jim harbaugh inspires hot takes

[Patrick Barron]

The short version is I don't know anything. But I can't focus on UFR, and threw out a Neck Sharpies, and already updated my starts and snaps data for the year, so we might as well talk about it.

What's the evidence that Harbaugh is pursuing NFL jobs?

Credible reporters say so. Bruce Feldman reported "multiple sources close to Jim Harbaugh" believe he would take an NFL coaching job if it was offered. One source used the "done deal" phrasing.

Feldman is a guy we are pretty sure Harbaugh or at least his staff have a strong rapport with.

John U Bacon has a source who says it's serious, and has to do with frustration with college football:

Carolina Panthers beat reporters are pretty sure Harbaugh spoke with their owner.

That is more than enough smoke to take seriously. I do not believe these reporters would lie, or use sources who might lead them astray. Harbaugh is taking NFL calls.

[After THE JUMP: Evidence to the contrary, what does your heart tell you?]

Who said that? [Patrick Barron]

In case you got milk-faced last night before the news broke, or took in so much afterwards that you don’t remember, Harbaugh’s meeting with the Minnesota Vikings about their head coaching position did not end, as we all expected, with him taking the job. Adam Schefter broke the news that Harbaugh had radioed home to say he’s coming back to coach Michigan in 2022. Candidate tabs were closed. Goodbye posts were left in the land where the unpublished Hello posts roam.

Harbaugh gave all of his staff the week off before he departed for Minneapolis, so those hoping for news or a quick resolution to all of this are going to be disappointed. I know you all have questions, though, so let’s go over what we can.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE TWIN CITIES LAST NIGHT?

Host USMNT dominated, and I mean DOMINATED Honduras in their World Cup Qualifier match that ended 3-0 and could easily have been 6-0. The game was played in frigid conditions (-15 wind chill factor) that might get them in hot water with FIFA, but if the Peruvians can schedule matches in an Incan mountain fortr—

I MEAN WITH HARBAUGH AND THE VIKINGS (but go go USA!)

Oh, nobody really knows outside of the room where it happened, and when they went their separate ways everybody’s best interest was to have others believe it was they who ended the talks. The Vikings’ ESPN reporter, whose sources are naturally coming from the front office, quickly put it out there that the franchise was turned off by Harbaugh walking in like it’s a done deal. That report does not jive at all with what Sam Webb reported before the meeting, which is that Harbaugh was preparing for the meeting by drilling on analytics with QB coach Matt Weiss. Given the timing, I interpreted this tweet from Harbaugh’s son as targeted at the ESPN report.

Everyone back home—including here—at least thought there was a better chance than not that Harbaugh was going to be gone this morning. Clearly, as reported everywhere, he told his staff and players that he was going to take the job if offered before he got on the plane. They knew little more than that through the whole process (except Matt Weiss, since he was involved). It wasn’t much of a jump to get from there to “he’s gone.” I figured the Vikings wouldn’t have bothered to meet with such a high-profile person in-person if they weren’t serious. Webb reported that new Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had Harbaugh 1st on his list, but needed to convince ownership.

But there’s a big jump between “We who know little think you will offer him the job” and “He will be offered the job.” Webb mentioned the ownership thing; I had a reader email me earlier in the week surprised that the Vikings were involved because a Michigan donor who doesn’t like Harbaugh is one of their owners. John U. Bacon had more than one source, and identified the minority owner by name:

That jibes with what Sam wrote yesterday: That the Vikings meeting wasn’t a perfunctory consummation/announcement, but a chance for Adofo-Mensah, Harbaugh, and go-between Matt Weiss to make their case that Harbaugh’s reputation of being difficult to work with was a Trent Baalke thing more than a Harbaugh thing, Stapleton making the case that Harbaugh is a ninny foo-foo with poopy pants, and the Wilfs presiding. I get why a Michigan fan might look at that scenario and think Team Foo-Foo Poopy Pants was outgunned by the new GM, but if long Lions fandom has taught me anything it’s that if an NFC North team’s decision-making and rationality ever find each other, it was by pure dumb luck.

The simplest explanation is that TFFPP weren’t convinced on Harbaugh, while everyone in the search committee could agree on Rams OC Kevin O’Connell, who will be officially named after the Super Bowl. My own pet theory is that the Wilfs hired Adofo-Mensah intending to take their franchise in a Moneyball direction (like the Rams), and were surprised to find themselves sitting opposite the most football guy on the planet. You and I know that fullbacks and sideline emoting is the least part of James Joseph Harbaugh, but how much of that comes across in a sit-down?

That’s hardly the end of plausible scenarios, or factors. The Wilfs and Harbaugh might have simply not hit it off. Or Harbaugh could have taken a closer look at the cap situation in Minnesota, where Kirk Cousins has a hit of $45M for this year, and needed a level of commitment to rebuilding that the front office wasn’t willing to grant him. Right now they’re a bad team without a quarterback, trapped in a long-term deal for an expensive RB facing charges for assaulting his girlfriend, and still need to shed $15 million to get under the cap.

Also, if it hasn’t happened already, we’re probably going to see a report in the near future, originating from our team, that suggests the decision was Harbaugh’s. That too will probably be mostly false, a show for those who want to believe that Harbaugh had his Bo/Texas A&M moment.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The two most pressing matters are contracts for Harbaugh and his staff, and hiring a defensive coordinator. I’ll go back to writing those soon now that all the head coach possibility tabs are closed. Fare thee well, Harold Goodwin. The “jim harbaugh nfl but for real” site tag still has zero articles in it.

[After THE JUMP: Good coaches, bad information.]

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Spring the 4th: a little different than Spring the 1st. [photo: Eric Upchurch]

As fans of Kansas, Villanova, and Loyola-Chicago have informed me, Michigan is the only Final Four team that fields an FBS football program, let alone a hockey program, putting us in the unique position of reading tea leaves and entrails from spring practice at the same time that two real life championships are a pair of actual real life games away.

--------THIS IS YOUR FRIENDLY MGOBLOG REMINDER THAT YOU DO IN FACT NEED TO BREATHE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE AND SHOULD PROBABLY DO SO NOW--------

The general form of this annual exercise is the fans go in hoping to hear certain things, and then pressers, videos and the odd practice insiders confirm, ignore, or dodge them with miniscule data. So I’m trying this in a new, more spring-reflective format.

New Harbaugh:

What we want to hear: Depends if you’re a Patton guy or an Eisenhower guy.

What we’ve heard: Harbaugh’s gone Eisenhower.

The players have noticed a change in their coach in large part because he sought input from them after the bowl game that capped an 8-5 season. He held a team meeting in January after the bowl game, and they shared their feelings.

“We had a sour taste in our mouth,” Higdon said. “I did, he did, everybody in this facility. He was open, (saying) ‘What do we need to do? What can I do?’ How often do you see that from a coach, asking his players? That’s stronger than anything.”

What it means: We’re picking through pabulum here. There was a sense coming from outside Schembechler Hall that Harbaugh was doing more face guy/program ambassador work, but he does all those things in the time that he’s literally not allowed to spend with his players. From the players’ responses though it does seem he’s been less aloof.

What it probably means is the coaching staff is taking last year’s failings seriously, and they’re trying to emphasize to the fans that they’re doing so.

Also Jim’s going to be a grandpa soon.

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[After THE JUMP: Stop me if you’ve heard this before but the defense sounds way more optimistic than the offense]

--------ALSO THIS IS ANOTHER FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT YOUR BLOOD DOES NEED OXYGEN AND YOU SHOULD PUT SOME OF THAT IN YOUR LUNGS RIGHT NOW--------