jim harbaugh nfl blah blah

Things Discussed:

• Seth comes on early to talk Lions.
• Jim Harbaugh: If the NFL is willing to give him everything he'll go. If they won't he's got leverage to get what he wants from Michigan.
• Minter: Gonna be hard to keep him. Has the chance to follow MacDonald's career path. Worth keeping? Absolutely. Please offer him whatever you can to stay because he is incredible. But what can we offer other than money that NFL can match when he's already shown he's at that level?
• Life after Harbaugh? Michigan was the 2nd team to win a National Championship with a majority Black coaching staff (2022 Georgia) and the only one with a Black coordinator or co-coordinator. These guys are as/more responsible than Harbaugh for creating the culture at Michigan.
• Moore (to HC), Clink, Hart (to RGC), Newsome (to OL), Elston (title bump?) are all guys with a greater connection to Michigan than they do to Harbaugh. If Jay was smart he'd stick around too (Sam thinks he follows his dad).
• Need to think about the next 10 years of college football. Where teams are going to offer your backups $hundreds of thousands to transfer and your recruits more to sign. Someone here needs to leverage the school to make changes, and push to change the mechanism for player compensation from daddy moneybags to a share of TV revenue and contracts. How does Michigan compete in a world where you have to recruit your team each offseason?
• If Jim stays is he here for good? No. He's a unicorn; unless he's not having success at Michigan the NFL is going to be interested, because there aren't a lot of Bill Walshs or Pete Carrolls who can have success at both levels.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

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I have informed the guy whose job it is to do the thing I just did. Harbaugh back, hooray, but also this is a pretty weird way to go about informing the world:

I just got off the phone with Coach Harbaugh and Jim shared with me the great news that he is going to remain as the Head Coach of the Michigan Wolverines. That is fantastic news that I have communicated to our Athletic Director Warde Manuel. #GoBlue! pic.twitter.com/3LJzsv4zN9

— Santa Ono (@SantaJOno) January 16, 2023

Ono tweets a lot about the stuff he's doing but as of yet I haven't detected a tendency to self-aggrandize. They're mostly anodyne boilerplate things. The Harbaugh's back tweet stands out, and has caused the conspiracy-minded sections of the internet to wonder if this is fallout from a frosty relationship between Warde Manuel and some combination of Ono and/or Harbaugh. Harbaugh's quote on the matter mentions Ono but not Manuel:

Happy Mission#GoBlue https://t.co/EQ1PksGYBX pic.twitter.com/KNNuYASJWz

— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) January 16, 2023

This kind of thing usually doesn't happen even if there is some tension between the parties. I'd caution against reading too much into it; on the other hand "I have communicated the news to our athletic director" is indicative of a process that the athletic director did not accomplish himself.

You don't have to rouse those who asked to be woken when this round of Harbaugh to the NFL is over, but this makes it sound like it's about to be. Michigan's new president announced Harbaugh assured him he'll coach here in 2023, and Harbaugh reciprocated:

And...uh...Santa is making MGoBlog jokes in response.

I think this new president might work out. Also:

We're all still waiting for word that Harbaugh's signed an extension to his contract that is more in line with his recent performance. It does seem from this exchange that they are close enough that the Harbaugh side no longer needs the threat of the Broncos job as a negotiating tactic. It also seems that Michigan's new president and old football coach are very much having this conversation without Michigan's sitting Athletic Director, with whom the negotiation over the terms of Harbaugh's employment are supposed to be taking place.

The details of that contract renegotiation will matter much. While nothing will stop NFL reporters and rival coaches from reporting Harbaugh-to-the-NFL stories, the term of the contract, and the severity of the buyout, will determine whether Michigan can dismiss future rumors out of hand, or expect two weeks of head coach limbo every new year to become the norm. Insiders have suggested the sides were close on a deal that makes it all but impossible for Harbaugh to leave for at least three seasons, and in return pays him like a top-five head coach, with a competitive assistant pool, strong support for players through NIL programs similar to those of peer institutions, and support for Harbaugh as they shoo away violations from a feckless NCAA that hoped to find a sentient being in 2023 who still takes them seriously.