Jim Harbaugh achieves unique feat that no Wolverines HC has ever done before

Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh accomplished what no Michigan head coach has done before in its long, storied college football history: He won the AP Coach of the Year. Harbaugh is also the first recipient of the award from the Big Ten since Penn State’s Joe Paterno won it in 2005. Harbaugh received 22 out of 53 first-place votes, finishing ahead of Cincinnati’s head coach, Luke Fickeel, who received 16 first-place votes.

This season, Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines are 12-1 with their biggest win coming against their longtime rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes (ranked 6 at the time) on November 27, 2021. The Wolverines also won the Big Ten Championship for the first time in 17 years.

As a result, the Wolverines are ranked number 2 behind Alabama and will play number 3 Georgia in the Orange Bowl, which is part of the College Football Playoffs. Michigan’s success this season is the first time an unranked team heading into the season has made the playoffs. In the College Football Playoff era, Jim Harbaugh is the first coach to take a team to the playoffs both in the NFL and in college.

Jim Harbaugh is the first head coach at Michigan to win the AP Coach of the Year

The Wolverines’ football head coach has been leading the program since 2015. Jim Harbaugh also played college football in Michigan, and he also played in the NFL for 14 years–most notably with the Indianapolis Colts from 1994 to 1997.

As a coach, Harbaugh started as a quarterbacks coach with the Oakland Raiders (2002-2003) before taking his first lead head coaching job with the San Diego Tereros (2004-2006). Soon after, he was in the division 1 NCAA college football ranks leading the Stanford Cardinals (2007-2010).

After finding success as a college football coach mentoring student-athletes such as QB Andrew Luck, Jim Harbaugh went on to coach the San Francisco 49ers (2011 - 2014) where he led them to the Super Bowl in 2013 against his brother John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens. In 2015, Harbaugh returned to the college ranks and accepted a head coaching job with his alma mater, the Michigan Wolverines.

Coming into his seventh season with the Wolverines and coming off his first losing season with Michigan, Jim Harbaugh took a reduced salary and decreased his buyout so that the university would be able to make a coaching change if needed.