What they're saying: Jim Harbaugh's chances of winning a Super Bowl, his staff in Los Angeles, Michigan legacy

Michigan Wolverines football lost head coach Jim Harbaugh after nine seasons to the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers. Here’s a look around the internet at what they’re saying about Harbaugh’s departure, legacy, chances of winning in the NFL (again) and more.

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Andy Staples, On3: Jim Harbaugh built what he came to build at Michigan; now he’ll try again in the NFL

He came to Ann Arbor and found a pile of dirt that had been heaped upon a once-proud program. His project experienced delays. A rival outfit kept handing him setbacks at key moments. At one point he almost got thrown off the job by the people paying him to build. Then the rival outfit’s CEO quit and handed off to an underling. A new crew offered better ways to pour foundation and build walls and started making real progress. But then there were accusations from the outside of corruption, and he had to let a job foreman take over the project briefly.

But through all that, Harbaugh did indeed leave a great cathedral where that pile once sat. The Wolverines closed the four-team playoff era of college football with a national title. Now they’ll start a new era for the sport with a new leader — most likely current offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore.

Harbaugh did the job he came to do. And now he’s off to do another one. Was it a stopover? Of course not. It was a completed assignment. Did the handoff go entirely smoothly? Of course not. The conflict between the NFL hiring calendar and college football’s new recruiting/free agency calendar ensured it would be as awkward as possible. 

But even with complaints that Harbaugh wasn’t hard-selling class of 2025 recruits in the two weeks since winning the national title, he leaves Michigan’s program in an undeniably better place. And that’s true even if the dual NCAA cases the sprung up during Harbaugh’s tenure result in punishments for the program. The Wolverines were also-rans when Harbaugh arrived. Now they’re champions, and they have a repeatable blueprint that should allow them to remain in the upper echelon of college football.

Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: Born and raised to coach Michigan, Jim Harbaugh’s happy mission culminates with national title

Then-interim athletic director Jim Hackett let go of head coach Brady Hoke Dec. 2, 2014. Four weeks later, he made a hire. If he wasn’t able to reel in Harbaugh, he would’ve brought in a quality coach, but given the landscape of college football and the challenges that are inherently in place at a school like Michigan, it’s hard to look back and say that anyone would’ve been able to accomplish what Harbaugh and Co. did in nine seasons.

Michigan had to check a lot of boxes along the way. The Wolverines couldn’t beat Michigan State, win big games on the road, win as an underdog, beat Ohio State, make the Big Ten championship game, reach the College Football Playoff, win a semifinal contest and take home the national title … until they did.

Harbaugh and his program overcame a lot in nine seasons, finally elevating to the level that earned them a confetti shower Monday night, Jan. 8, in Houston, Texas.

“This is a culmination of everything that they have worked for since the day he signed, the first practice at Michigan,” said Jackie Harbaugh, Jim’s mother. “This was the goal — it’s always been the goal.”

Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports: Jim Harbaugh exits Michigan with legendary status after resurrecting alma mater in his own unique image

If you claw your way through all the layers of Jim Harbaugh, one thing becomes clear: He leaves places better than he finds them. San Diego, Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers, Michigan — they all improved during their encounters with Harbaugh. They’d all kill to have him back, which might serve as the benchmark for measuring a truly legendary coach.

Never mind that Harbaugh can be, ahem, an acquired taste. When he accepted the Michigan job, I asked a former Stanford administrator for a pithy Harbaugh anecdote. That person demurred, having a difficult time coming up with a positive quote to be used on the record.

The bigger story is Harbaugh bending the program, the school and the sport to his will. The man negated parity’s gravitational pull on college football, the spread offense and the mighty SEC.

Jeremy Fowler, ESPN.com: Is Jim Harbaugh the coach to bring the Chargers a Super Bowl?

The allure: Working with Herbert
The answer is unanimous when asking people around the league, or those with ties to Harbaugh, why he wanted the Chargers job.

“He wants to work with that quarterback,” said a source close to the coach about [Justin] Herbert. “He wants to help him maximize his potential.”

Few quarterbacks are more gifted than the 25-year-old Herbert, who possesses one of the league’s biggest arms to match his prototypical size (6-foot-6, 236 pounds). He’s tough, durable (four missed games in four years) and prolific, averaging 4,306 yards and 28.5 touchdowns per season since 2020. His 14,089 passing yards from 2020-22 were the most in NFL history for a quarterback’s first three seasons. He’s also 30-32 as a starter, which needs to improve. Not all of that is his fault — .500 is where the Chargers have traditionally lived — but it’s time to elevate the team around him in big moments.

The Chargers believe that will happen with Harbaugh, who has shown a deft touch with quarterbacks and an adaptability in styles. He utilized Colin Kaepernick as a dual threat with the 49ers before that was trendy. He helped Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy develop into a complete player and a possible first-round draft choice.

Herbert hasn’t had a steady running game in Los Angeles. The Chargers have failed to crack the top 20 in rushing offense in each of the past three seasons. Harbaugh can change that — especially if he hires a run-game specialist such as Greg Roman to his staff.

The Chargers have blocked current offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who has a good relationship with Herbert, from interviewing for other jobs. Perhaps the Chargers try to keep him, though that seems an unlikely pair.

“He’ll bring a power running game that the team desperately needs,” an NFL personnel director said of Harbaugh. “I think that will help the quarterback.”

Daniel Popper, The Athletic: Chargers have Jim Harbaugh, but who will fill the GM and coordinator roles?

Once the GM position is filled, the next order of business will be fleshing out Harbaugh’s coaching staff.

The logical choice for defensive coordinator is Jesse Minter, who served in the same role for Harbaugh at Michigan for the past two seasons. In 2023, Minter coordinated a Wolverines defense that finished first in FBS in points allowed per game at 10.4. He has NFL experience from four years working on John Harbaugh’s staff with the Ravens. Minter was a defensive assistant for two seasons in 2017 and ’18. He moved up to assistant defensive backs coach in 2019 and defensive backs coach in 2020. Minter then spent a year as Vanderbilt’s defensive coordinator in 2021 before joining Jim Harbaugh’s staff as defensive coordinator in 2022.

Drew Magary, SFGate: The one reason Jim Harbaugh will win with the Chargers: He’s out of his f—king mind

if anyone’s gonna pull it off, it’s gonna be Harbaugh. And I’ll spare you the “he wins everywhere he’s been!” take that everyone else is using to back up that assertion. No, the reason that Harbaugh will succeed after being out of the NFL for nine years is an even simpler one:

He is insane.

You MUST be insane if you want to be a championship coach in the pros. Look at other coaches who have won it all recently. Rams coach Sean McVay is a brilliant offensive mind who also has the exact same temperament as the WeWork guy and drove his own QB to the edge of a nervous breakdown. Chiefs legend Andy Reid gets three hours of sleep a night and asked his wife to schedule their son’s funeral on one of his team’s off days, so that he wouldn’t miss a practice. And then there’s Bill Belichick, who … come on now, do I really need to make a case for THAT man’s derangement? Bill Belichick is a mute android whose power light only flickers when you ask him a question about punt team formations. All of these men differ in terms of personality, scheme and physique. But all of them are out of their f—king minds.

Jim Harbaugh is out of his mind, too. As with Belichick, I hardly need to prove Harbaugh’s bonafides as a loony toon to you, but I’ll do so all the same for the sake of thoroughness. As a player in the league, he once missed three games for punching Bills legend Jim Kelly because Kelly called Harbaugh a baby (spot the lie). Before every game, he fires himself up to a chorus-less folk song about 29 people dying in a shipwreck. He got suspended twice in his final season with the Wolverines, once for a cheeseburger and once for spying on other teams. He’s inordinately interested in the sex lives of players. And he spends every game looking like he’s passing a kidney stone the size of Gibraltar. Jim Harbaugh is so crazy, he makes JOHN Harbaugh look more composed than Gandhi.

Austin Meek, The Athletic: Jim Harbaugh’s last act at Michigan before leaving for Chargers made it all worthwhile

Harbaugh deserves credit, too. It’s hard for old-school coaches to change, but Harbaugh did. He became more open with his players, gave them more ownership of the program and allowed their personalities to shine. He became a voice of moral clarity on players’ rights and the need to overhaul the NCAA model. He did it while staying true to the core philosophies that made Michigan so successful the past three years.

It may strike some as ironic that a coach ensnared in two NCAA investigations could be described as a voice of moral clarity on anything. That’s part of the contradiction with Harbaugh: He comes across as both immensely principled and willing to do almost anything to win. He follows his own compass, which sometimes points in strange directions. But when everyone is willing to get behind him, he can lead a team to glory.

That’s what Harbaugh did at Michigan. He leaves behind plenty of baggage, including two unresolved NCAA cases. He also leaves a national championship trophy and a logical successor in offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, a coach who’s been primed for this moment. It’s not exactly a clean ending, but endings rarely are. Compared with the alternatives, riding out of Ann Arbor on a parade float is one of the best ways Harbaugh could go.

As good as Harbaugh had it at Michigan, it was inevitable that the two sides would part ways eventually. The miracle is that they made it this far.

Jerry Brewer, The Washington Post: Success is a guarantee with Jim Harbaugh. So are a lot of other things.

Harbaugh was the preferred candidate because he has consistently delivered as a problem solver. He may not change this team’s fortunes as quickly as he has in the past, but the Chargers will change. His high standard will force Spanos out of complacency. Ultimately, success will occur, and it will be uncomfortable and goofy. And it will never be enough for Harbaugh, because he’s the insatiable kind of winner. He always needs more.

He could articulate the joy of being a Michigan Man, but it wasn’t enough. He did the job. He restored dominance, and he did it in the face of NCAA scrutiny. He needed a new challenge, not to mention new enemies.

Harbaugh enters with another cute story: a former Chargers quarterback returning to fix an underperforming team. But he doesn’t do cute. Soon he will throw on a pair of khakis or add about seven layers of clothes like he once did in Green Bay.

He will pester. He will listen to his voice above all. He will fight with or against anyone.

For the Chargers, the benefits of Harbaugh depend on their tolerance level. They won’t be boring anymore, and they had better not be complacent.

Bill Bender, Sporting News: Jim Harbaugh returns to NFL: What Chargers hire means for Justin Herbert, Chiefs rivalry and more

Will Jim Harbaugh, Chargers make the playoffs in 2024? 
There’s a good chance, but it will not be easy in Year 1. The AFC West coaching ranks are interesting. Kansas City’s Andy Reid has 258 wins and is closing in on another Super Bowl appearance. Denver’s Sean Payton has 160 career wins, and the Raiders lifted the interim tag from locker room-favorite Antonio Pierce. 

Los Angeles also faces the AFC North and NFC South as part of its schedule in 2024. 

How will Harbaugh fare in the division and in close games? That’s the big question. Los Angeles was 6-12 against AFC West opponents the past three seasons, with losing marks against Kansas City (1-5) and Denver (2-4) and a .500 record against Las Vegas (3-3). 

Brandon Staley also struggled in close games last season. The Chargers were 3-8 in one-score games after compiling a 12-11 record in those situations the previous two seasons. 

Harbaugh will be expected to improve on that record. Harbaugh was 23-11-1 in one-score games with the 49ers. That might be the biggest difference maker for a team that is talented enough to get back in the postseason next year. 

The Athletic: What does Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan for the Chargers mean for Big Ten football?

Who’s the best coach in the revamped Big Ten?
Scott Dochterman: The best head coach moniker largely goes to the person who leads the most successful team. Luke Fickell (2019) and Kirk Ferentz (2015) were consensus national coach of the year award winners, but they’re not considered the top Big Ten coach because their teams aren’t national title contenders. With that standard, I’d put Ryan Day at the top. He took Ohio State to three College Football Playoff berths and a championship appearance. The Buckeyes were a field goal against Georgia in the semifinals from perhaps winning a national title in 2022. Of course, if Day can’t beat Michigan in November (or perhaps early December), this all was written in invisible ink.

Audrey Snyder: Can we declare Day the winner of the offseason already after Harbaugh’s departure or what? Day officially gets elevated to the top spot. Yes, he inherited a tremendously talented program, and with the exception of beating Michigan — a big exception — he’s largely kept the program humming. A 56-8 record with three appearances in the College Football Playoff is tough to argue against. Now, who is the second-best coach in this conference? It’s going to be a lot of fun trying to figure that out next season, especially with coaches like Dan Lanning and Lincoln Riley arriving too.

Cameron Teague Robinson: As much as Ohio State fans hate how he coaches in big games, the answer is Day. He has a 56-8 record, and if it wasn’t for Harbaugh getting in his head somehow, one could argue Day would have five Big Ten championships and maybe even a national championship. I don’t think that’s up for debate, but who is the second best definitely is. I think it’s probably Lanning, and I don’t think he’s that far off from Day. We’ll get a good look at how they coach against each other when Ohio State goes to Oregon on Oct. 12.

Jesse Temple: It’s hard to deny the overall success Day has had at Ohio State, particularly when compared with every other current coach in the league. He is an astounding 39-3 in Big Ten games — it just so happens all three losses came the past three seasons to Michigan. Ohio State has finished in the top 10 nationally in each of his five full seasons, and the Buckeyes have a top-three recruiting class on the way for 2024.

Austin Meek: Day is clearly the coach with the most to gain from Harbaugh’s departure. Is he the best coach in the Big Ten? Maybe, but if I had to place a futures bet on a coach who’s going to thrive in a post-Harbaugh Big Ten, I’d go with Dan Lanning at Oregon. He has a lot of the same qualities that have made Day successful at Ohio State without the outsized pressure from his fan base.