How Jim Harbaugh and Michigan’s controversy-filled season still led to a National Championship run

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The noise has never ceased this season for Michigan, even this week Harbaugh was asked about a National Championship ultimately being vacated by the NCAA.

What a strange trip it’s been for the Michigan Wolverines (14-0) this season.

Despite all the noise surrounding the program this season, their biggest dreams are still in sight when they play against the No. 2 Washington Huskies in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday night. However, it didn’t always feel like they’d get this far.

The chatter began in the summer when the NCAA said they would be suspending head coach Jim Harbaugh because of recruiting violations dating back to 2020. Harbaugh was alleged to have met with two recruits during the COVID-19 dead period and texted a recruit outside of an allowable time period. Other allegations included having an analyst perform on-field coaching duties during practice and having coaches watch players work out on Zoom.

To lessen any impending punishment by the NCAA, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel announced a self-imposed suspension of Harbaugh in August for Michigan’s first three games.

“I’ve heard people comment it’s a slap on the wrist — it’s more like a baseball bat to the kneecaps or to the shoulder,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh would go on to miss Michigan’s first three contests, with the team picking up wins in each game. Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy set the tone during Michigan’s season opener, wearing a “Free Harbaugh” shirt before and after the game.

Harbaugh would return for Michigan’s Big Ten opener against Rutgers. In the week leading up to the game Harbaugh addressed his suspension and what the team is doing to ensure no more suspensions transpire in the future.

“I think it’s made me a better coach,” Harbaugh said in September. “As a result, going to implement some new things I haven’t done as it relates to a few policies around here to make sure I don’t ever get sidelined again. Ramping that up to a gold standard.”

Unfortunately for Harbaugh and the Michigan team, that gold standard would have to be put on hold when allegations of illegal scouting by former Michigan analyst Connor Stalions surfaced in October.

Stalions is alleged to have purchased tickets to the home games of future Michigan opponents across the Big Ten and to programs such as Clemson and Alabama. He was also alleged to have paid other people to sit in the stands and record the signals of future Michigan opponents. When this news surfaced Jim Harbaugh was quick to put out a statement saying that had no knowledge or information regarding anyone illegally stealing signals, nor he direct any staff to participate in an off-campus scouting assignment. Michigan would go on to win their next game, which happened to be against rival Michigan State, 49-0 in East Lansing.

Stalions was suspended with pay as soon as the news broke and two weeks later he resigned, Stalions’ lawyer said that Stalions wanted to “make it clear that, to his knowledge, neither Coach Harbaugh, nor any other coach or staff member, told anyone to break any rules or were aware of improper conduct regarding the recent allegations of advanced scouting.”

Stalions letter didn’t take the heat off Harbaugh. Big Ten coaches and athletic directors poured gasoline on the fire and urged first-year Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti to take action against Michigan and Harbaugh. Petitti took action at one of the most inopportune of times for Michigan. The Big Ten announced a three-game suspension of Harbaugh on a Friday afternoon in November as the team plane was in the air headed to Penn State to play in their biggest game of the season. Harbaugh said he found out about the suspension just like anyone else did — through social media — not by Petitti himself. The suspension was unprecedented — coming from a conference commissioner before an NCAA investigation unfolded first.

“We impose this disciplinary action even though the Conference has not yet received any information indicating the Head Football Coach Harbaugh was aware of the impermissible nature of the sign-stealing scheme,” the conference said.

Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore would take over head coaching duties against Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State. Michigan beat Penn State 24-15 and the Wolverines finished the game by running the ball the last 32 consecutive snaps. An emotional Moore with tears in his eyes and a few curse words coming out said he loved Harbaugh and the team won for him. Harbaugh watched the game at the team hotel.

Michigan would go on to beat Maryland 31-24 without Harbaugh and then they rose to the occasion once more during the biggest game of the regular season against undefeated Ohio State, coming out on top 30-24. It wasn’t easy for Michigan to rattle off these wins without Harbaugh, but they did so, in spite all of the suffocating chatter.

“It’s just been like a high-pitched siren. Like a deafening, ear-piercing noise,” Harbaugh said. “And just after a while, you start tolerating it. And then before you know it, just block it out.”

Michigan’s excelled at blocking the negative out and extenuating the positives. Harbaugh returned for Michigan’s 26-0 Big Ten championship win over Iowa, defeated Nick Saban in Michigan’s 27-20 Rose Bowl win over Alabama, and will be on the sideline for the National Championship against Washington. After the thrilling OT victory versus Alabama, Harbaugh was captured telling players the team can overcome anything. And given everything that has occurred this season — it sure seems like it.

Harbaugh and the team are at a point where they’ve heard all the vitriol, they’re focused on what it’ll take for them to win each and every game, something they’ve done all season long.

“It’s almost been an unfair advantage, all the things the team has gone through.” Harbaugh said after the game. “We don’t care anymore. We don’t care what people say. We don’t care about anything that comes up. We just know we’re gonna overcome it.” –

“We proved these allegations wrong,” Michigan guard Trevor Keegan said. “Since it blew up, we beat our in-state rival 49-0, beat Penn State basically just running the ball, beat our biggest rival Ohio State and beat Alabama. What more do we have to do?”

What Michigan has to do is win the National Championship. There will undoubtedly be some who will call it tainted, while Michigan fans will call it fair and square. And no matter what anyone does or says, the team doesn’t really care one way or the other — they know what it took to get this far.

“It’s not going to change the amount of accomplishment and the amount of pride for being on this football team and just everything that we accomplished because we know what we put in,” quarterback J.J. McCarthy said. “We know the work that we put in, and we know that we did things the right way as players. Whatever happened, with all the outside controversies, it’s out of our control, and whatever the NCAA wants to do is out of our control, but we’re going to appreciate the things we did control and accomplish.”

Michigan’s accomplished a whole lot and one can’t deny that they’re a really good football team on both sides of the ball.

The noise has never ceased this season for Michigan, even this week Harbaugh was asked about a Michigan National Championship ultimately being vacated by the NCAA in the future.

“Getting ready for this game and have a one-track mind,” Harbaugh said this week. “I don’t know if you want to live in ‘Rumorville’ or speculation, but we just don’t really have any room to be doing that at this point. That’s done elsewhere.”

On Monday night, Michigan has a chance to prove that despite the controversial season, they are the best team in the country. The national audience has the opportunity to see a team who plays a gritty and physical style of football. A throwback, smashmouth football team that’s fundamentally sound. A team that makes adjustments when they get punched in the mouth throughout four quarters and bounce back.

With all the noise surrounding the program and being without Harbaugh for six of their 12 regular season games, Michigan being in the National Championship game is an improbable feat. Experts picked Michigan to lose to Penn State, Ohio State, and Alabama — yet those teams will be sitting at home on Monday night and it’ll be Michigan and Jim Harbaugh who have a chance to hoist the national championship trophy.