Who will Michigan hire if Jim Harbaugh leaves for the NFL?

Jim Harbaugh did everything Michigan fans had hoped the former Wolverines star quarterback would do when he returned to Ann Arbor to take over his alma mater's football program. He ended hated arch-rival Ohio State's dominance in their series and turned it around; he made Michigan the bully of the Big Ten; and then led Michigan to its first national title in nearly 30 years.

And now it's not surprising that after three years of flirting with his return to the NFL, Harbaugh is meeting with NFL teams again. He starts Monday with a meeting with the Los Angeles Chargers, raising the very real possibility that he will now leave behind a storied program and one of the best jobs in college sports. If he leaves, who could Michigan turn to next?

The obvious path

That would be encouraging Wolverines offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore.

Moore has emerged as a strong candidate, especially after the last month of the regular season. The 37-year-old is still young, but he proved more than capable of the job when he stepped in late in the 2023 season to coach Michigan after the Big Ten suspended Harbaugh during the toughest stretch of the Wolverines' schedule. Moore led the team to a top-10 win over Penn State in a very hostile environment, leading the road trap game against Maryland and then continuing Michigan's dominance over the Buckeyes. The team loves Moore; spend some time with the program and you'll see that its impact is significant.

“I was pretty close to leaving,” offensive lineman Trevor Keegan, one of the team's leaders, told me about an hour after Michigan won the national title. “The recruitment process is dangerous. Everyone tells you how good you are. That you start as a freshman. As an 18-year-old kid, I wasn't the most mature man. I wasn't playing. I stopped playing football a bit. Entering Schembechler Hall was quite a hurdle for me. Coach Moore came in and changed my whole outlook on life and football. He made me fall in love with football again. I can't thank him enough. He's just a guy who puts his head down and works too. He started here as a tight ends coach and now he's an OC and he's getting head coaching offers.”

Moore, who was born in Kansas and played at Oklahoma, is beloved by his players and his coaching colleagues. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get the job. There have been some relatively similar situations to point out – most notably Ryan Day taking over at Ohio State after Urban Meyer left for the NFL and Marcus Freeman taking over at Notre Dame after Brian Kelly left for LSU. The day is 56-8, although Buckeye fans are not happy with the losing streak against Michigan these days. Freeman is 19-8 and it's a little too early to really get a sense of whether this was the right move for the Irish. Continuity and how the players felt about the move were big factors, but both needed to grow into the jobs.

However, the overall results of major jobs promoted from within after the head coach leaves are largely positive.

Florida State promoted Jimbo Fisher after Bobby Bowden retired, and it worked out very well for the Seminoles: Fisher led them to a national title. Stanford promoted David Shaw after Harbaugh left for the NFL a decade ago. That also worked out well, although the program later declined under Shaw. Bret Bielema took over from Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin and that went well. Lincoln Riley took over for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and the Sooners continued to win at a very high level.

Chip Kelly took Oregon to another level after Mike Bellotti resigned, and then Mark Helfrich took the Ducks to the national title game, although the Ducks folded shortly thereafter. Conversely, Bob Davie's acquisition of Lou Holtz at Notre Dame a generation ago didn't go so great (one top-20 season in five years). Jimmy Lake also didn't get a promotion after Chris Petersen retired from Washington a few years ago.

The only thing that might give the Michigan CEO some peace is if Moore is connected to the ongoing NCAA investigation into the sign-stealing scandal. If the investigation shows that Moore — who is not involved in the scheme — was involved in some way, Michigan may want to start over with a clean slate.

External candidates

Lance Leipold from Kansas has worked wonders in Lawrence. He won six national titles in Division III at Wisconsin-Whitewater, led Buffalo – one of the toughest FBS jobs – to the Top 25 and then resurrected Kansas, the worst Power 5 program. The Jayhawks went from 2-10 to 6-7 to 9-4 in three seasons. They were ranked No. 23 in the final AP poll of the 2023 season, beating Oklahoma for the first time in a generation. The 59-year-old has roots in the Midwest and grew up in Wisconsin. He knows how to build a culture, play physical football and do much more with less. Kansas had not won more than three games in a season in 11 years before Leipold arrived.

The fact that he's still in Lawrence should make Kansas the biggest winner of the coaching carousel of the year so far. The Athletics reported Sunday that Leipold withdrew from Washington's head coaching search before Jedd Fisch was hired.

Chris Klieman of Kansas State, like Leipold, came from big wins in the lower football divisions. He won four FCS titles at North Dakota State. The 56-year-old led the Wildcats to the Big 12 title in 2022, going 10-4. This past year, the Wildcats were 9-4 and recorded a second consecutive top-20 finish. Klieman has a good situation at K-State under athletic director Gene Taylor, who he previously worked with, but the opportunity to jump to a better-funded, blue-blood program in the Big Ten could be very tempting.

LSU Brian Kelly jumped from South Bend to Baton Rouge to try to improve his chances of winning a national title. Kelly had an impressive debut season in Baton Rouge in 2022, going 10-4 and winning the SEC West. This past season, expectations were much higher and the Tigers went 10-3, but it felt disappointing considering they had Heisman winner Jayden Daniels at quarterback and a lot of key players in the backfield. They were terrible on defense, were blown out by Florida State in the opener, gave up 55 in a loss to Ole Miss and had just one win over a ranked opponent, Missouri.

Kelly, 62, is a very good coach, but the bar in Baton Rouge is incredibly high. The last three coaches there all won national titles. If you make a 12-team College Football Playoff but don't win a title, that's not enough. The relationship with him in Louisiana seemed strange, even bizarre, from the moment he arrived. He now has to overhaul his coaching staff. Top recruits still want to come to LSU, but I've heard a lot of talk that if he could get into Michigan, he'd probably go for it. Kelly spent nearly two decades at Michigan State while coaching at Grand Valley State. How attractive would he be compared to Michigan's other options? I'm a little skeptical at this point.

Harbaugh may not have been for everyone, but all the people in Michigan – especially his players – love him for his authenticity. With Kelly, it seems like you're talking about the opposite.

(Top photo of Sherrone Moore: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)