely will. It has not been in the DNA of this football team to lose focus. Beat Iowa and they get a chance to play for the big one.

Pretty incredible turn of events, isn’t it?

Saturday does not erase missed opportunities of the past, but they do not matter anymore. The only thing that has ever mattered is what comes next. Harbaugh and Michigan proved that in its response to last season and now it is playing for a Big Ten title and shot at the College Football Playoff.

Now it is on them to keep pushing and setting the bar for the future. It is probably time to put a little more money back in the football coach’s pocket, too.