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How many college football coaches have left after winning title like Jim Harbaugh did
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- How many college football coaches have left after winning title like Jim Harbaugh did
Jim Harbaugh made history on Monday, becoming the first college football coach to move to the NFL directly after winning a national championship.
When Harbaugh signed on as the next head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers ,, he became the fifth coach in the AP poll era (since 1936) to leave the program immediately after winning the national championship.
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When he arrived, Harbaugh promised he would restore Michigan football to its previous glory after a long stretch of down years, and he was able to turn the ship around in his final three seasons, culminating in three straight Big Ten championships and College Football Playoffs appearances, and a national title in his final game as coach.
Now, Harbaugh will be chasing glory at the professional level with a team he played for during his career. He came up just short of winning a Super Bowl in his first time as a coach in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers , losing to his brother John and the Baltimore Ravens in the 2013 Super Bowl, and will give it another go with a different California team.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh lifts the AFCA Coaches' Trophy during the national championship celebration at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024.
JEFF SEIDEL: Jim Harbaugh's exhausting journey at Michigan comes to an end, even if the story's not done
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If successful, Harbaugh could become just the fourth coach ever to win a college national championship and Super Bowl as a coach, joining Barry Switzer (Oklahoma and Cowboys ), Jimmy Johnson ( Miami and Cowboys), and Pete Carroll (USC and Seahawks ).
Here is a look back at the other coaches who left their college program immediately after reaching the summit and winning a national title.
Bernie Bierman ( Minnesota , 1941)
The first coach to leave in the offseason in the AP era after ending the season at No. 1 was Bernie Bierman at Minnesota in 1941. After winning the last of his five national championships with the Gophers, Bierman became the coach of Iowa-Pre Flight, a Navy pre-flight school in Iowa that prepared students to fly planes in the Pacific Theater in World War II. He coached the 1942 season before being called into war himself, serving in the war in 1943-44. He returned to Minnesota for another five-year coaching stint from 1945-50 before resigning and stepping away from coaching.
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Johnny Majors ( Pittsburgh , 1976)
As the sport grew in the ensuing years, coaches remained loyal to their schools after reaching the mountaintop for the next three decades, until Johnny Majors went to Tennessee in the 70s. After winning the national title with Pittsburgh in 1976 and earning National Coach of the Year honors, Majors returned to the South to coach his alma mater in Tennessee, where he coached until he was asked to resign in 1992. Majors was an All-American halfback for Tennessee as a player and led the Volunteers to three SEC championships in his time. After he was outed at Tennessee, Majors returned to Pittsburgh for a second stint from 1993-96 before retiring.
Howard Schnellenberger (Miami, 1983)
Howard Schnellenberger
The first coach to win a national title and then move outside of the college football world was Howard Schnellenberger, who left Miami after winning the school's first-ever national title in 1983. Schnellenberger resigned to become the head coach, general manager, president, and part-owner of the Spirit of Miami, a USFL franchise relocating from Washington . However, Schellenberger decided not to take the job because they ultimately moved to Orlando, not Miami for the fall 1985 season, and he was replaced by the Hurricanes with Johnson, who was able to continue his success. Schnellenberger returned to the college ranks and went on to coach his hometown school, Louisville, from 1985-94, before a brief stint at Oklahoma and finishing his career with Florida Atlantic.
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Tom Osborne (Nebraska, 1997)
FILE - In this Jan. 1, 1995, file photo, Nebraska players carry coach Tom Osborne off the field after the Huskers defeated Miami 24-17 in the Orange Bowl NCAA college football game in Miami. Osborne is giving up his large skybox at Memorial Stadium, saying the Nebraska athletic department should sell it to someone else rather than have him continue to use it for free. The 80-year-old Osborne coached the Cornhuskers for 25 years, retiring after the 1997 season with 255 wins and all or part of three national championships three of his last four years. He was the school's athletic director from 2007-12. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)
The most recent coach to not return after achieving the ultimate glory in college football was Nebraska's Tom Osborne, who retired at the age of 60 following Nebraska's split national title with Michigan in 1997. After Nebraska finished first in the coaches poll and second to Michigan in the AP poll with a perfect 13-0 record, the Cornhuskers claimed their third national championship in four years, and Osborne decided to go out on top. Osborne spent his entire coaching career with Nebraska, where he began as an assistant in 1964. He took over as head coach in 1973 and led Nebraska to three national championships and 13 conference championships (Big 8 and Big 12) during his 25 seasons as coach.
Left shortly after being at the top
There are also some examples of coaches leaving slightly but not immediately after winning the national championship.
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Nick Saban is four years removed from his last national championship at Alabama in 2020 and decided to step down and call it a career following the 2023 season. He also had a similar exit when leaving LSU, his last college job before Alabama, lasting one more season after the 2003 national championship before taking over the Miami Dolphins .
The man who won the year before Saban's last championship, LSU's Ed Orgeron, only lasted two more seasons after the 2019 national championship and was fired following the 2021-22 season. Before that, Auburn's Gene Chizik was also fired two years after winning the national championship in 2010.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh shakes hands with Alabama coach Nick Saban after U-M's 27-20 overtime win over Alabama at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024.
WHY JIM LEFT: Jim Harbaugh turns down Michigan football immortality to chase a different dream
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Urban Meyer also hit the two-year mark and left the SEC after his second national championship with Florida in 2008. He cited medical concerns as the reason why he was stepping down at the end of 2009, then took over Ohio State in 2011. After Meyer won the national championship with the Buckeyes in 2014, he lasted as coach until he retired in 2018, and then jumped to the NFL for a disastrous half-season stint with the Jaguars in 2021.
In the 90s, two coaches left the ship relatively quickly after winning a national title. In 1993, Washington's Don James retired as head coach two years after the Huskies' split title in 1991. Former Lions coach Bobby Ross left Georgia Tech in 1991 to coach the San Diego Chargers (sound familiar?) one season after winning the national title in 1990. Johnson pulled the same move in 1988 when he left the University of Miami to join the Dallas Cowboys just a year after winning the national title in 1987. John McKay also used the same playbook, leaving USC after winning the national title in 1974 to take over as head coach for the newly-formed Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976. And who could forget Carroll, who won the national championship with USC as well in 2004 and left to take over the Seahawks after the 2009 college football season.
Michigan fans! Celebrate the national title with our two commemorative books: "Blue Reign : The Story of the 2023 Michigan Wolverines' Legendary Run to the National Championship" and "Maize & Grand : Michigan's Epic March to the 2023 National Title" — preorder now to save! You can also buy a commemorative copy of the front page of the Detroit Free Press from the morning after U-M's historic championship victory, and purchase our four-page special Stadium Section .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jim Harbaugh joins short list of coaches to leave after championship
