Daily Beast: Harbaugh worth 60 million

Your last paragraphs are on point. I will be upset if he doesn't come but at least there won't be what-ifs about the offer we made to him. We know who we want and we are aggressively pursuing him.

Outbid every other NFL team unless they go over 10 million. Texas had a massive contract for Saban which would have been worth it if he had signed. Just get it done.

Michigan is in the same place now that Alabama was when it hired Nick Saban. We thought $4 million was a lot for a coach. It was a bargain.

— Tony Barnhart (@MrCFB) December 20, 2014

Anybody else think that because Hackett isn't the long term AD that it is making it possible for him to go all-in on Harbaugh?

Like the OP said, "I am not sure many AD's would have the guts to put it all on the line like this."

I don't know how high a defensible Harbaugh valuation could go, but I assume you could justify a good deal more than $42/$49 million if you really tried.

But I also agree with something I think Tom Izzo once said, something to the effect of: "How many more steaks can a guy eat?" I really want this to not be about the money. 

The "all in" made me think of this in poker terms. We've got a very high straight flush with hearts. Should someone else land Harbaugh, they'll likely have a diamonds royal flush.

Money is not going to be the deciding factor. The guy buys cheap khakis. He's saving plenty.

is plenty. The danger was in coming in too low and making Jim pay a penalty for coming home.

 

Rather than taking advantage of his desire to come home, they're rewarding it. Money is no longer an issue.

Interesting aphorism:  It's only money.

I have been thinking this way for a while.  It would cost Michigan big money not to hire Harbaugh. Ticket sales, clothing sales, and concessions, would increase damaticaly if Harbaugh is hired to the point where it would cost money to not hire him. I think he could be paid 12 million a year and it would still be a large net gain over Mora jr at 4 million a year.

Pure speculation here, but I believe Hackett reached out to Harbaugh's agent within a few days of being appointed AD. What I imagine he told him was, the job is yours and the money will be at the highest level and will include provision for buyout of the 49er contract. In other words, you have plenty of time to think about where you want your next job, we are giving you the best offer youre going to get and we'll wait for you until your season is over. When the season's end became clear, the official paperwork was delivered. And, I believe what Marcellus Wiley tweeted is the truth. Wiley isn't the typical journalism major-turned sports hack looking for followers and retweets. He's a high school valedictorian, sociology major at Columbia (yes, the Columbia in the ivy league) and an NFL pro bowler. I don't see him being interested in getting a scoop. Has the contract been signed/is that legally possible? Yes and absolutely. Harbaugh can sign a contract that is conditional on satisfying any prior contractual obligations, as in the 49er buyout. After the Wiley tweet, my confidence in Harbaugh being the next coach at Michigan went from 50% to 90%.

It's the amount.

It's not all about the money. Jim Harbaugh, you complete me.

And I think Harbaugh would agree, based on everything I've seen of him since he started playing at UM.  There's a point at which a person has enough money to ensure their family's livelihood, and he reached that long ago.  I believe Jim's motivations are far more personal than money, and if he decides that he needs to stay in the pros to achieve his goals, I'd support him in that (though I'd be very disappointed for UM...).  He owes Michigan nothing - If you look at UM's teams before and after Harbaugh, he did more than any other single player to bring UM out of the old 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust attack into a modern passing game, basically forced Bo to go to a passing attack to utilize his skills.  I'm grateful for what he's already done.

That being said, get your khaki-covered ass to A2, Jim.

If Harbaugh took the job, would he immediately be the highest-profile head coach in Southeast Michgian? Detroit sports doesn't have a Sparky/Daly/Bowman/Brown/ right now. Babcock is a proven winner but he's no Bowman, and hockey just isn't as big as the other major sports. 

Nice post. We have to pony up for Jimmy!

They should load this contract up with so many incentives that Jim can write his own paycheck. Something like:

 

5 million base

+250k for each win above 8

+1 mil for Big Ten Title

+250k for beating msu and ohio each. 250k additional for beating both.

+2 mil for NC

+500k for finishing the season in the top 10 of either poll (just paid once)

 

With the playoff system, he could go 15-0 and earn 10 million under that and earn every damn penny of it.