Column: Why Jim Harbaugh's latest dance with uncertainty can't happen again, what comes next

The Michigan coaching search hot boards were being assembled. The Jim Harbaugh legacy columns were being typed out.

And then poof, all gone.

Harbaugh is back in Ann Arbor for the 2022 season after his flirtation with the Minnesota Vikings fell through. Multiple reports, including our own at The Wolverine, said Harbaugh flew to the Twin Cities with the intent of signing a contract. That did not happen and the two sides amicably parted ways following the Wednesday interview. So here we are.

The immediate takeaway is that this is ultimately good news for Michigan. Stability (relatively speaking, at this point) coming off a Big Ten Championship and playoff appearance can keep that momentum going.

The problem is that momentum was not only stalled. It came to a screeching halt the moment the season ended. Five weeks of uncertainty, rumors and speculation did more harm than it did good, and fences will need to be mended at Michigan. The staff, players and community saw its head coach publicly go through the process of throwing himself out there for an NFL job.

That is a cute story for someone at an Iowa State or Baylor, for example. An upstart head coach getting a shot to live out his dreams at the next level is heartwarming in a lot of places.

Not at Michigan, and not with Harbaugh.

Harbaugh earned the right to pursue his options, especially after the pay cut that happened last season. There were sour feelings there. He did what he does best and shoved it back in everyone’s face, finally climbing the Ohio State and Big Ten title mountain. Both sides could have potentially put an end to this right after hoisting a trophy in Indianapolis. It did not happen, and the process that finished itself out Wednesday took place.

Michigan did not have prospects it was waiting on, but the optics of interviewing on National Signing Day are terrible. That likely is not something Harbaugh was concerned about given his approach to the interview. He marches to the beat of his drum, anyways.

Harbaugh has – or had – an NFL itch. He cannot deny it now as he has in the past. Reports indicate he told athletic director, Warde Manuel, he would be at Michigan as long as he is wanted there. Now he has to put his money where his mouth is. Both sides must.

Nobody pressures Harbaugh or Manuel to do anything they do not want to do. Harbaugh could have been fired coming off a 2-4 season in 2020 with plenty of justification to do so. The message sent by offering him an extension with a lower salary was not that Michigan did not want him. It was that Michigan wanted him to do better. It always seemed likely a new deal would be on the table if Harbaugh was able to stabilize the program and dig out of a hole.

That resulted in what were sour feelings and a sense of disrespect.

This would light a fire under the head coach. The problem is that it nearly turned into a forest blaze that had to be put out. We will see if it ends up hurting the program, but there are some bruised egos and hurt morale in Ann Arbor today.

There is some sort of communication gap between Harbaugh and the athletic department. Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic reported that the two were set to meet after the Orange Bowl. Harbaugh did not show up. Despite that, Michigan seemed content to let the process play itself out. What it got in return was five weeks of self-inflicted headlines.

Nobody hurts Michigan more than itself, both its coach and its administration. These sorts of things cannot happen moving forward. Period.

We can place blame and point fingers, but ultimately both sides need to come together, eat its crow and move forward as a united front.

What happened with the Vikings?

There seemed to be some doubt that Harbaugh to the Vikings was a done deal. It obviously was not, but Harbaugh went to TCO Performance Center in Eagan, Minnesota with the idea that the job was his to lose. It seems like he got on the airplane expecting a coronation when the courtship was long from over.

From ESPN’s Courtney Cronin:

My read on the Harbaugh/Vikings situation in speaking with sources: Harbaugh was in the mix for the Minnesota job because of his connection to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. He operated under the assumption that the job was his and prepared for the interview as such. The Vikings saw this very differently and not as a ‘slam dunk’ as a source put it to me, the way they felt Harbaugh viewed the situation coming into Wed. There was no offer extended. This isn’t necessarily a matter of who said no to who, but 2 sides that did not align on the nature of what the in-person meeting was all about. The Vikings brought Harbaugh into Minnesota to interview, just like they did with Pat Graham on Tues. Followed the same format and everything.

There will be a PR spin from both sides of this. Regardless, the outcome wound up being a stunner on Wednesday night. Shortly after the Harbaugh news dropped, the Vikings informed Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell he would be the franchise’s 10th head coach.

The Vikings are a well-run organization with good and supportive ownership. They just built two state-of-the-art facilities in US Bank Stadium and the performance center. The Wilfs stay out of the way of football decision-makers. However, they are coming off of an era of Mike Zimmer, who is similarly brash and rubbed folks the wrong way. The organization needs an enema and a rebuild in the worst way. Harbaugh would have succeeded there because he does everywhere he goes, but it is easy to see organizationally why the two may not align.

Again, crossed wires and a lack of clear communication led to this situation falling apart. Harbaugh probably is not getting on a plane if he thinks he has to interview equally among three other candidates.

But he got on the plane, on signing day nonetheless.

That has rightfully ruffled feathers and created a hole he needs to dig out of. Michigan welcomes him back, but the bro-hugs, high fives and confetti cannons probably will not be out in full force.

There is some work to do here. Can you put the toothpaste back in the tube? We will find out.

What’s next for Harbaugh and Michigan?

The chief objective for Harbaugh and the Wolverines is to get everyone back on board and the same page. That includes being upfront and transparent about what just occurred. Walking through the doors of the football building and going on business as usual would be a huge disservice to his coaching staff and his players. There is more of a sense of relief in Ann Arbor than hard feelings right now. However, there have to be real, honest conversations about the process with the Vikings and NFL. All of the above includes fixing whatever gap there is between he and Manuel if one does indeed exist. Additional work will need to be done to satiate donors and other supporters rubbed the wrong way by the process.

From there, Michigan can sit down and put the finishing touches on the contract. Harbaugh’s second restructured contract in as many years is expected to place him back near the top of Big Ten salaries. We will have to wait and see what the final numbers are, but it is not expected to be the highest. Plus, the ball is back in Manuel’s court with an NFL offer not materializing into leverage. It would behoove Michigan not only to pay market value but also consider including a hefty buyout that may ensure this does not happen again. This is assuming they see him as the guy long-term, which we believe they do.

Other topics that need to be addressed are the assistant coaching pool – those guys all deserve raises for this saga alone – and continuing to find ways to adapt to the transfer portal and NIL. The portal comes down to admissions and is above Harbaugh’s head. The football program needs to know it is supported and that it can sell potential opportunities to prospective players.

Michigan also needs to hire a defensive coordinator. Expect that buzz to pick up over the next week to 10 days once the dust settles.

If there is an impact to be felt in roster building, it might skew more toward the 2023 recruiting class. Michigan lit a lot of its momentum on fire over the last few weeks and will have to work hard to re-establish it. With Harbaugh’s return, it does not seem like a stretch to think they can still finish with a top ten class. If there are defections from the current roster, expect them to be minimal. Most are elated about the news that the band is staying together.

There are plenty of fans that are turned off by what took place this week and over the last several. They are entitled to that. Ultimately, this will disappear if Harbaugh keeps winning at Michigan. The Wolverines have a tremendous young core that they are excited about moving forward. This was not a Cinderella campaign that was an open-and-shut storybook season. At least, it does not have to be. Winning Big Ten Championships and getting to the playoff should always be the goal at Michigan. They will keep building towards that. However, it is going to take some time to dissipate the optics that Michigan was Harbaugh’s second choice.

The quickest path is to stay on the right side of the win-loss column.

The attention turns back to building for 2022. There is a lot that needs to be sorted out, but Michigan moves forward. It is just going to feel a little weird for a bit around these parts.

Michigan fans can take solace in its Big Ten Championship-winning program getting its head coach and staff back. That should be enough to carry people through the offseason. When the toe meets leather when the season starts, it is time to figure out a way to do it again.

The success Harbaugh has from here in Ann Arbor will shape how this phase of his legacy is remembered. Things ending with a new house on Lake Minnetonka would have made his time coming to a close in Ann Arbor complicated to write about, to say the least.

Onward we go into the next chapter of As The Harbaugh Turns.