Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh leaving to coach Los Angeles Chargers

LOS ANGELES (WCMH) — The head coach of the defending college football champions and Ohio State’s arch rivals is leaving for the NFL.

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh will become the next head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers after nine seasons in Ann Arbor, according to reports. Harbaugh will be Los Angeles’ 19th head coach after the firing of Brandon Staley which took place following a 63-21 loss to the Raiders last season.

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The national champion-winning coach is one decade removed from his last and only NFL head coaching job with the San Francisco 49ers. In four seasons with the Niners, Harbaugh made three NFC Championship games and got his team to the Super Bowl in the 2012 season. He left the team after 2014 and became the Michigan head coach.

It was an eventful nine years while Harbaugh was at the helm of the Wolverines, going 86-25 while there, snapping a lengthy losing streak to Ohio State that turned into three consecutive victories, and leading Michigan to its first national championship since 1997.

The program and Harbaugh faced controversy throughout 2023 that began with Harbaugh serving a self-imposed suspension for three games to start the season due to alleged false statements he made to officials investigating recruiting violations. He then was suspended for the last three regular season games, including against OSU, stemming from the program’s sign-stealing scandal.

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Harbaugh will now have a chance to work with star quarterback Justin Herbert in Los Angeles and try to lead the Chargers to its first Super Bowl title. The franchise has not won a playoff game since 2018.

For the 2024 season, the Chargers will host the Baltimore Ravens in what will be the second NFL matchup between brothers Jim and John Harbaugh. The two famously met in Super Bowl XLVII in 2013 where John’s Ravens beat Jim’s 49ers.

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