Jim Harbaugh Turned Down A Contract That Would Have Made Him The Highest-Paid College Football Coach To Join The Chargers
ByJoey Heldon January 24, 2024inArticles›Sports News
We’re not even a month into 2024, and Jim Harbaugh has had himself quite a year. On New Year’s Day, his Michigan Wolverines made an impressive fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Alabama Crimson Tide 27-20 in overtime. A week later, the Wolverines beat the Washington Huskies 34-13, winning the national championship. A week after that , he interviewed with the Los Angeles Chargers.
And now, a little more than a week later, Harbaugh is returning to the NFL. He agreed to a five-year deal to become the head coach of the Chargers.
While the total amount of Harbaugh’s new contract hasn’t been disclosed, he reportedly turned down a six-year, $11.5 million contract extension from Michigan. That deal would have made him the highest-paid coach in college football.
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
It wasn’t enough to keep Harbaugh from wanting another shot at the NFL. He also owes Michigan $1.5 million for breaking out of his contract early.
Harbaugh spent four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, amassing a 44-19-1 regular season record. He led the Niners to Super Bowl XLVII during the 2012 season, losing to his older brother John and the Baltimore Ravens.
Now, Harbaugh will join a Chargers team that finished a disappointing 5-12 last season. But there’s a solid quarterback in Justin Herbert and a few strong pieces across the roster. Harbaugh’s presence should only help the team improve.
It caps off a pretty wild month in the college football landscape. Shortly after the national championship, Nick Saban abruptly announced his retirement. He was replaced by Kalen DeBoer, who was previously the head coach at Washington. Now that Harbaugh has left Michigan, Steve Sarkisian is the only coach from the College Football Playoff to still be at the same school.
The Chargers are hoping Harbaugh can continue the impressive track record he’s had at the collegiate level. He finishes his college career (for now, at least) with a 133-52 record, winning 72% of his games. That includes an 86-25 record at Michigan, culminating with a perfect 15-0 season this year.
Harbaugh has plenty to celebrate, and there could be more excitement in the coming weeks. Brother John is just two wins away from another Super Bowl victory with the Ravens.
It’s like he — and his dad — always say: “Who has it better than us? Noooobody!”
- Michigan’s Massive Contract Offer To Jim Harbaugh Includes A Clause Where He Can’t Leave For The NFL
- Jim Harbaugh Net Worth
- Jim Harbaugh Has Earned An Insane Amount Of Money From Michigan
- Jim Harbaugh Could Reach The $10 Million Mark This Season – Here’s How
- Jim Harbaugh Is Doing Something Pretty Amazing With His $500,000 Bonus Check From Michigan
- Could Jim Harbaugh Be The Next Coach Of The Los Angeles Rams?
Could Jim Harbaugh Be The Next Coach Of The Los Angeles Rams?
ByJoshua R. Woodon December 19, 2016inArticles›Sports News
With the playoffs looming, there are very few things that are certain in the NFL these days. Here are a couple of things that are certain: The Browns will get another great draft pick (and probably squander it), the Patriots have a great shot at winning another Super Bowl, and the Los Angeles Rams desperately need a change – and fast.
The Rams started on the path to change by firing head coach Jeff Fisher , who was obviously leading them down every wrong path he could find. The franchise, fresh off a move to L.A. from St. Louis, has made some decent draft choices, has a franchise running back and a great defense, and appears poised for success… but they’re missing one extremely important piece of the puzzle: a good coach.
Sure, there are a lot of coaches out there. For instance, there’s Hue Jackson, the Bengals’ Offensive Coordinator. Or, they could go with either one of the Coordinators from the Patriots, Josh McDaniels or Matt Patricia (I mean, they have to be good after a few years under Belichick, right?), or Todd Haley, Offensive Coordinator of the Steelers. But none of those guys is time-tested. They simply don’t have the head coaching experience – the proven ability to win – that the Rams need to see in their dire situation.
There is one guy who stands out: Jim Harbaugh.
Pros: Harbaugh is a proven winner at every level. He’s hard-working, he cares about his players, and he loves to win.
Harbaugh stepped in to coach the San Diego University team back in 2004. At the time, he had zero head coaching experience. He stayed with the squad for three years, posting a 15-1 conference record with two conference titles, putting him on the shortlist for best coach of all time at the school.
(Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
He then moved on to Stanford University. The two guys before him had gone a combined 16-40 in the past four seasons. Harbaugh came up huge, improving the team’s record each season, and culminating his Cardinal career with a 12-1 record in 2010, with a victory in the Orange Bowl to cap it off. All told, he was 29-21 at Stanford. Outside of current coach David Shaw , that’s the best winning percentage for a Stanford coach since the 60s.
After that, he took over an awful 49ers team that had gone 6-10 the year before he arrived, and hadn’t had a winning season in 8 years. What did he do? Took them to three straight conference championships and one Super Bowl. After one tumultuous season where disagreements between the coach and the front office reflected poorly on the team’s record, the 49ers inexplicably gave him the boot.
Now he’s at Michigan, where he’s the highest paid coach in college football, and for good reason. The year before he arrived, the Wolverines were 5-7. In his first two years with the team, he’s taken them to a 20-5 record, and they’ll be competing this season in the Orange Bowl.
Cons : Well, there’s really only one. It’s uncertain whether or not he’ll actually want to come back to the NFL (even though he definitely prefers the NFL to college). It’s estimated that, to get him to L.A., it would take a contract worth between $10 million and $15 million per year! That would make him the highest paid football coach at any level.
So, is it worth that much money for the Rams? Absolutely.
One major issue is that the Rams need a change right now. It’s highly likely that the Chargers will be headed to L.A. from San Diego, and about 25% of the Chargers’ season-ticket holders already live in L.A. Honestly, right now, given the choice between a Rams game and a Chargers game, which would you rather see? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
The Rams need dynamic change, and they need it right now. Harbaugh is almost certain to give them that.
The team’s owner, Stan Kroenke, is worth almost $8 billion, and he’s pouring a huge amount (over $2 billion) into the Rams’ new stadium . For that investment to make any sense, he needs to hire a coach who will direct a team that will fill the seats. The price tag is unimportant.
The question is: how long will it take before Kroenke heads out to Michigan to make an offer? And when that day comes, will Harbaugh take the bait?
- Jim Harbaugh Turned Down A Contract That Would Have Made Him The Highest-Paid College Football Coach To Join The Chargers
- Jim Harbaugh Has Earned An Insane Amount Of Money From Michigan
- Jim Harbaugh Net Worth
- Michigan’s Massive Contract Offer To Jim Harbaugh Includes A Clause Where He Can’t Leave For The NFL
- Jim Harbaugh Could Reach The $10 Million Mark This Season – Here’s How
- Jim Harbaugh Is Doing Something Pretty Amazing With His $500,000 Bonus Check From Michigan
