Harbaugh Contract Extension
I apologize if this has been talked about Ad Nauseum, but I looked around and didn't see anything in particular discussed since Harbaugh officially returned. What's the status of this? ESPN today released an article about the hectic month of January and it specifically references a contract offer that he's not accepted. If he intends to not leave, why wouldn't he take the new contract? Is there a rumor mill on if he will? Just seems odd given he has a chance to put this whole thing behind him by signing what is likely a fee laden contract that bumps his pay. Just seems odd that he's not moved forward on it.
Article requires ESPN+
https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/33297146/inside-michigan-football-turbulent-month-how-jim-harbaugh-moves-forward
Couple highlights from the article:
There also was the matter of Harbaugh's contract. As the Wolverines piled up wins during the season, the university realized it would have to revise and enhance Harbaugh's deal. Michigan welcomed the upgrade, as the school had initially hired Harbaugh to reach the goals he was now achieving.
According to sources, Harbaugh had not complained about his revised contract after 2020, which reduced his salary by approximately $4 million, extended the deal through 2025 and added incentives, such as $1 million for winning the Big Ten and $500,000 for winning the Big Ten East Division and reaching the CFP. He even garnered goodwill when he announced he would donate his bonuses, which totaled $2 million, to athletic department employees who had taken pay cuts because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sources said Michigan made Harbaugh a solid offer in January, although the school was unlikely to present a deal like the 10-year, $95 million whopper that Michigan State gave to second-year coach Mel Tucker. Harbaugh did not immediately accept the offer, and continues to work under his existing contract, according to a school spokesman.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
Harbaugh is under contract for another 4-5 years. So there's no timeline for this or urgency at all (unlike last year where Harbaugh had an expiring contract within a year). We could hear tomorrow, august or next year for all we know.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
I agree with this take. The only thing I find a bit curious is that I would think the new contract would extend him past the 4 or so years he has on his current contract, and also increase his base salary to maybe something more "reasonable" (compared to other college coaches) like $6-$7M per year.
I would think that would be something JH would've wanted/asked for (obviously no knowledge other than my own thoughts), unless he's looking for additional assurances like increased assistant pay.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:10 PM ^
Yeah the holdup is going to be things outside of the length of the deal and the base salary. incentives, buyouts, assistant pools, support staff figures and structure, travel perks, things like that.
But again, with him under contract for multiple years moving forward there’s no real rush. It’s not like he’s spending hours every day in Warde’s office going over this. It’ll happen when it happens.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:03 PM ^
Good point.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:11 PM ^
True but that is burying your head in the sand a little. If Harbaugh and the administration want to show the world that he is committed to staying at Michigan and not jumping to the NFL then one of the best ways to do that is with a new contract. And that benefit with recruits lessens every day it is not signed. So I sure hope they don’t wait until next year to get it done and announced. There is zero reason to delay this much longer.
February 16th, 2022 at 4:17 PM ^
Extremely short-sighted, if he wanted to put the recruiting impact that the Vikings dalliance had (no matter the size) fully in the rearview he would be signing a contract with a very large buyout - and maybe lots of guaranteed money to throw him a bone. Completely put to rest any NFL teams coming after him for the foreseeable future like he said when he didnt get the job
Until that happens we will see an impact on recruiting as Ryan Day can just say to anyone on the fence "Harbaugh isn't committed to you but I am, I dont have NFL aspirations, etc. etc."
February 16th, 2022 at 5:01 PM ^
Or we could hear about it before I've finished my 5k, which was kinda slow today.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
I’ve said this numerous times throughout the Harbaugh-saga. There is absolutely zero rush to sign an extension. He’s still under contract for multiple years.
I’m sure he and Warde have had discussions. I’m sure numbers have been thrown around. I’m sure terms have been discussed. There’s certainly an agreement between the two that an extension is happening, but they’re hashing out the details and there’s absolutely zero rush to do it.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:11 PM ^
Agree with this, but I'd like to see how his contract affects the assistants pool. Were raises given? How much money went to the recruiting department?
February 16th, 2022 at 1:58 PM ^
Sources said Michigan made Harbaugh a solid offer in January
A solid offer? They need to upgrade that to a strong-ass offer.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:07 PM ^
It was what Day makes and puts him back to where he was...how much stronger does it need to be?
...and if he has the same incentives that he had last year, it would make him the highest paid coach in the B1G if we repeated last season.
February 16th, 2022 at 7:21 PM ^
"Strong-ass offer" was a Will Wade joke.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:16 PM ^
Never believe "sources".
February 16th, 2022 at 6:48 PM ^
I didn't even use the word "sources," WTH are you talking about?
February 17th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
Blue@LSU did..... you were just caught up in the wash.
February 17th, 2022 at 10:10 AM ^
And I was just quoting what MaizeBlueA2 quoted. Don't know why he got all defensive about a couple of jokes. ?♂️
February 16th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
It's ad nauseam, from Latin nausea, from ancient Greek ναυσία (from ναῦς, "ship," so effectively the ship's sickness, i.e. "seasickness")
February 16th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
We need more foreign language references on this board. At the least, it will deter other fan bases from trolling.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:10 PM ^
I'm going to start a burner account on MGoBlog with "Ad Nauseum" as my user name...
February 17th, 2022 at 3:27 AM ^
Nausia in Ionic Greek (or Nautia in Attic), mean seasickness and come from the words Naus/Naut, meaning ship. Interestingly, this is where the term Nautical, also comes from.
The more you know...
February 16th, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
"Sources said Michigan made Harbaugh a solid offer in January, although the school was unlikely to present a deal like the 10-year, $95 million whopper that Michigan State gave to second-year coach Mel Tucker. Harbaugh did not immediately accept the offer, and continues to work under his existing contract, according to a school spokesman."
Only Michigan State gives Mel Tucker a "Mel Tucker contract". No other school is going to offer an essentially penalty-free "I can leave at any moment and you really can't stop me" contract.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:34 PM ^
This is correct. It tells you all you need to know about how Michigan State precieves their program on the national scale.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:37 PM ^
No other school is going to offer an essentially penalty-free "I can leave at any moment and you really can't stop me" contract.
While at the same time binding themselves to the full value of the contract ($9.5 million/year), even if they fire him. Absolutely nuts.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:54 PM ^
What's especially funny about the Mel Tucker contract is that it makes economic sense only if his value to any other program is less than what MSU is paying him.
February 16th, 2022 at 5:57 PM ^
Penn State's contract with Franklin is similar. 10 years guaranteed if they fire him without cause, yet the buyout if he wants to leave is tiny. Anyone who sees the new Harbaugh contract and complains about negative recruiting should look at the MSU and PSU contracts. Each gives the coach an easy way to jump ship (e.g., to Texas or Florida, etc.). The difference is that those contracts demonstrate that the university is committed to the coach (long contracts, fully guaranteed). Obviously, the two boosters at MSU significantly helped, in that case.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
Remain calm, all is well
February 16th, 2022 at 2:30 PM ^
Not concerned, but would think that the gesture of solidifying a new contract (Preferably with a big ass buyout) over say 10 years or so would go some distance with recruits and dealing with the fallout of his NFL dalliance. I know its all theater and empty gesture at some level but 18 year old kids getting negative recruited might care a little.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:31 PM ^
I know we complain about this Ad Nauseam, but it would be great if the post title could include all of the important parts of a headline. I know it's a lot to expect, but please, please, please.
Imagine if the other posts on today's board were "USA men", "Michigan Baseball", etc.
February 16th, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
Which part of the title was confusing to you and nothing to do with the content of the topic?
February 16th, 2022 at 5:42 PM ^
I suspect the issue is the generic title with no actual information - not that it had nothing to do with the topic. Does it mean that Jim just signed the extension? Did he decline it and will keep his current contract? Is this a post to discuss the potential pros/cons of the extension or will there be some new/insider information revealed?
It's like the classic "Mike Jones" etc. post titles. Other than it having something to do with somebody, nobody knows what the content will be unless they click on it and continue reading. Some people don't like that.
Consider the earlier post of "USA men eliminated by Slovakia". If that was just titled "USA men", that would clearly fall under this "bad post title" category.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:35 PM ^
It’ll be interesting to see how motivated both sides are in changing that very low buyout amount.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:07 PM ^
Everything everyone has already said about there not being a real rush plus the fact that a new contract would need to be approved by the Board of Regents and they're a little busy at the moment.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:29 PM ^
Let me ask you guys this (Fellow UM fans), would you rather have Harbaugh coach with the existing contract? Sign an extension? or you don't care one way or the other?
February 16th, 2022 at 3:45 PM ^
I'm not sure recruits particularly care about Harbaugh's new contract, since his existing one is already a multi-year deal. But I'm not in the head of any recruits.
February 16th, 2022 at 4:15 PM ^
Board of regents meets tommorrow for the first time in 2022. They have a lot on their plate with Schlissel,but wouldnt be schocked if Harbaugh has signed a contract and it is approved tommorrow.
Go Blue
February 16th, 2022 at 4:50 PM ^
Michigan Football just announced on Facebook that the two sides have agreed to a contract extension. Don't know if this changes the discussion here, but it was just announced two minutes ago.
https://mgoblue.com/news/2022/2/16/football-harbaugh-and-michigan-agree-to-reworked-contract.aspx
February 16th, 2022 at 4:51 PM ^
Apparently they have reworked the deal that included an extension.
Not much in the way of details.
https://mgoblue.com/news/2022/2/16/football-harbaugh-and-michigan-agree-to-reworked-contract.aspx
February 16th, 2022 at 5:24 PM ^
Nice timing, Poseidon.
February 16th, 2022 at 5:25 PM ^
I left this up here hoping to draw out a 2nd source that they were going to get something signed today but nobody bit. Cumong insiders.
February 16th, 2022 at 5:34 PM ^
