The contract situation involving head coach Michigan Wolverines football head coach Jim Harbaugh appears to finally be coming to an end soon, though the outcome still remains a mystery.
Will he be signed to an extension and remain the head man in Ann Arbor, or will the potential allure of the NFL be too much to say no to? Either outcome seems just as likely as the other at this point.
TheWolverine's Clayton Sayfie and Austin Fox each provide their best guesses below on how they think this situation will shake out.
Clayton Sayfie — Buy
‘Jim Harbaugh to the NFL’ rumors have run rampant ever since he stepped foot on campus as the Wolverines’ head coach on Dec. 30, 2014. Many on the outside assumed it would be a quick stop for Harbaugh, who was extremely successful at the NFL level with the San Francisco 49ers.
But Harbaugh hasn’t looked around to this point, and he has remained at U-M, proving what those on the inside already knew — he’s not bound by convention (or what ‘you would do’) and he dances to the beat of his own drum.
He’s shot down some rumors through the years, many started by adversaries, and shrugged others off. But, amid recent rumors, all is quiet now, with Harbaugh and his staff working over the holidays to recruit, prepare for winter workouts and add assistant coaches to fill vacant positions.
All the indicators say that Harbaugh will sign a contract extension at some point, and all the signs point to this feeling like a negotiation that may take a bit more time, since it appears athletic director Warde Manuel has "offered" to lower Harbaugh's salary going forward — which is an unprecedented move in major college football. To be clear, there’s never been a higher percentage that Harbaugh explores other options and potentially takes an NFL gig, but I still wouldn’t bet on it at this point.
The four options for how this situation will play out:
• Harbaugh does not sign an extension this offseason, and remains Michigan’s head coach through (at least) Jan. 11, 2022, when his contract expires.
• The two sides do not agree on an extension, at which point Manuel dismisses Harbaugh due to not wanting a coach going into the final year of his deal.
• Harbaugh signs an extension soon (likely a five-year deal), hires a new defensive coordinator and other assistants and silences all the rumors.
• Harbaugh interviews and leaves for an NFL job in the next week.
Again, based on all the indicators — which have been covered beautifully by TheWolverine.com senior editor Chris Balas (read his latest insider update here) — I believe Harbaugh will likely sign an extension at some point soon … but the longer things drag out, the less of a chance he does so. That’s just logic.
All that said, the gut feel and best guess is that Harbaugh not only remains as Michigan’s coach next year, but he signs an extension soon and is in it for the long haul, as has been the plan all along.
I’m buying this notion all the way … for now.
Austin Fox — Buy
No one seems to know how this situation is going to end, including Harbaugh’s assistants and those closest to him. Heck, Harbaugh himself may not even know at this point. It needs to end as soon as possible though, and it’s clear the ball is in the head coach’s court.
Both Manuel and Harbaugh have received immense amounts of criticism from the fan base for the way this entire ordeal has been handled, and while they each probably deserve some, it’s difficult to criticize extensively when we don’t know what’s being said behind closed doors.
Nevertheless, it’s in the best interest of both parties to wrap this up as soon as possible. If Harbaugh were to return, for example, 2022 recruiting needs to become an instant focus, along with finding a defensive coordinator and filling any other staff positions that seem bound to open up.
If he were to leave, then it would obviously be imperative for Manuel to contact potential replacements on a list of head coaches that he hopefully created months ago. The allure of the NFL openings (the Los Angeles Chargers being the best example) was thought to be the main factor for Harbaugh’s indecisiveness, with the Chargers job not opening up until this past Monday.
Football observers — including Harbaugh — knew the Los Angeles job would likely be available for the past several weeks/months, giving the U-M head man time to ponder whether or not it would be a position he’d be interested in if Los Angeles GM Tom Telesco came calling.
It doesn’t seem to be as cut and dry as “stay at Michigan or take an NFL job” for Harbaugh though, with other factors likely at play behind the scenes. Some want to make it seem like it should be an easy decision and it’s only between those two aforementioned options, but things are seldom as simple as uninformed observers make them out to be.
Harbaugh obviously has to make a decision in the near future … unless Manuel makes it for him and cuts ties. At this point, that would not be a bad decision by the athletic director if he chooses to do that, but — and this is only an opinion — he’s not going to go that route.
The most likely outcome still seems to be that Harbaugh will sign in the coming days and remain here, but it’s difficult to say with any confidence that that scenario will actually occur.
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