Jim Harbaugh celebrated his first Big Ten title as Michigan’s head coach on Saturday and praised his team for sticking together after last season’s struggles.
In Lucas Oil Stadium, where Jim Harbaugh spent four years with the Indianapolis Colts, where his name is displayed on the ring of honor and his picture on the walls in the press box, Harbaugh won his first Big Ten Championship as Michigan ‘s head coach. The 42-3 win over Iowa on Saturday was the first Big Ten title for the Wolverines since 2004, and it came after a season in 2020 when Michigan went 2-4 and criticism could be found in every corner. Harbaugh has praised his team as a group that he loves and went as far as saying there is no team he loves more. He said he loves how they stuck together and how this group embodies a mantra etched into the walls of Schembechler Hall. « To walk past the sign we all walk by — ‘Those who stay will be champions » — to make that valid and that true, » Harbaugh said. « For guys to live on, really, in Schembechler Hall forever. I mean, [Aidan Hutchinson’s] picture is going to be up there on the All-American wall. Every guy on the team in the team picture is going to be up there as part of the Big Ten champion. « We’ve got a banner in Glick Fieldhouse that’s going to say Big Ten champion. » Before this season, Harbaugh hadn’t beaten rival Ohio State, hadn’t taken his team to the Big Ten championship game or the College Football Playoff. This team has now accomplished all three with Saturday’s convincing win over the Hawkeyes. The criticism of Harbaugh and the team over the past few seasons about not being able to beat the Buckeyes and not having any hardware in the trophy case, not to mention the debates this past offseason of whether Harbaugh should come back to Michigan, were erased as confetti flew from the rafters and the Michigan team raised the Big Ten trophy.
