Michigan Wolverines Football: Warde Manuel - 'Jim Is The Right Man'
Michigan Wolverines head football coach Jim Harbaugh has signed a four-year contract extension through 2025 with revised financial terms effective Jan. 11, 2021.
Athletic Director Warde Manuel said Friday he believes Harbaugh will bounce back from the disappointment of a 2-4 season with vigor.
“I continue to believe that Jim is the right man to lead our program in pursuit of Big Ten and CFP championships,” Manuel said. "Our program didn’t achieve at a level that anyone expected this year, but I know those setbacks will drive the coaches, players and staff moving forward. Jim is a tireless worker and competitor. Following the completion of the season we talked for many hours on what it will take for Jim to lead and get us back on the right trajectory."
Harbaugh is expected to make several staff changes, starting at defensive coordinator. Don Brown was released and has accepted a job with former U-M assistant Jedd Fisch at Arizona, and Baltimore Ravens assistant Mike Macdonald is expected to join his staff in at least a co-DC role.
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That and other additions will be announced at a later date, per a U-M release.
“Jim loves the University of Michigan and this football program,” Manuel continued. “He has been committed to this university, athletic department and football program since his days as a player and returning in 2015 as the head coach. He wants to do everything possible to build a championship football team while graduating our student-athletes.
"We all need to do our part to continue to help in that pursuit as it takes everyone pulling the same direction to have a championship level program.”
Harbaugh said he remained committed to getting U-M back on track after a disappointing season.
“My thanks to Athletic Director Warde Manuel for the trust that he has shown in allowing me to continue to coach the University of Michigan football team, and to President Mark Schlissel and the Board of Regents for their on-going support,” he said. "My additional thanks to Doug Gnodtke, our football staff and those departments on campus who continue to support our mission.
"Over the past few weeks, Warde and I had discussions that have been honest, open, insightful and constructive in moving our football program forward ... discussions that I look forward to continuing over the months and years ahead. We have a plan."
That includes more than just football, he added.
“There is work to be done and challenges to be addressed,” he said. “These challenges are being addressed as we continue to strive for excellence in the classroom and championships on the field, a message that I hope is noted in the language of our agreed-upon contract.
“Thanks to our University of Michigan players and their families who have placed their trust in our program and our goals. All our energy and focus is directed toward laying an outstanding foundation for the 2021 football season.”
Harbaugh stands 49-22 overall and 34-16 in Big Ten play during his six seasons as head coach. He has led U-M to three 10-win seasons and has guided his teams to five bowl games, including two New Year’s Six Bowls and three New Year’s Day bowl games.
Eight Wolverines have secured 12 All-America honors under Harbaugh, including consensus honorees Devin Bush, Jake Butt, Maurice Hurst, Jourdan Lewis and Jabrill Peppers. Additionally, Butt won the Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end in 2016 while Peppers received the Lott IMPACT Trophy, Paul Hornung Award and was a fifth-place finisher in the Heisman Trophy race that same season. Several other athletes have been national award finalists under Harbaugh, including Lewis (Jim Thorpe Award) and Bush (Butkus Award).
A total of 24 players have earned All-Big Ten first team recognition, including four in 2015, six in 2016, three in 2017, eight in 2018, and three in 2019. In the classroom, Wolverines have totaled 224 Academic All-Big Ten honors during his tenure, including a program-record 50 in 2020.
Harbaugh’s teams at Michigan have finished the season ranked in the national polls on four occasions, including a No. 10 season-ending ranking in 2016, when the Wolverines came within inches of claiming their first Big Ten East Division Title and a spot in the conference championship game in 2016. U-M has finished the season as a top-15 team three times in Harbaugh’s tenure.
Under Harbaugh, Michigan has produced two of the five most-productive offensive seasons in school history. U-M has had a top-12 national defense in five of his six seasons and a top-three unit on three occasions, but he has work to do to put the disappointing 2020 season behind him.
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