The way to approach this
Jim Harbaugh is the coaching equivalent of a basketball player going through the NBA pre-draft process to see what his grade is. If he gets the equivalent of a first-round projection (a job offer), he'll leave. If not, he'll stay.
Fans should not take any of this personally. That he is expected to accept an offer (if one comes) does not mean that he doesn't love Michigan, or is mad at the fanbase, or insulted by his contract offer, or thinks Michigan isn't serious about NIL, or anything like that. Fans who say these things are projecting. People (seemingly) close to the situation say none of that is the case.
What seems to be the case is simply that, after seven years here, he's gotten the itch to do something else and, quite possibly, just thinks that coaching at the highest level of football may be better than coaching at the second highest level - whether for competitive reasons, or strategic reasons (maybe the NFL is better-suited from an X and O standpoint) or lifestyle reasons (there's no recruiting of teenagers in the NFL). If this is true, there is no rational reason to be upset with him. Frankly, I can completely understand why a coach would prefer the pros, and Harbaugh knows that he can win at that level - he has one of the highest winning percentages in NFL history.
And if things fall through with the Vikings? Then he (presumably) comes back to Ann Arbor. People are worried that if this happens, he won't be invested in his job. Why? When has this man ever not given his all? It seems apparent in retrospect that Harbaugh was thinking about the NFL before the 2021 season started, but that didn't stop him from coaching his tail off, winning the Big Ten and making the CFP.
Another concern: "If he comes back, we might be in this situation next year." So? If we are, it just means that we had a really good 2022 season. There are far worse problems to have.
I think he's a great coach and selfishly, I want him to coach my school for years to come, but if he's happier working in the NFL, who am I to begrudge him for that? I'm just glad he ignored other NFL offers in 2014 and came here to turn our program around. If he's leaving, he leaves the program in good shape, much better than we were seven years ago.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
Don't take this personally??
February 2nd, 2022 at 5:42 PM ^
Wait a second! I expected a lot of people to feel like this, but.....even you, evenyoubrutus?
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
I wonder if he's even the Viking's top candidate?
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
It's gotten to the point where it's almost going to be awkward if he ends up coming back.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
Yup, going back to an analogy from a few days ago, this will be like the cheating spouse coming back to his wife only after the hot 20-something decided she didn’t really want to marry an old man and liked being the “other woman” better…
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
Yes as a matter of fact I wrote about this when he was hired:
it's like pouring over old court documents from your divorce and it takes you back. It evokes memories of that first marriage when you were young and foolish, thought you knew everything. You had run off and married a young European woman on a whim, thinking she would make everything right. She was beautiful and funny and smart and wild. She had a great taste for wine and art and fashion. But very soon after your wedding you discovered that she had a dark side. You had blown off her emotional instabilities as happenstance, coincidence. But over time it grew and your friends and siblings tried to warn you. Your mother kept reminding you that she never liked her in the first place. You had fallen for her accent and her beauty but underneath she was frail and her weaknesses were weighing you down. When you ended it you tried to sue for custody but she took the children and kept them from seeing you, and you were so shaken by the traumatic events that you called your high school sweetheart and had a one-night fling; a temporary bandaid meant to cover up the gaping wound underneath, and in the end you decided to marry her, because if you didn't you might find yourself going down the wrong road to drugs and violence and you were afraid of the person you might become. You couldn't hit rock bottom. Not again. You weren't strong enough to be alone. So you believed she saved you and things were wonderful at first but after a short while you drifted apart. Some nights you slept on the sofa for no particular reason other than to be alone. You rarely spoke. You never ate together. Things just ended and you found yourself in a third marriage in less than a decade. But even now you have found the girl of your dreams and yet you lie awake at night asking if it will ever end, how life can go on. You find yourself bruised and scarred but you carry on, praying that one day it will get better. The last thing your mind sees every night as you fall asleep is Paul Simon singing "I am a rock, I am an island. A rock feels no pain, and island never cries."
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
I thought it was gong to be "50 ways to leave your lover...."
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
Hey thanks! My buddy is in step 2 of this scenario, except his high school sweetheart is a seriously flawed psychological nightmare possessive demon who has him thinking he is worthless....all in less than 8 months. I'm going to direct him to your message so he sees he is not alone. Maybe this will wake him up! Now I just have to figure out a way for him to see this before she does...since she monitors his phone, emails and all texts as well. Isn't that just great?
February 2nd, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
Bullshit. You lifted this from the Danielle Steele novel The Lighthouse in the City.
February 2nd, 2022 at 3:20 PM ^
Disagree. Your analogy isn't analogous.
Most/all the UM players want to make it to the NFL, too. I can't imagine them feeling jilted that Harbaugh took a long look at the NFL, but I guess it's possible.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
As it should be. You don't profess to love something to the point that you would coach for free, and then turn around and walk away from it, and if that doesn't work out you come back and act like nothing happened.
His words are BS, and he should be held accountable. If it means suffering shame, so be it
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
At this point it has to be NFL or bust, right?
I would think he would bark up just about any tree for an NFL HC job if he's turned down by MIN. It would be a truly sad state of affairs if he didn't get what he wanted and neither did UM.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
I don't think so actually. He's above worrying about that. If he comes back he'll be all in for 2022 and we go from there
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Because of obnoxious reporters and fanbase.
Balas should join the banned list from MGoBlog if Harbaugh doesn't leave. John U Bacon's tweets from this morning clearly contradict everything he reported last night.
Pretty sure he was also the source of the "Peppers 2-game suspension to start the season" rumor which Peppers himself had to debunk, and the "Peppers decided to sit out the bowl game", when the program literally had to leak the practice video showing him get injured to clear his name.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
what about UMBig11?
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
I love conspiracies and tracking trolls, that Kolesar99 guy still haunts me, but I wondered if he and Balas were the same. Probably not but it was interesting.
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
Balas is a bit of a slime and so I wouldn't be surprised.
February 2nd, 2022 at 3:13 PM ^
Balas is garbage. He is premature at reporting. Who knows what else.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
He could put this to bed with a press conference explaining his timeline and thinking, assuming he also can promise that he won't entertain any NFL offers in the future.
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
Why would he do that? Does he need to keep us informed of every step of his personal life? Would you promise to never leave your job for a better one or one that you're more interested in as times change?
This smacks of "Jim Harbaugh owes me because I'm a Michigan fan."
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
He’s not coming back. Bridge too far.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:20 PM ^
Supposedly it's a formality and he wasn't leaving without some assurances.
Now those assurances may be "the job is yours, but you have to come to Minneapolis and get the owner to sign off...if he does, or if he truly defers to me, it's your job."
That type of thing.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
You mean, he wasn't leaving to go on the interview without assurances that he'd get the job? To be honest I think he's probably already got the contract signed. My F5 key is in for a long day.
February 2nd, 2022 at 3:25 PM ^
Personally, I'm hoping that Harbaugh takes his shirt off during the interview, talks about switching the players to a milk and steak diet and offers to sleep on the floor in Mark Wilf's bedroom.
February 2nd, 2022 at 5:26 PM ^
I was hoping for a Step Brothers interview fart.
https://youtu.be/8tB7XOE9esE
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
We don't need another thread for each poster's opinion on Jim Harbaugh. Put it int he other 3 threads started today.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
Yeah but my opinion is special and unique, almost like, dare I say, a snowflake…
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^
The days of the career coach staying at one school are way back in the rearview mirror. Personally, I hope he is testing the waters to ascertain his value so as to have a meaningful negotiation with M.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
Thanks for telling me how to think about this. I had no idea how to approach this so thank you for showing me the way.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
FIRE BAKICH!!!!!
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
But a player will always leave eventually. A coach doesn't have to. Him just needing any offer to leave is personal.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
lol. you tell people not to assume reasons why he may be leaving. yet, you assume he's leaving based solely on an itch.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
Can't wait for all of this to settle out. Need to apply the ointment and get rid if this itch.
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
Fast actin' Tinactin will take care of it.
February 2nd, 2022 at 2:22 PM ^
BAMMM. TOUGH ACTIN’ TINACTIN
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
uhhh, I don't think 2020 was his "best effort" but perhaps your recollection of that embarrassment vs Staee and 2-4 record is different than mine. I don't think there was much effort in the 2017 or 2018 bowl games either.
but, 42-27 so that counts for something.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
…from behind, so the victim is unaware until the choking begins?
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:17 PM ^
If he's leaving, he's leaving at the worst time for Michigan. It would be the equivalent of him taking an NFL team to the playoffs, getting to the Super Bowl, and then leaving before coaching the Super Bowl game. Everything was looking up for him at Michigan, and he left, and is taken all the momentum he built in this last season with him. For six years he didn't do much, especially beating our main opponents. But now that he beat Ohio State, got to the college football playoff's, and had Michigan headed very positively in the right direction and with a young, eager staff, he takes off.
I do begrudge him, he professed to love Michigan and would coach for free, and had the team where it finally should have been. He is free to do what he wants, but I am also free to begrudge him, to not respect him, to spit, curse, and look away whenever his name is mentioned
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
This is kind of where I'm at. We finally beat OSU, won the Big 10, and went to the playoffs, and all the while Jim seemed like the happiest guy on earth. It really seemed like we had gotten over the hump and would be competing against the best teams on a regular basis again.
And then he fucking leaves.
If nothing else, I want to know why.
February 2nd, 2022 at 3:21 PM ^
"If he's leaving, he's leaving at the worst time for Michigan." Disagree. Leaving in the aftermath of the 2-4 season of 2020 would have been worse. With disappointment all around, never having beaten tOSU, never having taken the team to the B1G championship game, never getting within sight of the CFP, not ending the season ranked #3 in the country. I have no idea of why you think that would have been better timing.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
How great does Jim have it? Do any of us have the resume and opportunities he does? The guy has endured a lot as the HC at Michigan. We have placed ridiculous expectations on the guy. For the most part, he delivered. He didn't give us everything but he did more than anyone else since Carr left.
He's gotta do the best for him and his family just like all of us do and would do when given such an opportunity.
Thank god we don't have fanatics monitoring our every move. That wouldn't be fun.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
I think it would be awesome to have fanatics monitoring my every move.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:56 PM ^
Marry a girl with bipolar disorder. You'll have a 1 woman fan club / stalker for the rest of your life.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
Huh? I'm not a Harbaugh hater in the slightest but c'mon. He finally delivered on expectations 7 years into his campaign and went through numerous assistants and coordinators to do so. I'm not mad but let's call a spade a spade. Also if you're saying that he's better than Hoke or RR, you are correct and I hope you meant that as /s.
And I agree that we all have to do what's best for our families and I'm sure JH will but this seems very much like a jump he wants to make. Not saying its selfish but I'm not sure the Harbaugh family has much of a say in this.
February 2nd, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
If its a jump he wants to make then maybe he shouldnt tell everyone "this feels like the beginning" and hire more assistants. Dude is interviewing on signing day. Thats a slap in the face
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
We always knew this was a possibility from way back in 2015. It was just a matter of time... We thought the time was last year, but it wasn't. We didn't think the time was this year, but it is. I wanted him out last year, but jumped on board 100% when he was retained. I think he did a hell of a job this year, earning back every bit of respect he had lost, and I wanted him to sign an extension.
But if he wants to go, let him go - no hard feelings. We don't need this next year - college football is powered by recruiting, and you cannot recruit ably with this turmoil constantly surrounding the team (successful season, or not).
Good luck with the Vikes, or whatever NFL team signs you. I will look forward to the boo-fest at Ford Field, though.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
The way to approach it is to accept that the majority of people here did not want Jim Harbaugh here anymore. Reap. Sow. Accept.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
Things aren't always as they seem.
February 2nd, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
Just fire his ass.
Bacon just tweeted that he spent all day yesterday prepping for this interview.
I'm sick of this second fiddle bullshit.
Get him out and put someone who wants to be here in charge.