ESPN analyst provides latest intel on Jim Harbaugh talks with Vikings

Michigan finally got over the hump after seven years with head coach Jim Harbaugh. They finally got the desired win against arch-rival Ohio State, won the Big Ten for the first time since 2004, and made the College Football Playoff.

But nobody seems to be talking about that.

Instead, talks of Harbaugh leaving Ann Arbor in favor of the NFL have dominated the headlines. According to NFL reporter Tom Pelissero, the head coach will be traveling on Wednesday to interview for the Minnesota Vikings open position.

ESPN college football analyst Pete Thamel gave the latest intel on the situation. He said if the Vikings do not come to fruition for Harbaugh, there could be some questions about where he stands with the Wolverines.

“I mean, what a fascinating scenario we’re in right now with Jim Harbaugh,” Thamel said on SportsCenter. “It’s not unprecedented that a sitting head coach at a blue blood is going after an NFL job. He’s not guaranteed to, but it’s certainly rare. And I really think that Michigan is sitting in alert right now for the next 48 hours, waiting for this Jim Harbaugh decision. The administration there is looking at this saying, ‘we just built all this goodwill from winning the Big Ten, blowing out Ohio State, making the College Football Playoff, and the only story at Michigan this offseason has been where will Jim Harbaugh go.’

“So the most interesting thing to me, if he does not get the job, and he is not guaranteed to get the job, he’s a candidate on a list. He is not the favorite by any means. He could end up there, but he has work to do to get it. If he comes back, how does that work with Michigan?”

Jim Harbaugh to interview for Vikings head coach job

If Harbaugh were to land the job, it wouldn’t be his first stint as an NFL coach. He spent four years with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-14 prior to his arrival in Michigan. His 44-19-1 record with the 49ers is the fifth-best winning percentage in NFL history, above any active NFL coach.

Harbaugh made the playoffs three times in four years with San Francisco and three consecutive NFC Championship games. In 2012, he led the team to a Super Bowl appearance, where he lost to his brother John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens.

Harbaugh was also the quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders from 2002-03.

Minnesota hired former 49ers front office employee Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their general manager this past week. The two overlapped by a couple of years when Harbaugh was the San Francisco head coach.