College football will miss Jim Harbaugh, perhaps more than Michigan will

Bryan Fischer

College Football Writer

The collective football world spent three years preparing for the news that unfolded on Wednesday evening and the realization that it was finally time to refer to Jim Harbaugh as the former Michigan head coach.

Yet the news that Harbaugh was officially making the jump to the NFL to take over the Los Angeles Chargers doesn’t sting any less for the sport he is leaving behind just a few weeks after reaching its peak. Wolverines fans are doubtless running the gamut of emotions — appreciation, understanding, maybe a tinge of anger — over something they knew was coming, as it dampens the joy of the school’s first national title since 1997.

It is college football in general, though, that will really regret the departure of last season’s central character. Michigan, after all, will have a new coach, but college football won’t have another Harbaugh stirring things up in ways both infuriating and amusing.

[What does life after Jim Harbaugh look like for Michigan, and what comes next?]

He is, or rather was, one-of-one.

With all due respect to the throngs of Ohio State or Michigan State faithful, it’s a bummer that Harbaugh won’t be back on the sideline of a college game with his trademark khakis.

He was part of a sport’s uniqueness that makes Saturdays special and differentiates it from the buttoned-up brethren in the NFL. Say what you want about the 60-year-old — and there is plenty to espouse on both sides of the coin — but there was never a dull moment around Harbaugh, whose aura was quintessentially odd and unique even in a sport filled with the odd and unique.

College football will miss a coach who was so comfortable pushing the envelope of what was possible, instead of reacting to the change that is inherent in the sport. He was a breath of fresh air amid the strategic soundbites and carefully curated media images crafted by his peers. Harbaugh leaned into thinking outside the…

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Publish date : 2024-01-24 23:51:18

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