Technically speaking, we can't call it a "return," because Jim Harbaugh never left.
But everybody knows better, and that includes Michigan's head coach, then and now, after Harbaugh's pursuit of an NFL job this winter ended Wednesday night without a contract to join the Minnesota Vikings. And after a monthlong saga that kept Michigan's football program in limbo, sidetracked in many respects, right when it should've been full speed ahead.
Which is why Harbaugh, after flying home to Ann Arbor on Thursday morning, would be smart to treat this like a return — a fresh reset, if you will — and not simply act as though it's business as usual, even if that's closer to the truth than most want to believe about college football.
