Paul Finebaum: Jim Harbaugh won't last much longer at Michigan

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum has continued to strongly voice his displeasure with Jim Harbaugh’s tenure as Michigan’s head coach. On Friday, Finebaum said that Harbaugh has “no chance” at remaining as Michigan’s head coach after the 2021 season.

Finebaum: Harbaugh has been a disaster at Michigan

Michigan is not ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, but the Wolverines are expecting to improve from their 2-4 record last season. Finebaum, though, isn’t buying it, and believes that Harbaugh’s days at Michigan are numbered.

“He’s got no chance,” Finebaum said when asked about Harbaugh’s chances at returning to Michigan in 2022. “They ought to go ahead and fire him today and save the agony of waiting until November.”

Finebaum went on to say that he doesn’t believe that Harbaugh should even be in the position to save his job this season. Michigan reworked Harbaugh’s deal in the offseason.

“Michigan manages its football program like an art museum,” Finebaum said. “They don’t look at it the way the rest of us do, that you actually have to win and beat your rival. What they did was cut his contract, and that made it apparent that he’ll probably lose his job after this year. And I know what we all said about Harbaugh five, six, seven years ago when he was a Super Bowl coach and a championship coach in the NFL. But he’s been an abject disaster at Michigan.

“He was the most heralded hire other than Urban Meyer of the last probably eight or nine years in college football. I’m not really sure what he’s done. He shouldn’t have been retained. He was, but the question wasn’t should he have been retained. The question you asked me is will he be back next year and the answer is no.”

This isn’t the first time Finebaum has publicly voiced his displeasure with Harbaugh

About a week ago, Finebaum voiced these frustrations with Harbaugh. He even went as far to say that watching Harbaugh coach Michigan makes Finebaum sick. Harbaugh has 78 wins and seven bowl appearances in his head coaching career. Finebaum’s ire comes due to the fact that Harbaugh has not won a bowl game since 2015 and can’t beat his true rivals in the Big Ten.

Harbaugh signed a seven-year deal worth close to $7 million per season when he came to Michigan. That deal was reworked in the offseason, and Harbaugh is now owed just $4 million as a base salary. The deal made it easier for Michigan to buy out the contract if they wanted to.

“Somehow, some way, this guy, who I think is a complete fraud, is a major head coach,” Finebaum said. “He’s making six or seven or eight million dollars a year although I think they cut his salary last year. He’s still there. He can’t beat his rival. He really quite frankly can’t even beat the middle of the pack in the Big Ten.”