If you’re following closely—and nine of ten doctors recommend not doing this—you’ve probably been convinced several times that Jim Harbaugh is going to one NFL team or another, or definitely returning. Balas at the Wolverine says morale has suddenly plummeted($) among the people they talk to. Poor Sam Webb’s “Harbaugh going or staying? What I’m hearing($)” is now on Part 11. The title of that latest edition is also the most ominous: 'if offered, he's gone'
The good news, groundhogs, is that we probably don’t have to suffer through another six weeks of this. SO HE’S GONE? Well, there’s an “if” in there. IF the meeting tomorrow goes well and the Vikings offer Harbaugh the job, it sounds like he’s going to take it. Sam said today that the Vikings have Harbaugh on the top of their list, but that he needs to address concerns held by others in the organization. From conversations with a reader who knows the organization well, I get the sense that “others in the organization” refers to the ownership. WHAT CHANGED YOUR TUNE? I don’t think it’s a slam dunk that Harbaugh’s offered the job tomorrow—I was at 60-40 yesterday when I made my hot take on this morning’s podcast that Jim was going to coach Michigan next year. I wasn’t worried this whole time because we’ve done Harbaugh to NFL bler bler so many times since 2015 that I’ve become used to NFL reporters using his name for clicks and NFL executives wanting no part of him. I think the hidden story of what’s changed is Matt Weiss was able to convince his friend (they went to grad school together at Stanford) and analytics soulmate Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah that Harbaugh is the only guy with a chance to turn around the fortunes of a team stuck in Kirk Cousins hell. WHAT CHANGED HARBAUGH’S TUNE? That’s for Harbaugh or those closer to him to answer. He’s always been a weird dude capable of pursuing one route with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, then reversing course and going just as hard that way. There’s also a big difference between talk in 2016, when he was just getting started at Michigan, and in 2022, after seven seasons in Ann Arbor, a Big Ten championship, a defeat of Ohio State, a playoff appearance, and a young roster and durable young staff set up for future success if the next guy can fill a few holes. I maintain that the 2021 negotiation shifted Harbaugh’s sense of himself in the grand scheme of Michigan. Warde Manuel and the Michigan administration were always behind him—Schembechler Hall does what it wants and Weidenbach Hall does what they can to help, as the saying goes—but it was clear after the 2-4 season that Harbaugh was no longer the toast of the town, or completely synonymous with Michigan Football. Once it got in everybody’s minds that Michigan had a future beyond Harbaugh, and maybe a brighter one, it must have occurred to him too. There was a time not too long ago that Michigan was still synonymous with Bo, and Harbaugh was the natural heir of that program. I think the fanbase has come around slowly on the sense that Michigan is Michigan, a mega corporation with some quirky values both quaint and admirable, and a history worthy of its brand. The Great Man Theory fell out of favor in the History Department when I was getting a bachelor’s from them. Recent events and revelations finally moved that idea all the way down State Street, probably for the better. But if you’re the Great Man in residence as that happened I have to imagine the experience was humbling. [After THE JUMP: A timeline, a staff rundown, thoughts.]