The B1G 10: Hayes: Harbaugh could bolt ... if he plays the game right
Let’s begin with the obvious. Jim Harbaugh isn’t owed anything.
He’s not suddenly a hot commodity because he led Michigan to its first national title since the 1990s. Nor is he in high demand after proving he could build and sustain success over the past 3 seasons, when the Wolverines won 40 of 43 games.
The NFL wants Harbaugh because he has won playoff games. NFL playoff games.
That, and, of course, getting a team to the playoffs.
But for the past 3 years, the toughest part of any Harbaugh return to the NFL has been in the getting there. In other words, the process.
The NFL has one, and Harbaugh — still living in 2010, when he miraculously turned around a moribund Stanford program, developed the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft (Andrew Luck) and was in high demand — doesn’t.
At least, he hasn’t had an interview process for the past 3 years.
Multiple reports say Harbaugh on Monday interviewed with the Los Angeles Chargers, and he will likely interview with a few other teams. As long as those interviews don’t go like a 2022 interview with the Vikings — when Harbaugh showed up and essentially said, “My resume is in the San Francisco 49ers record book” — he’ll find a way back into the league, and Michigan will be looking for a new coach.
But there’s a lot of green left in that gimme putt.
Because the one leverage Harbaugh does have is with Michigan, which desperately wants to keep its most famous alum for as long as Harbaugh wants. If you don’t believe that, just look how the university has all but ignored the NCAA’s 2 — 2!! — ongoing investigations into Harbaugh and the program.
It was a year ago when Michigan president Santa Ono had to publicly step between Harbaugh and AD Warde Manuel — on Twitter, no less — to let everyone know that he was taking control of the situation while Harbaugh was flirting with the NFL’s Broncos. And that Michigan wanted Harbaugh around, no matter what.
In other words, “I don’t care what friction there is between Harbaugh and Manuel — or who started what, or how it evolved — all I care about is keeping Harbaugh.” In hindsight, a brilliant move by Ono.
It brought Michigan a national title, and it has now given Harbaugh more leverage than he has ever had. Manuel and Ono will do whatever Harbaugh wants, and right now, Harbaugh wants Michigan to wait until he interviews with NFL teams to see which could possibly fit.
But has Harbaugh learned from the “virtual” interview with the Broncos, and the 2022 interview with the Vikings? An interview one NFL source told Saturday Tradition was “a train wreck from the jump. No one is going to beg Jim Harbaugh to take 1 of 32 jobs on the planet”?
Not last year or the year before, anyway. Now, when so many franchises — some legacy franchises — are struggling to win, the leverage (again) could be swinging toward Harbaugh.
The Patriots, after finally decoupling from legendary coach Bill Belichick, are looking for a coach. So are 7 others: Chargers, Falcons, Titans, Panthers, Raiders, Seahawks and Commanders.
Then there’s the Cowboys, the NFL’s biggest and baddest franchise. The SEC of the NFL.
Dallas owner Jerry Jones still hasn’t made a decision on coach Mike McCarthy, but if he does, there’s little doubt Harbaugh will be high on the list of potential replacements. Jones, 81, has publicly said in the past that he wants to win now because his age has become part of the equation.
Jones doesn’t have time to wait on a rebuild. He needs a coach who has proven he can win playoff games, and maybe the Super Bowl.
Harbaugh led the 49ers to 3 straight NFC Championship Games from 2011-13, and to the Super Bowl in 2013, where they lost to brother John Harbaugh’s Ravens. In his 4th season, the 49ers were 8-8, and Harbaugh eventually lost a power/control struggle with GM Trent Baalke.
Days later, Harbaugh arrived at Michigan to change the fortunes of his alma mater. It took 7 years to win the Big Ten, and 9 years to win a Playoff game — and eventually the national title.
There couldn’t be a better time to make the move back to the NFL. Harbaugh has elevated Michigan to the elite of college football, and there’s one professional mountain remaining to climb: winning the Super Bowl.
He could stay at Michigan and coach through another contract, but that NFL void will never go away. He was thisclose the last time he coached in the NFL, and it wasn’t the salary cap or the lack of a franchise quarterback (he won big with Colin Kaepernick) that ended things.
It was a clash of personalities. Sound familiar?
Jim Harbaugh isn’t owed anything. The sooner he understands that, the quicker he gets back to the NFL.
If that’s truly what he wants.