Jim Harbaugh's Chargers Contract Applauded as 'Home Run Hire' by NFL Fans

After flirting with the NFL several times in recent years, Jim Harbaugh is heading back to the league as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the 60-year-old has reportedly agreed to leave Michigan and is returning to his West Coast roots.

NFL fans and pundits alike loved the move for the Chargers:

The move comes after a season for Harbaugh and the Wolverines that was as notable for what happened off the field as their success on it. They finished 15-0 and capped off the year with a 34-13 victory over Washington in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

However, the school issued a self-imposed three-game suspension for Harbaugh to start the 2023 campaign stemming from alleged recruiting violations during a COVID-19 dead period.

During the season, Michigan staffer Connor Stalions resigned from his position amid an investigation by the NCAA into allegations of sign-stealing.

Harbaugh denied having any knowledge of sign-stealing within the program, but he said he would cooperate with the NCAA's investigation.

On Nov. 10, the Big Ten announced Harbaugh was being suspended for the final three games of the regular season as part of its discipline under the sportsmanship policy.

The university filed an emergency temporary restraining order in an attempt to keep Harbaugh on the sidelines. Michigan ultimately dropped the case, opting to let its coach serve the suspension.

Harbaugh had flirted with a return to the NFL in recent years. When the Minnesota Vikings were looking for a new head coach after the 2021 season, he met with members of the front office. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah knows Harbaugh well after they worked together for two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers from 2013 to 2014.

Things fell apart with the Vikings, though, with ESPN's Courtney Cronin reporting Harbaugh went into his interview "under the assumption" he was going to get the job:

Minnesota ultimately hired Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell.

After losing out on the Vikings job, Harbaugh signed a five-year contract extension that tied him to the University of Michigan through 2026. He told reporters shortly after that the door was closed on him going back to the NFL.

"Ultimately, I decided this is where I wanted to be," he said. "And really, a lot of gratitude for that."

It looked like his plan to rebuild the Wolverines into a national powerhouse was paying off. They finished the 2022 regular season 13-0, beat Ohio State in Columbus for the first time since 2006 and won the Big Ten for the second consecutive year.

Michigan's season ended with a 51-45 loss to TCU in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Following the loss, rumors about Harbaugh returning to the NFL began to percolate again. The Athletic reported he would leave his alma mater if an NFL team offered him a head coaching job.

ESPN's David Newton reported on Jan. 3 that Harbaugh had a conversation with Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper about their coaching vacancy. He noted the conversation between the two men "was not characterized as an interview."

University of Michigan president Santa Ono tweeted on Jan. 16 of last year that he spoke on the phone with Harbaugh, who informed him he was returning for the 2023 season.

Harbaugh has been incredibly successful everywhere he has been a head coach. He went 29-6 at San Diego, 29-21 with an Orange Bowl appearance in four seasons at Stanford and 89-25 in nine seasons at Michigan.

Prior to being hired by Michigan, he spent four seasons with the 49ers from 2011 to 2014. He went 44-19-1 with three playoff appearances, two division titles and an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII. Now, it's back to the West Coast.

After years of falling short of expectations, the Chargers are taking one of the biggest swings in franchise history with this move.

Harbaugh has a well-established reputation for immediately turning around the fortunes of every team he coaches, but there has also been an expiration date attached to that success. His tenure with the 49ers ended on a sour note, and while things seemed largely positive most of the time at Michigan, the NCAA investigations did put a cloud over those accomplishments.

The Chargers needed to make a bold move after the Brandon Staley-Tom Telesco pairing completely whiffed before they were fired after a 63-21 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Dec. 14. They had Justin Herbert on a rookie contract for three years before he signed a long-term extension, but they could only manage a 26-24 record with one playoff appearance from 2020 to 2022.

That playoff appearance saw the Chargers blow the second-biggest lead in a postseason game when the Jacksonville Jaguars came back from 27-0 to steal a 31-30 victory.

Harbaugh is a culture setter who will give the franchise an identity it hasn't had in years. The Chargers will have a lot of work to do repairing the roster mistakes from the Staley-Telesco regime, but they appear to have nailed the head coach based on his track record of success.