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This past season’s four-team College Football Playoff ushered in significant change across the landscape — and not just with the arrival of the 12-team field that will begin in 2024. Three of the playoff’s four coaches are no longer with their respective teams: Alabama’s Nick Saban retired on Jan. 10 and was replaced by Washington’s Kalen DeBoer two days later. On Wednesday, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh went back to the NFL to coach the Los Angeles Chargers after leading his alma mater to its first national championship since 1997.
The turnover is historically significant. No coach, let alone three, had ever left his school the offseason following a BCS or CFP appearance (1998-2023). The last coach to leave after a national championship at all was Nebraska’s Tom Osborne in 1997.
Harbaugh, who went 86-25 in nine years in Ann Arbor, had a record of flirting with the NFL, so it’s not necessarily a surprise. However, the two other coaches who left their teams following appearances in the CFP were much more shocking.
Saban, who is widely regarded as the greatest coach of all time, rode off into the sunset after the Rose Bowl semifinal loss to the Wolverines. While it sounds crazy for Saban to leave the game after a loss, it was all about pride for the G.O.A.T.
“I don’t look at it necessarily from winning and losing, you won the championship, you can’t win the championship,” he said after the game. “As a coach, you’re always trying to get your team to improve and be the best that they can be, and I think this team probably improved from the South Florida game and the Texas game early in the season as much as any team I’ve ever coached. That takes a lot of hard work. A lot of people being very committed to doing things that they need to do to…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/jim-harbaugh-leaves-michigan-three-college-football-playoff-teams-will-welcome-new-coaches-in-2024-season/
Author : Barrett Sallee
Publish date : 2024-01-25 16:32:05
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