balas: harbaugh briefly accepted UM job in 2011

Submitted by roosterbaan on

i apologize if this had been previously discussed, but balas says they confirmed that harbaugh had accepted the michigan job briefly then changed his mind during the 2011 coaching search. this seems to be contrary to what brian and others have said, which is that brandon never seriously went after harbaugh. 

https://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1718117

UPDATE: brian addresses/clarifies this on the front page in searchbits. 

lilpenny1316

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:51 AM ^

He left me or my wife (I'm not sure since he addressed me as Dear Sir or Madam) a very generous sum of $150,000,000,000 USD.  All I had to do was give him my name, address and SSN and he will wire the money to my account.  Can't wait to see that money in my bank account (also had to give him that info so he could direct deposit the money as opposed to writing me a check -- can you imagine the difficulty trying to cash a check that large?).  Very generous indeed.

JHendo

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^

I disagree.  Batman can always train harder or come up with more gadgets to duel with physically imposing foes.  It's the one that attempt to outwit him with intellect and resources that he has to rely on his skills that cannot so easily be improved on.  There are a few Batman villains who'd I consider a day in the park (Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, etc...), but Riddler is not one and I'd actually consider him one of the more daunting foes.

MichiganExile

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

No. It was revealed during the Hush series that Riddler figured out his identity, that was around 2002-03ish. Bane had figured it out during Knightfall back in the early 90's. Prior to that Hugo Strange had figured it out in the 70's. It is possible that a villain learned his identity even before that but I don't know it off the top of my head and I feel like a big enough nerd already.

Completely off-topic I am so lucky to be married. 

JHendo

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^

...which is causing me to have to correct you unnecessarily, but actually, it's just Edward Nigma.  I don't think there's ever been any mention of what his middle name is, but it would certainly negatively affect the fact his name is truncated name is already E. Nigma.

JHendo

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^

I don't where you got the "Earl" part from, but I just read that occassionally (yet seldomly) he is called Edward E. Nigma.  So, while much more popularly known sans the middle initial, technically you are indeed right.  Mea culpa.

michgoblue

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^

I know that Brian has also refuted this, but given the murky operations of our AD at that time, I guess anything is possible.  Who knows.

Positive Spin:  At some level, JH really wanted the job, and it is possible that 4 years in the NFL may have shown him how much better coaching college can be.

Negative Spin:  When given the choice, JH chose the NFL (even after briefly accepting the job at M).  Getting to 3 straight conference championship games, including one Super Bowl may have only strengthened his belief that he is meant for the greatness that is the NFL. 

123blue

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:11 PM ^

Maybe I heard a different part of the show, but that isn't how I interpreted it.  With regard to Harbaugh allegedly backing out, he said that no one other than Harbaugh, Brandon, wives, etc. knew if it were true or not and no one has ever said anything about it.  He was pretty clear that he absolutely didn't know about it.  When he (shortly thereafter) talked about a coach backing out, it seemed (to me at least) pretty clear that it wasn't Jim.

NYWolverine

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^

Perspective.

The "Greatness that is the NFL" is professionally descriptive (and little else), in the sense that a person who is Great at football becomes a professional, and the NFL is for professional football players. But for a coach primed to decide between coaching amateurs or professionals, the transfer point must be most instructive. You can either make the Greats or you can manage the Greats. But you have to account for the fact that the Greats are a product of perspective, relying on maximizing potential, and requiring intense focus on the same goals.

Amateur goals are simple to unify - play to the maximum of your ability, play as a team, win championships, and everything else falls into place. Professional goals, however, are individualistic, far less simple, and it takes incredible organizational focus and generosity to provide individuals the comfort they desire to unify their goal of winning championships.

At the same time, professional athletics puts you not just under contract to your team owner, but to league management. Roger Goodell. A dude who just made $40M steering the NFL's image directly into iceberg after iceberg this year. 

The "Greatness of the NFL" to a coach who's experienced all there is to experience at both amateur and professional levels is a matter of perspective at this point - and preference - not a goal to be had.

To a competitor like JH - who possibly wants to lead and embody actual Greatness - you go where you can actually BE "Great", and mold and create Greatness. I don't know if that's the NFL for Jim. The Niners gave him his best shot over his run, but it's run its course. Michigan provides an incredible opportunity with a pre-scripted story and the wind at his back. Money is on the table. Nothing about it doesn't make sense.

NYWolverine

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^

Perspective.

The "Greatness that is the NFL" is professionally descriptive (and little else), in the sense that a person who is Great at football becomes a professional, and the NFL is for professional football players. But for a coach primed to decide between coaching amateurs or professionals, the transfer point must be most instructive. You can either make the Greats or you can manage the Greats. But you have to account for the fact that the Greats are a product of perspective, relying on maximizing potential, and requiring intense focus on the same goals.

Amateur goals are simple to unify - play to the maximum of your ability, play as a team, win championships, and everything else falls into place. Professional goals, however, are individualistic, far less simple, and it takes incredible organizational focus and generosity to provide individuals the comfort they desire to unify their goal of winning championships.

At the same time, professional athletics puts you not just under contract to your team owner, but to league management. Roger Goodell. A dude who just made $40M steering the NFL's image directly into iceberg after iceberg this year. 

The "Greatness of the NFL" to a coach who's experienced all there is to experience at both amateur and professional levels is a matter of perspective at this point - and preference - not a goal to be had.

To a competitor like JH - who possibly wants to lead and embody actual Greatness - you go where you can actually BE "Great", and mold and create Greatness. I don't know if that's the NFL for Jim. The Niners gave him his best shot over his run, but it's run its course. Michigan provides an incredible opportunity with a pre-scripted story and the wind at his back. Money is on the table. Nothing about it doesn't make sense.

Moonlight Graham

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^

positive, even though he did pretty much mirror word for word the last two Searchbits, except not refuting LaCornfa. 

If it's true about '11, it was probably something like "i'll do it, but I'm not signing anything because I think the 49ers are going to call, and maybe even the Dolphins" and then boom they did. 

Njia

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^

As in "signed on the line which is dotted" or just agreed in principle (likely verbally) that he would like the job barring a NFL offer?

No deal is ever "done" and no offers for anything are ever accepted until signatures are on paper. Period.

And then, they may still blow up on you. I had a client send a signed contract for services to me this year and then cancel it 2 days later due to budget cuts. His rationale was that, since we hadn't actually delivered any services yet, it was "no harm no foul." The contract language couldn't have been clearer; we were entitled to take the client to court over a material breach. But, since that company is about 100x the size of the one I work for, and we still have other business with them, our sales team decided not to pursue a claim.

RB's Mustache

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:30 AM ^

Jesus, can people try to keep up with what's been posted and addressed already by Brian? How hard is that? If you are not reading Brian's Searchbits, then go read the NFL reporters's BS.

IBD...

ChalmersE

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:32 AM ^

Did you read the same Balas story that I did?  Because the one I read is quoting the same Jason LaCanfora blurb that has been more or less debunked by Brian and others a few times. Balas is not saying it was true; he's just reporting what others are saying.  It would be helpful to everyone who reads this board if we at least got the rumors right. 

charblue.

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^

of certain NFL coaches being in the Plan B picture if Harbaugh were not signed by Michigan. And Brian is right, the report is pure bunkum based on massaging agents for the coaches mentioned including Dallas' head coach who is now in negotiation on a contract extension.

Look how many coaches have sought publicity in the Michigan search just for the economic benefit of getting mentioned. Addazio got a bump in pay at BC, and there were dozens of folks here who expressly wanted no part of his candidacy here. The point for an agent isn't hiring worthy backing, but simply chatter that suggests curiousity and possible interest and forces an insecure AD or GM to offer a pay boost instead.

Actually, Miles has parlayed extensions after the last two Michigan coaching searches. One was due to his own team's NC season and the other was related to Michigan chatting wth him about not being offered.

roosterbaan

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:54 AM ^

i did read the same article

here's what balas says

"For the record, he's [LaCanfora] right about Harbaugh briefly accepting the Michigan job, U-M coveting his brother and John Harbaugh making it clear he wants to stay at Baltimore, and we've reported that in the last month. We also reported Michigan's interest in Payton, at which point reporters like Fletcher Mackel out of New Orleans dismissed it as "embarrassing.""

McSomething

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:08 PM ^

There will be those wanting to burn Hackett at the stake, for sure. But Hackett put the ball entirely in Harbaugh's court here, publicly. There's nothing more he could do to land Harbaugh. These would be similar circumstances (if Harbaugh did accept the job in 2011, not sure I actually buy it), but still not a 1:1 situation. Hackett would still be given benefit of the doubt unless we end up with Hoke 2.0.

davidhm

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^

Sam Webb intimated this morning that two coaches had accepted and changed mind at the last minute on the UM job. Said one was Schiano. He declined to say the other. This might be legit.




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CompleteLunacy

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^

Is it so hard to believe that Harbaugh wanted the M job until he learned that the 49ers were interested in hiring him? How often is one able to take a better, prestigious job for double your previous salary without having to move your family? The stars aligned for Harbaugh to make the NFL jump last time, at the cost of passing up the M job. I think this time it's the opposite...the stars have aligned for him to jump back and coach Michigan, as it is unclear if he would ever have this opportunity again (whereas he is all but guaranteed an NFL gig the next time he wants to coach there in the future, however many years from now).

FreddieMercuryHayes

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^

No, it's not hard to believe at all.  But in my fantasy world, I prefered it to be the narrative that Harbaugh was desperate to come to UM, but Brandon had too big an ego to hire a guy like him.  Obviously, that's not the case.  But if sudden NFL offers changed his mind last time, what's to stop the sudden NFL offers that will come in 12/28 from changing his mind this time.  Clearly we don't know to what extent Harbaugh 'accepted' the job in 2011, or how he was persued and approced by Brandon.  It seems clear that Hackett and UM are aggresively persuing him this time and making it known to Harbaugh.  Maybe that will change things, but who knows?

CompleteLunacy

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^

I always rolled my eyes at the notion that Brandon somehow screwed up by not hiring Harbaugh, which Brian continually has said. It was never a valid reason to criticize the man, IMO. Because I don't think any AD had a chance of getting Harbaugh at the time. Of course, that doesn't mean he didn't deserve to get canned - he absolutely did. But I don't think one of the reasons was "not getting Harbaugh".



And as for your concern, I really think circumstances are so different that they're reversed this time. Last time Harbaugh was considering his first ever NFL gig, the pinnacle location for a football head coach. Add in the fact that he didn't have to move at all to make that jump. This time Harbaugh knows the NFL wants him, and he also know.s M is willing to pay top dollar. I just have a hard time seeing how another NFL offer could blow him away at this point. I'm sure it's possible...but it seems very unlikely at this point. I think if Harbaugh did that he would burn every last Michigan bridge that he has....