Jim Harbaugh revealed over the weekend that when it came to leaving Michigan for the Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL team offered something he could not get in college football. The ability to chase a Super Bowl trophy.
Last week, shockwaves were sent through the football world when Jim Harbaugh decided to walk away from the University of Michigan and take his talents back to the NFL with the Chargers. The move took one of the best coaches in the sport out of the college ranks and dropped him into a highly competitive AFC West starting next season.
Since the news, there has been a lot of speculation about what finally made the former San Francisco 49ers coach decide to go back to the NFL after years of rumors that never became a reality. Some believe it was all about the money, others feel the Chargers offered a better opportunity than rival teams due to having a young franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert.
Furthermore, a report last week suggested Los Angeles made concessions other teams wouldn’t, and that was the real difference maker.
Jim Harbaugh on decision to leave Michigan: ‘There’s no Lombardi trophy in college football’
However, in an interview on Sunday, Harbaugh claimed it all boiled down to the ability to win a Super Bowl title while he still has the “sand left in the hourglass” to chase an NFL championship.
“I love Michigan, but I love the NFL too. There’s no Lombardi in college football,” he told CBS on Sunday. “I’ve got so many sands left in the hourglass, and I want to take a crack at that.”
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Jim Harbaugh tallied a 44-19 record as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and took the team to the 2012 Super Bowl. However, in the big game, he came up short to his brother John and the Baltimore Ravens, 34-31. The Ravens came just short of reaching the Super Bowl again this year, while the 49ers will be battling the Chiefs in the 58th edition of the game.
The legendary head coach went 89-25 as the leader of the Michigan Wolverines program during a tenure that began in 2015.