Paul Finebaum explains how Jim Harbaugh's NFL flirtations will hurt Michigan

Jim Harbaugh shocking didn’t get an NFL coaching job this offseason, after flirting with a return for the better part of a month. Now, Paul Finebaum believes Harbaugh will feel the pain of his NFL flirtations in his return to Michigan.

“If you’re Michigan State or Ohio State and you’re going head to head with Jim Harbaugh, all you have to do is show the news from today, ‘Jim Harbaugh does not get job he tries to seek on National Signing Day.’ There’s no way to wash it away,” stated Finebaum on ESPN’s Get Up. “I know Michigan fans get very sensitive about their school and their coach. But this is a very bad look for a great university.

“If you’re a young person in the midwest or somewhere else deciding where do I got to school and exactly what coach do I play for, I think it’s a fairly easy decision to think Michigan may not be your place.”

Evidently, Finebaum believes it’ll be tough for Harbaugh to earn back trust. Still, he has one thing to fall back on — his quirkiness.

“I think it will calm down,” revealed Finebaum. “And because it is Jim Harbaugh most people will just say, ‘Okay, that’s quirky, weird, out-of-this-world, walk on the wild side Jim Harbaugh,’ and move on.

“Ultimately, he still has to do the same thing that he finally did this year — beat Ohio State. He’s done it one time. If he loses next year at Columbus — which I would predict right now he will — this whole conversation will start up all over again.”

Jim Harbaugh will have to answer some tough questions at first. Still, if he does defeat Ohio State once again, the outcry will dissipate.

Finebaum on Harbaugh: ‘What kind of credibility does he have, and why should anyone at Michigan believe him?’

Furthermore, Paul Finebaum put Jim Harbaugh on blast for his failed attempt to return to the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings.

“It looks disastrous,” stated Finebaum, when asked how the Harbaugh situation looks. “I mean, can you imagine anyone of his ilk — we’re talking about one of the top programs in the country, one of the top schools — doing what he did? Think about Nick Saban or Jimbo Fisher or Kirby Smart or Ryan Day. Getting on a plane on National Signing Day, interviewing for a job and then not getting it? And you have to wonder if that interview didn’t cost him the job.

“Jim Harbaugh is 58 years old. He’s already been through the NFL dishwasher. They clearly decided we want someone young. We want a young, up and coming coach. We don’t want some coach who’s probably has already washed out of the system. Now, he has to go back and say I’m not going to do that anymore. What kind of credibility does he have, and why should anyone at Michigan believe him?”

After a phenomenal season with the Wolverines, Jim Harbaugh had more credibility than ever. Instead of building on it, the Michigan coach had one foot out the door. Now, returning after attempting to abandon ship, Harbaugh has his work cut out for him to mend some fences.