The national championship "rematch" between Michigan football and Washington will serve less as a reunion and more as a meet-and-greet.
A combined 23 Wolverine and Huskies players were drafted in the 2024 NFL Draft, while both coaching staffs from the national championship are now mostly gone. The most significant exits were former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh 's move to the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers and former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer's move to Alabama following Nick Saban's retirement.
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When No. 10 Michigan (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) squares off with Washington (3-2, 1-1) at Husky Stadium in Seattle at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, it'll mark the conference matchup debut for the programs, but also two mostly new teams from the 2023 national championship game.
The Wolverines are coming off a 27-24 victory over Minnesota, while Washington lost a tough road game to Rutgers 21-18 after traveling 2,402 air miles.
Here's a look at where Harbaugh and DeBoer are now ahead of the Michigan-Washington 2023 college football national championship:
Where is Jim Harbaugh?
Rumors of Harbaugh leaving for the NFL had been rampant in Ann Arbor for years. But following the 2023 national championship, those rumors finally came to fruition, as he took the Los Angeles Chargers head coaching gig, drawn by the presence of a franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert.
Harbaugh has a career record of 128–45 as a college football coach, with stops at Michigan and Stanford, including an 86-25 mark at his alma mater, UM. He has a career record of 46–19–1 in the NFL. In 2024, Harbaugh and the Chargers are off to a 2-2 start following a 17-10 loss to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Harbaugh, 60, played 14 years in the NFL as a quarterback and has been a coach since 1994, when he started serving as an unpaid assistant coach for Western Kentucky under his father, Jack, while still playing in the league. Harbaugh has been a head coach at the college level for 16 years and the NFL for five.
Where is Kalen DeBoer?
DeBoer was the Washington football coach for two seasons, posting a 25-3 record, including a 14-1 record in 2023. Following the retirement of legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban, UA athletics director Greg Byrne quickly placed DeBoer atop the wish list for the next Crimson Tide coach. Saban retired on Wednesday, Jan. 10, and DeBoer was hired on Friday, Jan. 12.
In his first nine seasons as a head coach, DeBoer had a 104-12 record, including stops at Sioux Falls, Fresno State and Washington. The winning has not stopped at Alabama for the Milbank, South Dakota native. DeBoer has won his first four games at Alabama, including a 41-34 win over then-No. 1 Georgia last Saturday.
At 49 years old, DeBoer could be the Crimson Tide coach for a while as long as he keeps winning and enjoys the job.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Where are Jim Harbaugh, Kalen DeBoer? What to know of 2023 national championship coaches
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