The Athletic's Bruce Feldman released his annual rankings of the top 25 head coaches throughout college football, and Michigan head man Jim Harbaugh made the list at No. 22.

Alabama's Nick Saban and Clemson's Dabo Swinney topped the list at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Meanwhile, five fellow Big Ten coaches checked in ahead of Harbaugh, including two ranking in the top 10. Penn State's James Franklin was tabbed at No. 5, while Ohio State's Ryan Day was listed at No. 8. The other league coaches ahead of Harbaugh are Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald (11), Iowa's Kirk Ferentz (13) and Wisconsin's Paul Chryst (21). Indiana head coach Tom Allen rounded out the list at No. 25.

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Harbaugh made three straight NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl appearance as the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-14 before returning back to Ann Arbor to coach his alma mater.

With Harbaugh's triumphant return came championship expectations, but — despite doubling the Maize and Blue's win total in his first year back — his program has not been able to get over the hump against Ohio State in its own division and other national powers in the sport. In his six seasons, the Wolverines have not made the Big Ten Championship game or a College Football Playoff appearance. However, they have won 69 percent of their games — including three 10-win seasons and two New Year's Six bowl appearances — and been on the brink of championships multiple times.

Michigan's seventh-year head coached ranked 18th on this very list a year ago, but a 2-4 season riddled with opt-outs and injuries have bumped him down to his current spot of 22.

"The most polarizing coach on this list," Feldman wrote. "No doubt, his teams have been dismal against arch-rival Ohio State and not too much better against Michigan State.

"Last year’s 2-4 season was ugly — and that was without having to face OSU in Columbus. Harbaugh’s performance in Ann Arbor has been disappointing given the expectations. Still, he is 34-16 in Big Ten play, not much worse than Chryst’s record, and Harbaugh has to face OSU and Penn State every year.

"He has had four top-20 finishes in his six years. The other thing on his resume is he did do a phenomenal job taking what was an atrocious Stanford program and transforming into a legitimate top-five team that won a BCS bowl and finished No. 4 before going to San Francisco and doing some amazing working with what had been a terrible 49ers team."

If one or two of Michigan's bigger games during Harbaugh's tenure ended up with a different result, he would likely have found himself inside the top 10 of Feldman's list, considering his record the past six seasons is actually better than several of the coaches who rank higher.

Not that this set of rankings will serve as any motivation for Harbaugh, who is focused on winning, he still has an opportunity to prove to the nation that he's the elite coach many thought he was in the middle of last decade. He signed a four-year contract extension this offseason, which included a lower base salary but huge incentives for winning titles.

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