After a 34-11 Orange Bowl dismantling at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs, Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh wasted little time to look behind that result and look toward next season.
In his postgame press conference, Harbaugh revealed that the Wolverines still had a great season and expressed confidence in the team, saying that “it’s still a beginning” and that things are going to be even better.
“It was a great season,” Harbaugh said. “To me, it’s one of the best seasons in Michigan football, and we were trying to make it greater tonight. It’s still a beginning for this team. It’s where it began last year, and it’ll begin anew this year.”
This comes at a time where the Harbaugh name has been speculated for open NFL head coaching jobs. Harbaugh hasn’t exactly answered those questions but he has taken a pandemic-related pay cut at Michigan and has recently said that he would coach Michigan for free. Now, Harbaugh isn’t actually going to do that but it’s a great quote from someone who has shown that he loves coaching at Michigan.
Harbaugh’s post-Orange Bowl comments indicate that he’s set to stay at Michigan and there isn’t any risk of him leaving for the NFL. Granted, this is college sports and coaches have gone back on their word very often. But if you look at where Michigan is, given the fact that they finally beat Ohio State and that despite the loss they still qualified for the College Football Playoff, Harbaugh might have a point that this is “still a beginning” for Michigan. And if that’s the case, why leave before seeing that through?
[ESPN]
