As Jim Harbaugh stares out at beach, Michigan's no good, very bad offseason continues

Two weeks ago, Jim Harbaugh stood behind a microphone, wearing a black hat with an arched lightning bolt across its face. His mouth was curled in the opposite direction, pointing upwards and projecting a smile.

“This is the best damn job I ever had to start out,” the Los Angeles Chargers’ coach told his audience.

It was the confession of a man who was free and clear after he made it out from under the NCAA cloud of suspicion that hovered over him and the Michigan football team he had ditched in late January. At his new NFL gig in sunny California, Harbaugh no longer had to fret about the potential ramifications of a pair of investigations that ensnared him and the Wolverines. He found an escapeway, racing out west like the Dust Bowl survivors on Route 66 looking to start a new chapter in their lives.

In Harbaugh’s rearview mirror was a national championship program awaiting its eventual comeuppance. It started to arrive Tuesday, when the NCAA announced Michigan had agreed to a negotiated resolution that includes a three-year probation, a fine and unspecified recruiting restrictions stemming from a case centered on impermissible coaching and recruiting activities alleged to have been committed by Harbaugh’s staff.

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The news spawned another unpleasant headline for a program enduring a rough offseason and an inauspicious introduction to Sherrone Moore’s tenure as its new coach. Moore, who had been elevated from his role as offensive coordinator, took command of a team in transition during the turbulent wake of Harbaugh’s well-publicized departure. Soon thereafter, the entire defensive staff left, along with renowned strength and conditioning director Ben Herbert. Their departures came on the heels of a significant talent exodus that opened major roster holes all over, but especially on offense, where quarterback J.J. McCarthy led a procession of 10 starters out the door.

The aggregate of the losses threatened to have a destabilizing effect, which Moore hoped to neutralize by preserving the offensive and defensive systems that triggered Michigan’s 40-3 run the past three seasons. Yet the unrest continued.

Within the past five weeks, a pair of Michigan staff members — former defensive line coach Greg Scruggs and assistant director of player personnel Denard Robinson — were arrested in separate incidents for allegedly operating vehicles while intoxicated. Scruggs resigned his position March 21, while Robinson, the former star quarterback at U-M affectionately known as “Shoelace,” was suspended indefinitely Monday following his single-car accident 1½ miles south of Schembechler Hall.

While addressing the setbacks he had encountered until that point, Moore said in March, “I think it’s life as a head coach. You’re going to deal with ups and downs. And things are going to happen.”

Moore, who tends to project an air of nonchalance, is not one to panic.

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But some cracks are starting to form in the Block M that seemed indestructible last fall. In the 82 days since Moore was tasked with replacing Harbaugh, no high school player has delivered a verbal commitment to the Wolverines. As a result, they have plummeted to No. 55 in the 247Sports Composite team rankings, where they sit below 16 other Big Ten members.

Michigan’s inability to harness any recruiting momentum from its national championship has been the most perplexing development during this awkward transition phase. It’s caused outsiders to wonder whether the program is starting to suffer the negative consequences of a season where their record remained unblemished, but the program’s carefully cultivated image was warped by a prolonged firestorm of wild accusations and recriminations. The contentious atmosphere sprouted as the NCAA placed Michigan in its crosshairs with two active investigations, including one that mushroomed last October when an advanced scouting and sign-stealing scheme allegedly orchestrated by former staffer Connor Stalions came to light.

As the probes unfolded, Harbaugh became an obvious target. He faced a major violation for his alleged failure to cooperate in the first case that landed the Wolverines penalties this week. He also absorbed some of the initial hits, missing half of the regular season while serving a pair of three-game suspensions administered by both U-M and the Big Ten. He could even face more sanctions in the future, as the NCAA explained in its news release Tuesday.

But whether they can be enforced is dubious.

Harbaugh now lives in a different world, after all.

That was reinforced Tuesday, when the Chargers posted a video of Harbaugh showing off the oceanfront RV park where he lived for past two months.

Looking out, he remarked, “You’ve got the beach, blue skies. It doesn’t get much better than this.”

His view, as the cameras showed, was crystal clear.

But back in Ann Arbor, it is so much murkier for the Michigan football program he left behind.

Some would say it is even kind of bleak.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: As Harbaugh enjoys fresh start, Michigan football now feeling fallout