Michigan reportedly offered its head coach position to San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday. That move perked up the ears of Michigan commitments and potential targets with the possibility of a big-name coach coming to Ann Arbor.
Coming off a losing season With six current commitments, Michigan is in an interesting situation, wanting to make a big splash with this hire. When former coach Brady Hoke was hired from San Diego State, some of the top national recruits had concerns about the coach because they didn’t know much about him and didn’t know if he could win at the highest level.
Both of those concerns would not be an issue with Harbaugh, as he is prominently known across the country and has proven to be a winner on all levels.
When 50 ESPN 300 Michigan commitments and targets were polled by ESPN.com earlier this month, 22 said they would like to see Michigan hire Harbaugh. If the Wolverines are able to reel in the coach, it could yield immediate results.
ESPN 300 tight end Chris Clark had been committed to Michigan since June 19, but decommitted on Dec. 2 to explore new options. Clark tweeted that he hopes Michigan does hire Harbaugh and said it would definitely help Michigan to get him back in the fold.
Current ESPN 300 commit Tyree Kinnel agreed that it would help with his and other prospects' recruitment and interest in Michigan.
“Just because of the success he has had. People will believe he can get it done,” Kinnel said. “I think it will help, and hopefully it impacts a lot of recruits.”
Harbaugh wouldn’t just drum up interest among committed prospects or local recruits, either. His national fame would be immediately recognized. He had a lot of success recruiting across the map at Stanford from 2007-10.
In the 2009, 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes, Stanford landed commitments from 21 states, including California, Indiana, New Jersey, Texas, Georgia and Alabama. That would be important at Michigan, as the talent pool in-state typically is not deep.
There wouldn’t be much time left in the 2015 class, depending on the timing, but there would still be an opportunity for his reputation to make an impact on recruits.
ESPN 300 defensive back Iman Marshall, the No. 7 prospect in the ESPN 300, is from California and had shown moderate interest in the Wolverines before Hoke and his staff were fired. Marshall’s father, Tony, said that if Harbaugh were to become the new coach, it could bump up the interest level from his son.
“Coach Harbaugh has proven himself to be a winner at every level. It will definitely make things more interesting [for Iman] if he ends up with the Michigan job,” Tony said. “A visit [to Michigan] was already scheduled. A relationship with the current staff would help secure that visit.”
The elder Marshall said that visit would take place in late January if Harbaugh chooses Michigan.
If a high-profile prospect such as Marshall were to show enough interest to visit, that could create a snowball effect and result in new interest from other top recruits as well.
An infusion of playmakers is needed at Michigan, and how Harbaugh was able to win at Stanford would be promising for the Wolverines' future as well if he was able to translate it.
Of the recruits Harbaugh and his staff landed at Harbaugh between the 2009 and 2011 classes, 13 were ranked as four-stars and 44 were three-stars.
Harbaugh proved that he was able to land big prospects when needed, with seven ESPN 300 prospects signing with Stanford, but he also showed that he could identify and develop talent with lower-ranked players. Those characteristics were two big reasons why Hoke and his staff failed at Michigan.