I didn't think Harbaugh could do it. Not that I thought it was a Harbaugh problem, I never wanted him fired, even after 2020... I just thought it was a college football problem that there was no immediate cure to for a program like Michigan, at least until the playoff expanded.
When you have teams like Alabama and Ohio State, which are basically getting their first pick of the high school litter, taking all the 5*s, and then saying "alright y'all fight for the rest, see you in January", how are you supposed to compete with that? I thought Harbaugh was doing as well as any coach possibly could at a school like Michigan in that second tier. Ten wins and a warm bowl game. Wash, rinse, repeat... Going further and beating Ohio State and all their 5*s? It's not realistic to happen but once every 5-10 years. It should have happened with The Spot and didn't, so now we have to wait another 5-10 years. Let alone winning beyond that, taking down Alabama, Georgia, or the SEC Flavor of the Month in the same season. Impossible.
But he did it. And the fact that he did it despite everything is truly remarkable. He took his 4*s and 3*s with the one or two 5*s, and he developed them. He turned a kid like Mikey Sainristil, changed his position, and made him into a championship clinching corner. He developed a program and a culture that beat Ohio State three times in a row. That beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl. That beat anybody and everybody who came in their way. In 2024, with a four-team playoff, that's beyond anything I could have expected.