After a long flirtation with the NFL this winter, Jim Harbaugh renewed his vows with Michigan. Now he wants to take things to the next level.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday for the first time since signing a five-year extension with his alma mater last month shortly after interviewing for the Vikings' head coaching job, Harbaugh confirmed that he's done pursuing a return to the NFL and is fully committed to the team in front of him.
"Yeah, I did express that," Harbaugh said. "It's how I felt, it's how I feel."
Harbaugh, 58, went after the Vikings job in search of the Super Bowl that eluded him in his four-year tenure as head coach of the 49ers (and in his 14-year playing career). He said last month that "there was a tugging at me" to win "the greatest prize in our sport," one that he decided to entertain after fulfilling the original seven-year agreement he signed with Michigan in 2015.
"Seven years was up," Harbaugh said. "That's what precipitated it, to see if that was something I wanted to do. Took a look at it."
But now that the dalliance is over, the Vikings having hired former Rams OC Kevin O'Connell instead, Harbaugh says his Super Bowl lust has passed. And he's eyeing something else.
"We could win college football's greatest trophy," he said. "We could win the national championship -- and that's plenty good. It would be great to win a Super Bowl, but completely focused on winning the national championship."
Michigan came as close as it has under Harbaugh last season, winning a long-overdue Big Ten title and making the College Football Playoff before bowing out to a loaded Georgia team. It has the talent and experience to make another run next season. Speaking in particular about the Wolverines' defense after the team's first few practices of spring ball, Harbaugh said Tuesday, "The state of Michigan football is scary good right now."
He said he's "expecting great things" from senior DL Mazi Smith, who "looks tremendous." He said that senior DE Mike Morris "could be the next Aidan Hutchinson or (David) Ojabo," a pair of first-rounders-to-be in next month's NFL Draft. And Michigan's top three recruits from a class that ranked No. 9 in the nation are defensive players, headlined by five-star CB Will Johnson.
As for the offense, which returns quarterbacks Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy (who will battle for the starting job in camp), running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, receivers Ronnie Bell, Cornelius Johnson and Roman Wilson and tight end Erik All? Oh, and three starters from the best offensive line in the country? Also scary good?
"Just the whole state of the program," Harbaugh said. "There's people that want to keep different stories going, love to hate us or hate to love us, but we're having a blast. The word 'tumultuous' was used in the offseason. If guys are bringing the energy and having fun and (we have) momentum in the program, whatever word you want to put on that, that's what we're having. And that's scary good, because you know something's gonna happen at some point."
There were concerns, at least externally, that Michigan's recruiting would take a hit when Harbaugh's future in Ann Arbor was in question. They proved to be unfounded. The Wolverines kept this year's top-10 class intact and Harbaugh bolstered the recruiting department with a few hires this offseason. He said "there was some quelling" among concerned recruits when he inked his new deal and told them "this is where I want to be."
Both now and moving forward.
"When you're around this kind of team, these kind of guys, the days just fly by. I could coach a long time," Harbaugh said. "I see no end in sight when you're around this kind of group."
After another shakeup to his staff this offseason, that group is loaded with former Michigan players. In the past two years, Harbaugh has hired six former Wolverines in Denard Robinson, Mike Elston, Grant Newsome, Mike Hart, Ron Bellamy and Doug Mallory. He doubled-down this year after last year's hires gave the program -- and Harbaugh himself -- a much-needed jolt. He said he went that route in the first place because it "reflected more of who I was."
"I love Michigan! I love everything it does for our players. It's our university," Harbaugh said. "Just (wanted) more people that have that love-love feeling about Michigan and the program as opposed to the love-hate. There's people who love to hate us and hate to love us. So, just more people that love-love us."
We may never know for sure how things ended between Harbaugh and the Vikings. His critics will say the Vikings never made him a offer. His backers will say he turned the Vikings down. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle, which is fine for Michigan. Harbaugh said he "just ultimately decided this is where I want to be."
"A lot of gratitude for that. Like I said earlier, right now it's scary good. To try to define what that is, the law of averages is going to catch up to you at some point, but that's the place we want to be," Harbaugh said. "As I walk around the field, whether it's our weight room, whether it's out there with the guys, it's people that are engaged. Players come up to you and they've got a smile on their face: 'What's up, Coach? What do we got today?'
"We're having a blast. And we're gonna carry that on as we get going through spring ball."
