Harbaugh & Belichick Interviewing With Falcons For New Head Coach Job

After winning the 2023 college football National Championship with the Michigan Wolverines, head coach Jim Harbaugh is now looking for new opportunities in the sport.

Despite a perfect 15-0 season and beating Washington 34-13 in the final, Harbaugh faced two three-game suspensions during the season, one self-imposed by the school and the other by the NCAA. In his time at Michigan, Harbaugh led the team to an 86-25 record, along with three straight Big Ten titles and Michigan’s first national championship since 1997.

Most recently, Harbaugh interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons, who, after a 7-10 record, in the 2023 year let head coach Arthur Smith go. Besides Harbaugh, the Falcons are also targeting Bill Belichick, who parted ways with the New England Patriots after a historic six Super Bowl run with quarterback Tom Brady.

With Belichick, there is an obvious resume, going on the most successful run in the history of the league, and the known ability to coach teams with high expectations. Though with Michigan since 2015, Harbaugh also has some NFL wins under his belt as he coached the San Fransisco 49ers from 2011-14. In that span, Harbaugh helped the team to two NFC West division championships and an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens. In 2011, his first year with the team, Harbaugh won the NFL’s Coach of the Year honor, leading the team to a 13-3 record. During his time at the 49ers, Harbaugh led the team to a 49-22-1 record in four seasons.

Aside from the Atlanta Falcons, Harbaugh also interviewed for a head coaching position with the Los Angeles Chargers, who fired their previous head coach, Brandon Staley, after a disappointing 5-12 season in 2023. Harbaugh was previously with the Chargers as a player in 1999-2000 but has held multiple other coaching jobs in California at the University of San Diego (2004-06) and Stanford University (2007-10), so the move back to the West coast isn’t completely out of the question.

As of Sunday, the Falcons have interviewed at least seven people for their head coaching role. Those include multiple defensive coordinators and assistant coaches from the Ravens, Panthers, Bengals and 49ers.

“There is no timetable,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said. “The only timetable is to do this correctly.”

Most recently, the Falcons announced a second interview for both Harbaugh and Belichick, the two most obvious and prepared candidates for the job.