Jim Harbaugh came back to Michigan ahead of the 2015 season, ending what many Wolverine fans call the dark ages. This tragic time in Michigan history spanned from 2008 to 2014 and yielded a combined record of 46-42 and one postseason victory.
Ouch.
During the same time period, archrival Ohio State put up a 77-16 record with a national title. It was miserable to watch the Wolverines trip over themselves while Ohio State cruised to national glory.
Harbaugh was brought in to right the ship. And he did just that — his way.
At his previous stop in San Francisco, Harbaugh was taking the helm of a team that hadn’t had a winning season in almost a decade. He turned that franchise into a perennial contender that made three straight NFC Championship game appearances by instilling a tough culture of discipline and accountability.
The process was similar at Michigan. In 2014, the Wolverines ran an average of 64 plays per game for 333 yards, 22 points and two turnovers. One year later with Harbaugh in charge, Michigan averaged 71 plays per game for 396 yards, 32 points and one turnover. That’s about a 68% increase in points-per-game and a 50% decrease in turnovers.
Harbaugh accomplished this by bringing in his famous chain-grinding offense. The style focused on smaller, consistent gains through the run game and high-percentage passes. Harbaugh was also more eager to lean into the starting running back at the time, De’Veon Smith, and gave him 72 additional carries from the year prior.
Many of these tendencies were reflected in the 2023 national title squad but with objectively more talented players. Blake Corum was the workhorse in the backfield while J.J. McCarthy was under center doing exactly what the staff asked of him — controlling the game. There are a lot of negative stigmas when it comes to labeling a quarterback as a ‘game manager,’ but it is often overlooked that sometimes that is the natural role of a quarterback in certain offensive systems. Harbaugh’s 2023 offense, for example, never needed McCarthy to play hero ball. There were times his number was called, and he answered but never was there a contest that can be fully chalked up to the passing game. Heck, the victory over No. 9 Penn State ended on 32 straight runs and zero second-half passes.
Of course, Harbaugh’s offensive style faced criticism over the years. There was general excitement after 2015 when Michigan won the Citrus Bowl over Florida, but smiles began to fade as Michigan stumbled during 2017 and 2019 before hitting rock bottom during the heartbreaking shortened 2020 season in which Michigan went a dismal 2-4.
Harbaugh’s honeymoon was long over at that point, and fans were starting to put pressure on school officials to move in a different direction. Hindsight is 20-20, but let’s not act as though there were not very valid claims at the time. Harbaugh had certainly brought the program one step further than it had been prior to his arrival, but he had yet to beat Ohio State, was 1-4 in bowl games, and seemed to be regressing.
At this point, the staff rallied the troops. The Wolverines entered the 2021 season with a focused mindset and went on one of the best three-year runs in school history. It lost just one regular-season game, routed Ohio State thrice, won the Big Ten thrice, made the college football playoff thrice and won the national championship once. It was a true 180-degree flip for the team that Harbaugh took over.
Now, Michigan’s head man will move on to a Los Angeles Chargers squad that is looking for glory after hitting gold with quarterback Justin Herbert in the draft. There have been concerns about pretty much every aspect of the team over the past two seasons outside of their signal caller, and the Bolts will look to their new leader to do the same thing he has done his entire career: Win.