Harbaugh: Title would mean so much to so many

Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff WriterJan 7, 2024, 12:20 PM ET
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- Covers the Pac-12.
- Joined ESPN in 2014.
- Attended Washington State University.

HOUSTON — For Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, a win against Washington in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday would be an “overwhelming” experience because of how many people it would impact.

“It would mean so much for our players, for them to know what it’s like to be champions,” Harbaugh said Sunday. “Just be simply referred to as national champions.

“And for their parents to have their son be a champion, a national champion; for their grandparents to have a grandson; for their brothers and sisters to have a brother who is a [national champion].”

Harbaugh downplayed the idea that he cared about how the win would impact his legacy but acknowledged he cares deeply about how his family would be able to revel in a Wolverines title.

“What it would mean to me, for my kids to know their dad is a national champion and for my parents and my brother and my sister,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the overwhelming thing, just that so many people would be able to enjoy that, be a part of that.

“For my wife, for her husband to be a national champion. For me, not so much, but for everybody else, yeah, that would be huge.”

Harbaugh, in his ninth season as the Michigan coach, has previously been named the NFL Coach of the Year and the AP College Football Coach of the Year. But he has yet to coach a team beyond a conference or division title in four head-coaching stops (FCS San Diego, Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers and Michigan).

Harbaugh and Washington coach Kalen DeBoer took turns during the coaches news conference Sunday trading compliments about each other’s programs in what became an exercise in civility.

Asked about what his message would be to his players if he were to depart for a NFL job, Harbaugh paid no attention to the premise, instead opting to speak to the message going into the game.

“I can’t wait to watch them compete, watch them have at it,” he said. “That’s going to be my overwhelming feeling is, let’s just go let it rip.”

Without missing a beat, he shifted into a quick rundown of Washington, calling the teams “mirror images” of each other in how thorough they are.

“Really feel like these are the two best teams,” Harbaugh said. “They’re the last two standing.”

While questions linger about Harbaugh’s future with Michigan, DeBoer’s tenure at Washington is in its early days. After inheriting a team that went 4-8 in 2021, DeBoer has gone 25-2 in his two seasons with the Huskies.

“I think the team, each win, has been celebrated on somewhat of a level, because I make sure they do that because it’s really hard to win a college football game,” DeBoer said. “But it’s been this really even-keel kind of mentality and just knowing that the work’s not done — the job’s not done — and we’re going to celebrate the win. But the next game’s the most important.”