Last Saturday, Michigan was routed by rival Ohio State  in a 56-27 loss. Ohio State continued their dominance in the  rivalry winning their eighth straight over Michigan and fifteenth out of the last sixteen meetings.  Jim Harbaugh is now 0-5 against the Buckeyes since being hired in 2015. This was supposed to be the year that Harbaugh finally beat Ohio State now that Urban Meyer left, but once again Michigan came short. Not only has Michigan yet to beat OSU under Harbaugh, they have also been completely dominated the last two seasons losing by a combined 52-points. When Michigan hired Jim Harbaugh in 2015 it was expected that he would that he would turn the football program around and get Michigan back to dominance. Unfortunately, year five has come to an end, and Harbaugh has left a lot to be desired. Michigan still has yet to win a Big Ten championship or  even beat Ohio  State, which brings up the question: is Harbaugh’s time up at Michigan?

I think that it would be beneficial for both parties to part ways. For Michigan it would make sense to move on from Harbaugh for multiple reasons. First off, Michigan could save a lot of money. Harbaugh is the second highest paid head coach in college football behind Nick Saban at Alabama. He is making more money than four national championship winning coaches, but he isn’t even the best head coach in the Big Ten East. Jim Harbaugh has done a great job turning the program around from when Brady Hoke was head coach, but for the job  Harbaugh has done, he is not a $9  million  coach. Michigan could spend $5 million less on a coach who could win just as many games as Harbaugh. While he has done a great job it seems that Harbaugh has gotten Michigan as far as he can take them.

For Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan would give him the opportunity to go back to the NFL. While Harbaugh has had mild success at the college level, in his four years  the NFL  he was able to take the 49ers to super a bowl in 2012. Harbaugh may be better suited for the NFL and has already been linked to NFL jobs like Carolina who just fired their head coach. There are other positions expected to open up including: Cleveland, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington, New York (Giants and Jets), and even Detroit. Harbaugh could leave for any of these jobs making similar money, but without all the pressure and expectations that are on him at Michigan. At Michigan Harbaugh’s expectations were to become the best team in the Big Ten, dethroning Ohio State and competing for national championships every year. Unfortunately that has yet to happen and with every season that he doesn’t beat Ohio State or get to Indianapolis the pressure will only increase.

Michigan is not going to fire Jim Harbaugh, and they shouldn’t because he has earned the respect. However, it is time  for Michigan and Jim Harbaugh to part ways. Harbaugh has taken Michigan as far as he can take them and he is better suited for the NFL.