Jim Harbaugh named one of best college football coaches in past 20 years by ESPN

Jim Harbaugh's tenure at Michigan, which spanned from 2015 to 2023 and ended with three Big Ten titles and a national championship, will be forever engraved in the heads of Wolverines' fans considering the overall success the program had under his watch.

While Harbaugh is now in the NFL with the LA Chargers, his name came up in the college football world via an recent article from ESPN's Bill Connelly, which ranked the best college football coaches over the past 20 years.

Connelly put together a formula that ranked both the overall quality of a team paired with the quality relative to the expectations of the job for each coach during their tenures. The list included both active and former coaches who have headed programs at any period in the past two decades, with a minimum of nine years coaching.

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Ranking the coaches in this manner allowed Connelly to come up with a weighted average to rank the best coaches when combining SP+ averages (a rating system created by Connelly that measures efficiency and is used to predict a team's performance) along with performance vs. historic baseline averages (used to measure a program's expectations).

When combining the metrics, Harbaugh checks in at No. 6 on the list, one spot behind Urban Meyer and five spots behind Nick Saban, who is ranked No. 1. James Franklin of Penn State checked in at No. 8 on the list.

Along with bringing the Wolverines the three Big Ten titles and the coveted national championship, Harbaugh won 89 total games while with the program compared to 25 losses for a .781 winning percentage with the Maize and Blue.

The entire top 20 includes:

1. Nick Saban

2. Chris Peterson

3. Kirby Smart

4. Gary Pinkel

5. Urban Meyer

6. Jim Harbaugh

7. Bob Stoops

8. James Franklin

9. Les Miles

10. Dabo Swinney

11. Art Briles

12. Bobby Petrino

13. Steve Spurrier

14. Dan Mullen

15. Gary Patterson

16. Mark Richt

17. Lane Kiffin

18. Brian Kelly

19. Jimbo Fisher

20. Mack Brown

May 20, 2025; El Segundo, CA, USA; Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh looks on during offseason workouts at The Bolt. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Jim Harbaugh named one of best college football coaches in past 20 years by ESPN

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