More than a few middle aged adults would like nothing more than to go back to college. Jim Harbaugh, current head football coach of the San Francisco 49ers, knows all about that. He is currently being courted by his alma matter the University of Michigan to come on home. While no official offer is extended, at least none that's hit the press, the Wolverines reportedly would offer $48 million over six years to resurrect a program with more problems than answers. While their rival Ohio State enters the inaugural college football playoff this winter, Michigan is staring up at most of the rest of the Big 10. In Harbaugh, they seek a savior at a place that demands salvation.
Harbaugh isn't the only NFL coach that caught Michigan's fancy. New Orleans saints head man Sean Payton and Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garret are also rumored in the mix. All three have seen relative success in the big show, including Peyton winning a Super Bowl title in 2010. They hardly seem the kind to need to retreat to the amateurs, even though it's widely believed Harbaugh will be fired after this season. But logic would dictate he’d find another job in the NFL, a league that has a storied history of recycling head coaches.
Of course, there are many reasons why one might want to be a college coach instead of a pro one, just like it might be nicer to live in a small town than Midtown Manhattan. Less stress, a better life, or so the logic goes. If the NFL is a meat grinder, college football is more of tenderizer. You can get beat up, but probably not spit out.
But what makes a coach great -- competitiveness, drive, obsession -- are the same things that make the NFL an irresistible ambition. Not taking an NFL job is like a Top Chef not using truffles. You can still make a great meal, but you’ll never know if it was the best. That’s why many of the biggest names in the profession have left great college jobs for questionable professional ones. Like Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz, Nick Saban, and Bobby Petrino, to name a few. And a whole lot have come crawling back. Not inherently out of choice, but rather necessity. Before Saban was a genius at Alabama, he was completely average in Miami with the Dolphins. Same goes with Spurrier, who sandwiched Southeastern Conference successes with a miserable fortnight with the Washington NFL squad. The list goes on, with only a few – Pete Carroll, for example – who’ve challenged this predictability. For many college coaching stars, the NFL is a chance to cash in, as they say. Take the money and run.
But in the case of the University of Michigan, the game seems to have changed, even if Michigan’s sordid offense hasn’t yet. Michigan doesn’t want an NFL reject, or perhaps a rising college star, like they had in just released coach Brady Hoke. They want an NFL coach at the peak of his game. To put it in perspective, that’s like a TV show hiring Brad Pitt. It’s just typically not the way it works.
Of course, the college football landscape – and the TV and film ones as well – are changing. College sports at the highest levels look more and more professional every day. It’s because of better facilities; more media, including eponymous networks; and of course because of NFL like salaries on a college campus, where the head football coach might earn five times what the college president does. It’s upside down economics, even if most college faculty will assure you it doesn’t trickle down. And that’s why the University of Michigan can chase Harbaugh and Garrett and bunch of other guys you’d assume would want to hold on to that brass ring as long as possible. It’s why the wall between the amateurs and the pros is now a dotted line, at best.
Of course, with that comes NFL style pressure. Legacy college coaches are now about as common as cassette decks. College coaching jobs are like a bad marriage – I give it five years, tops. To be honest, it’s why the Michigan job is open again in the first place.
That means that while Jim Harbaugh might be the next coach of the Michigan Wolverines, he’s not likely to be another Bo Schembechler, no matter how good he is. Which is why going back to college, isn’t always as great as it seems.
Keith Strudler is the director of the Marist College Center for Sports Communication and an associate professor of communication. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler
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