Comrades,

The death of Communist Football in Ann Arbor, at the hands of fascist manball counter-revolutionaries, has kept me in hiding. I know many of you have been waiting for THE_KNOWLEDGE to weigh in on the coaching search. However, my crack intelligence analysts are convinced that Harbaugh to Michigan is a done deal, based on publicly available information. Here is why:

1. Lloyd Carr's pro-Harbaugh comments. As you know, Lloyd Carr has stated: "Everyone has an opinion, and I am no different. If I had a choice, I would choose Jim Harbaugh. But it will be Jim Hackett's decision, and that is as it should be." This has been interpreted by the capitalist media as simply Carr expressing his opinion. It is much more than that. Carr, being as close as he is to the Athletic Department, would not express his opinion if it was inconsistent with that of Hackett, because doing so would undermine Hackett's search process. You can be sure that Hackett would be pissed if Carr was pushing Hackett to make a different decision than one Hackett would make anyway. In addition, Carr is almost certain to have inside information as to Harbaugh's interest in the job; he wouldn't advocate for Harbaugh unless he knew that Harbaugh was interested.

2. The collapse of the Vegas betting line. The Vegas Harbaugh bet collapsing from 8-1 to 2-1, and then being pulled off the table, is not merely a sign of decadent western gamblers, but of inside information. Jeff Moss of DetroitSportsRag reached out to Sportsbook.ag, and found out something very interesting:

Hi there….our limits for this market were $2k max win per bet. Its a volatile high risk market where the public may know more than us. It was a novelty bet so none of the bets were there sizable, it was the amount of bets that got our attention as it didn’t matter how low we went, they just kept coming in… We’ve been researching it more and more we can’t explain the action other then (sic) someone might know more about his coaching situation than us. We might consider opening it up again, but at this point it’s off the board.

There was a sudden, and massive, bet on Harbaugh coming to Michigan. In the stock market, such surges are frequently, though not always, the result of inside information. 

3. Harbaugh has not quashed the Michigan rumors. Harbaugh was quick to shoot down rumors that he would go to Michigan under fascist AD Dave Brandon. That has clearly not happened in this case. Harbaugh genuinely loves his alma mater, and has zero incentive to harm his relationship with his former teammates and coaches by stringing Michigan along.

4. Hackett has told players that the search will likely be over after Christmas break. The NFL regular-season schedule ends on December 28. The 49ers could make the playoffs, throwing a wrench in this schedule, but Hackett's confidence in that timeline is telling.

5. Everything else we already know. The alienation of Harbaugh at San Francisco; the fact that Hackett as an interim AD has more flexibility to grant Harbaugh broad powers over the football program; the fact that several insiders have described Hackett as a longer-term hire; the fact that Harbaugh is objectively the best qualified candidate by a country kilometer; that Stephen Ross is a strong backer of Harbaugh coming to Michigan.

Even at 2:1 odds, decadent capitalists ought to take the bet that Harbaugh is coming to Michigan. The facts above make it extremely unlikely that any other outcome will take place.

Harbaugh's appointment would, of course, mean the end of Communist Football in Ann Arbor for the foreseeable future. But the arc of football is long, and it bends toward the read-option.