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Jim Harbaugh: A legendary coaching career, by the numbers

Updated Jan. 24, 2024 8:20 p.m. ET

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FOX Sports Research

Jim Harbaugh has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Chargers to become the Bolts' next head coach. The 60-year-old spent nine seasons with the Michigan Wolverines, leading them to the College Football Playoff national title just a few weeks ago. Now Harbaugh is making his return to the NFL, having spent four seasons previously as the San Francisco 49ers head coach from 2011 to 2014.

With so few coaches having success in both the collegiate and professional ranks, FOX Sports Research did a deep dive into Harbaugh's career, going over his notable accomplishments and accolades from a statistical point of view. Let's take a look:

5: Harbaugh is the fifth coach ever to win a college national title and also appear in a Super Bowl (Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson, Bobby Ross, Pete Carroll).

115: Harbaugh has 115 wins between his time at Stanford and Michigan, the fifth most among active coaches who have coached solely at current Power 5 schools since 2007 (his first season at Stanford came in 2007).

44: From 2011-14, Harbaugh recorded 44 wins with the 49ers — the fourth-most of any coach in that span (Bill Belichick, Mike McCarthy, John Fox).

More on Jim Harbaugh:

• Jim Harbaugh agrees to become Chargers head coach
• What does life after Jim Harbaugh look like for Michigan, and what comes next?
• College football will miss Jim Harbaugh, perhaps more than Michigan will

3: Harbaugh led the 49ers to three straight NFC Championship Game appearances from 2011-13.

60: Since the 2008 NFL Draft — the draft following his first year at an FBS school (Stanford) — Harbaugh is one of eight college coaches to have 60 players drafted in that span (Nick Saban, Les Miles, Dabo Swinney, Brian Kelly, Mark Richt, Jimbo Fisher, Urban Meyer).

10: Since that same 2008 NFL Draft, Harbaugh is one of 10 college coaches to have nine players selected in the first round (Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart, Les Miles, Brian Kelly, Kirk Ferentz, Jimbo Fisher, Ryan Day).

6: Harbaugh led Michigan to a 15-0 record this past season, making them just the sixth college team to go 15-0 or better since at least 1894.

40: Harbaugh led Michigan to 40 wins over the last three seasons, just the fourth team since 1900 to win 40 games in a three-season span.

1997: Harbaugh led Michigan to its first national title since 1997.

1948: Harbaugh led Michigan to its first outright national title since 1948 (Michigan was AP national champion in 1997, but Nebraska was named champion in the Coaches Poll).

4: Harbaugh's Michigan team this year was just the fourth team in the BCS/CFP era to go 15-0 and cap off its perfect season with a national championship (2022 Georgia, 2019 LSU, 2018 Clemson).

1: Harbaugh's Michigan team this year became the first Big Ten champion to finish the season 15-0 and win the national title.

15: Harbaugh won his last 15 games with Michigan, the longest active streak in FBS.

303: Harbaugh's Michigan team rushed for 303 yards against Washington, the most ever in a CFP national title game.

2: Harbaugh's Michigan team is just the second Big Ten school to win a national title in the BCS/CFP era (Ohio State won in the 2002 and 2014 seasons).

86: Harbaugh finished with 86 wins at Michigan, the fourth most in school history (Bo Schembechler, Fielding H. Yost, Lloyd Carr).

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