Bruce Feldman addresses the possibility of Jim Harbaugh coaching his last game at Michigan in CFP
Jim Harbaugh’s days in Michigan could be numbered. During an appearance on “The Next Round” on Tuesday, FOX Sports reporter Bruce Feldman discussed the possibility of the Michigan head coach leaving the program after this season.
“There’s a much better chance that Jim Harbaugh is coaching his last game [than Nick Saban],” Feldman said. “He’s flirted with the NFL the previous two offseasons. In fact, he went and interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings on signing day, no less, two years ago. Then, last year, he was in the mix with the Broncos job and ultimately turned it down.
“They’ve been through a lot. He told me when I saw him in the summer that they were going to break Georgia’s record and have 20 guys drafted off this team, and they’re going to have a lot of guys drafted off this team. The nucleus is going to move on to the NFL.”
Harbaugh is reportedly in line to get $11 million per year for the next five years, according to reporting from Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson. The lone hang-up, Johnson reports, is Michigan wanting “a commitment in writing from Harbaugh that he will not pursue an NFL job this cycle.”
Harbaugh was the San Francisco 49ers’ head coach from 2010-14. While there, he led the organization to the 2012 Super Bowl, where he lost to his brother John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens. Jim Harbaugh left the NFL for Michigan after the 2014 campaign.
Harbaugh has found immense success at Michigan, particularly in recent years. Michigan has won the Big Ten and reached the CFP three years in a row. Nonetheless, Harbaugh’s success hasn’t come without its setbacks.
Issues force Jim Harbaugh out of Ann Arbor?
The 2023 season began with Harbaugh facing a self-imposed three-game suspension related to NCAA violations that occurred during the COVID-19 dead period. After Harbaugh served his suspension he rejoined the team, only for more drama to surface.
The NCAA informed Michigan that it had received credible evidence of sign-stealing operation, one that was apparently headed by staffer Connor Stalions. The sign-stealing investigation quickly became the talk of college football for weeks, to the point that the Big Ten was considering taking punitive action on Harbaugh.
Eventually, a three-game suspension was settled on and Harbaugh missed the final three games of the regular season before returning for the Big Ten Championship Game. Feldman believes Harbaugh’s time with the Wolverines may be dwindling.
“There are still the NCAA investigations hanging over him,” Feldman said. “Jim Harbaugh was a really successful NFL head coach. He is not a guy who, like a lot of college guys, have gone up to the NFL [and failed]. Urban Meyer, famously, did not work well at all.
“Jim Harbaugh proved he can coach in the NFL. He came close to winning a Super Bowl. He didn’t. Everything I’ve heard is that it that would be a direction he ultimately wants to go.”