After winning a national title, Jim Harbaugh left Michigan amid considerable off-field turmoil. An excerpt from a new book provides a glimpse of his frustrations before jumping to the NFL.
Harbaugh served a pair of three-game suspensions during the 2023 regular season for alleged recruiting violations during the COVID dead period and a sign-stealing operation. Facing an ongoing investigation, the head coach left Ann Arbor despite getting offered an extension.
On Wednesday, CBS Sports published an excerpt from The Price: What It Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos. The book by Armen Keteyian and John Talty comes out on Aug. 27.
The extract claims multiple people within Harbaugh’s inner circle advised him to leave Michigan. His attorney, Tom Mars, felt Harbaugh would face a “certain suspension” of half the season or more.
During a trip to Coronado Island with his wife, Sarah, Harbaugh “unloaded” his feelings to close friend Todd Anson:
“He told Anson he wanted to remain at Michigan but believed (Michigan athletic director Warde) Manuel—no matter his public pronouncements—was not the advocate he needed in his corner, particularly in front of the Board of Regents. He also raged against Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who before the three-game Big Ten suspension had promised to meet Harbaugh in Ann Arbor and brief him on what the conference was doing, only to stand him up. [Through a spokesperson, Petitti declined an interview request.]”
Harbaugh’s “tone had softened” after interviewing with the Los Angeles Chargers the next day.
“Leaning toward taking the NFL job, if offered, he dialed down the Manuel rhetoric, no longer interested in a potential legal battle and fighting people he later said were ‘gunning for me,'” the excerpt continued. “It suggested in attitude and tone that his days in Ann Arbor were numbered.”
Harbaugh also told former Michigan AD Jim Hackett, who hired the head coach in 2015, that he was “just trying to be happy.” He signed a five-year deal with the Chargers that will reportedly pay a $16 million annual salary.