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ESPN staff
FOR MORE THAN a month, speculation swirled about Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s future.
In the days leading up to his highly publicized interview with the Minnesota Vikings on Feb. 2, Harbaugh’s actions convinced many inside Michigan’s program he would leave if given the chance.
“He’s gone!” one staffer said before the interview.
“Everybody knew he wanted out,” another added. “It wasn’t a surprise.”
For the second straight offseason — granted, for entirely different reasons — Michigan was a program left largely in limbo. And yet, following news that Harbaugh did not receive an offer from the Vikings and would remain in Ann Arbor, it took only one week for the program to hit the reset button.
Between Feb. 2 and Feb. 9, Harbaugh interviewed for an NFL job that many people, including Harbaugh himself, thought he’d get. He ended up returning to Michigan and pledged he would never flirt with the NFL again. He lost offensive coordinator Josh Gattis to the Miami Hurricanes, a lateral move; hired defensive coordinator Jesse Minter from Vanderbilt; and promoted three assistants, while turning over offensive playcalling responsibilities to quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss and offensive line coach Sherrone Moore.
On Feb. 10, Michigan’s coaches and staff returned to their offices in Schembechler Hall after a week off following recruiting. Outside of Gattis — who expressed in a leaked goodbye text message feeling underappreciated by the school’s administration — everyone else who had contributed to Michigan’s breakthrough 2021 season remained, and there have been no public signs of animosity or hesitancy following Harbaugh’s return. Michigan hasn’t lost other coaches or had a rush of players enter the transfer portal.
An awkward process that played out publicly likely wouldn’t have ended so smoothly at another college football blueblood program, but the unorthodox has become the expected at Michigan under Harbaugh. From previous NFL rumors to an unusually lengthy contract negotiation after the 2020 season to the Vikings dalliance this winter, Michigan and its coach have always found ways to turn the page.
“It’s been wild, but all good,” a team source said. “We’re back and everybody’s around.”
Despite an undeniably unusual offseason for a program that just won the Big Ten and earned its first-ever College Football Playoff berth, it may end up being just another chapter in the relationship between Harbaugh and his alma mater — a relationship that has been anything but typical.
ESPN reporters Heather Dinich, Chris Low, Adam Rittenberg and Tom VanHaaren spoke to those in and around Michigan to explore how the program dealt with the turbulence of the past few weeks and why a similar saga likely can’t happen again.
ON JAN. 31, Michigan football offices sat mostly quiet, except for one room where Harbaugh huddled with Weiss, who had started his college coaching career under Harbaugh at Stanford before beginning a 12-year stint with the Baltimore Ravens under Harbaugh’s brother, John.
Jim Harbaugh and Weiss weren’t mapping out a spring competition for signal callers Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy, nor scouring the transfer portal. Instead, the two were feverishly preparing for Harbaugh’s head-coaching interview with the Vikings, set for two days later at the team’s headquarters in Eagan, Minnesota. Sources said Weiss likely would have joined Harbaugh with the Vikings if the coach had gotten the job.
“[Harbaugh] was mainly just communicating with [Weiss], who was doing all the behind-the-scenes work for him on the NFL stuff,” a staffer said.
Harbaugh had not hidden his interest about a return to the pros. His assistants knew about it. So did Michigan’s recruits.
“I was at a [Detroit] Pistons game in December, and somebody leaned over to me and said, ‘Hey, I heard Coach Harbaugh is getting ready to go to the Raiders,'” said Deon Johnson, the father of 2022 signee Will Johnson. “So, I’ve been hearing talks of him leaving since December. With the atmosphere of college football and how these coaches come and go, it’s kind of like the nature of the business now.”
Johnson said Harbaugh was honest with him and his son about his interest in the NFL during the recruiting process. Harbaugh was up front about the fact that he wants to win a Super Bowl, and the family was comfortable sticking with Michigan no matter the outcome.
Still, even if Harbaugh had interest, he needed a suitor. The Las Vegas Raiders, believed to be his likeliest landing spot, never had him on their radar as they replaced interim coach Rich Bisaccia with Josh McDaniels on Jan. 30. The Chicago Bears, who drafted Harbaugh out of Michigan in the first round of the 1987 draft, didn’t interview him or request an interview either. Michigan, which had restructured Harbaugh’s contract and cut his salary after a disappointing 2020 season, this time offered an enhanced deal to reward the coach for leading the team to its first Big Ten title since 2004 and a CFP breakthrough.
On Jan. 26, the Vikings hired Cleveland Browns executive Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their new general manager. Adofo-Mensah got his start in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers during Harbaugh’s final two seasons as the team’s coach. He expressed interest in Harbaugh as a head-coach candidate, and the Vikings contacted Michigan. On Jan. 29, the two sides spoke about the Vikings job.
“For better or for worse, it was something I wanted to explore,” Harbaugh told the Detroit Free Press on Feb. 3, in his only public comments since interviewing with Minnesota. (Harbaugh and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel both declined ESPN’s requests to comment for this story via school spokespersons.) “I went in thinking, ‘I’m gonna have 100-percent conviction on this, and if [the Vikings] have 100-percent conviction on this, then it’s something I’m gonna do.”
After the initial conversation, Harbaugh’s focus began to shift away from Michigan. Rather than game planning for spring ball, overseeing strategy for recruiting the 2023 class and analyzing the state of the program, Harbaugh moved his attention to the NFL and his upcoming interview.
“He spent all [of Jan. 31, two days before Signing Day] mock-interviewing in his office with [Weiss], then came out and said everyone could leave,” one staffer said. “What a coincidence, right?”
For those at Michigan, a departure that had always been possible — though increasingly less likely as January wore on, as the school wasn’t contacted for an interview request until the month was nearly over — suddenly became very real. For the second consecutive year, Harbaugh’s future at his alma mater had turned murky, but this time was different. Unlike 2020, Michigan wasn’t coming off a 2-4 season that had briefly put Harbaugh’s job in jeopardy. Instead, Michigan was surprisingly on the heels of its most successful season in nearly two decades.
If Harbaugh got an offer, he would be leaving on his own terms.
AFTER MICHIGAN’S 34-11 loss to Georgia in the CFP semifinal, coaches and players dispersed to take some time off. Harbaugh went to Houston for the Bryant Awards on Jan. 12, and told a radio station there that he intended to spend a few days vacationing with his family in the area before hitting the recruiting trail.
The following week, Harbaugh began visiting prospects. In true Harbaugh fashion, he did a series of squats while wearing slacks and dress shoes at Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida. Michigan’s staff went out recruiting with knowledge of Harbaugh’s NFL interest and the rumors that surround him during every NFL coaching change cycle. But without established reciprocal interest — the Vikings had yet to emerge as a suitor — Harbaugh seemed likely to return to Michigan.
Before early January, there had been no public rumblings about NFL interest, so Michigan still had a smooth early signing period and onboarding for early enrollees who signed in December. ESPN ranked Michigan’s class No. 8 nationally on the mid-December date, a rise of four spots. Although Harbaugh’s Vikings interview took place on the traditional signing day in February, Michigan’s class had already been secured by then.
Johnson had been recruited by major programs across the country, and despite knowing of Harbaugh’s NFL interest, he still felt comfortable signing with Michigan. A number of recruits who signed in December and two current players expressed the same sentiment to ESPN.
“I think the wake-up call for [Will] was last year,” Deon Johnson said. “He had developed a relationship with [former Michigan assistant Maurice] Linguist, and he was there for 100 days [before taking Buffalo‘s head-coaching job]. So we’ve had conversations about different scenarios and coaches leaving in the past, and he’s always mentioned to me that’s just how college football is now.”
A Michigan source told ESPN that the staff understood who Harbaugh is and that he had ambitions around pro ball. They couldn’t control the outcome or whether NFL teams would share his interest, but they were comfortable with how Harbaugh was handling it internally.
“He hasn’t tried to hide it. He has told everyone who has asked,” the source said. “He’s been open and honest and we know he’s not just doing this for show. He wants to win a Super Bowl.”
Still, the lack of communication surrounding Harbaugh’s future led to some frustration and confusion.
Michigan completed its 2022 signing class in December, but those inside the program remained concerned about needs on defense, especially on the line and at cornerback. While other notable programs made key additions through the transfer portal, Michigan’s only additions came on the offensive line.
There also was the matter of Harbaugh’s contract. As the Wolverines piled up wins during the season, the university realized it would have to revise and enhance Harbaugh’s deal. Michigan welcomed the upgrade, as the school had initially hired Harbaugh to reach the goals he was now achieving.
Still, there was curiosity within the football program about how the university would approach Harbaugh this time around.
“They cut his salary, he hires a new staff, wins the Big Ten, beats the s— out of Ohio State,” said a source close to the program. “I don’t think right away they went all-in and said, ‘Hey, we’ll give you whatever you want. What do you need?’ I didn’t see it.”
According to sources, Harbaugh had not complained about his revised contract after 2020, which reduced his salary by approximately $4 million, extended the deal through 2025 and added incentives, such as $1 million for winning the Big Ten and $500,000 for winning the Big Ten East Division and reaching the CFP. He even garnered goodwill when he announced he would donate his bonuses, which totaled $2 million, to athletic department employees who had taken pay cuts because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sources said Michigan made Harbaugh a solid offer in January, although the school was unlikely to present a deal like the 10-year, $95 million whopper that Michigan State gave to second-year coach Mel Tucker. Harbaugh did not immediately accept the offer, and continues to work under his existing contract, according to a school spokesman.
Any issues Harbaugh had with the offer weren’t salary-related, according to sources. There were some concerns regarding Michigan’s strategy with name, image and likeness, according to sources, but nothing that couldn’t be worked out.
“I think as much as anything, he just wants Michigan to appreciate what he’s done and how much he loves this place,” a source said before the Vikings interview. “If he was going to leave, he wanted to leave on the right note and make sure he was leaving the program in good shape. I don’t believe he was blown away by what Michigan was offering, but I also don’t think that’s the reason he was looking to leave. He just felt like this was the right time to take his shot at returning to the NFL, and he was all-in to make it happen. It’s the way he is with everything.”
What’s more, those around Harbaugh are well aware of his desire to finish what he came close to doing as the 49ers coach to cap the 2012 season.
“He wants to win a Super Bowl,” a source said, “but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love Michigan.”
THOSE WHO HAVE been around Harbaugh since he returned to Michigan in 2015 know he’s not a typical coach who follows typical timelines.
“Jim’s a different guy,” a staffer said. “You never know what to expect.”
Added another source: “It’s not like anybody here is not used to this. It’s part of who [Harbaugh] is, and you get used to waiting and seeing what’s next.”
The same could be said for Michigan. During the Harbaugh era, the school hasn’t always operated like other programs.
Michigan faced plenty of uncertainty after the 2020 season, not only about Harbaugh’s future, but his staff’s as well. Several assistants had contracts set to expire on Jan. 10, 2021, and because Harbaugh and Michigan didn’t announce a revised contract until Jan. 8, some situations went right down to the wire. Harbaugh ended up overhauling much of the staff, especially on defense, as veteran coordinator Don Brown left for Arizona, with Mike Macdonald, a Ravens assistant under John Harbaugh, replacing him.
After last season’s CFP semifinal loss, Michigan lost defensive line coach Shaun Nua to USC and replaced him relatively quickly with Notre Dame‘s Mike Elston. But the standard staff rewards that come after seasons like Michigan’s did not arrive.
“It seems to be a pattern over there, of the string-along, string-along,” an industry source said.
A coach who has worked at Michigan noted “a disconnect” with how the school approaches some contracts. Michigan is a top-five program in athletics revenue and boasts plenty of deep-pocketed donors, but at times has lacked urgency to invest in its staff. The salary pool for assistants dropped from $6.27 million in 2020 to around $5.4 million in 2021, although part of that can be attributed to Harbaugh bringing in several younger coaches.
According to USA Today, assistant coaches at SEC public schools earned an average salary of $604,859 in 2021, while Michigan’s assistants earned an average of $547,000. That’s higher than the average for Big Ten public schools that release information ($495,400), but well behind rival Ohio State’s average ($750,000).
“It’s kind of like, ‘We’re Michigan, we don’t have to pay you as much as other schools because we have the prestige of being Michigan,'” another former assistant said. “People want to be treated fairly. If you can get paid twice as much to go [elsewhere] or be at Michigan, it’s like, ‘See ya later, pal.’ It’s not hard.”
Michigan has stepped up for some assistants, namely Brown, who received a five-year contract that paid him $1.4 million annually following the 2016 season. But the secure and lucrative deals didn’t immediately follow Michigan’s CFP appearance.
Harbaugh’s NFL ambitions, which first surfaced again in early January, seemed to put Michigan in a holding pattern. The school could have distributed enhanced contracts for Harbaugh’s assistants, viewing them separately from their boss. Some programs take this approach, mindful that top assistants from successful teams could be poached without strong contracts. But if Harbaugh had left and Michigan hired a replacement from the outside who wanted his own staff, the school would be on the hook for a lot of money.
Michigan ultimately tied the assistants’ status to Harbaugh. Until his situation was resolved, there wouldn’t be much action. The approach seemingly cost the team in Gattis’ case, as the third-year coordinator and winner of the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation’s top assistant, left for Miami four days after Harbaugh’s Vikings interview. Just last May, Gattis had received a contract extension through the 2022 season.
Gattis’ goodbye text, which he wrote “with a broken heart” to Michigan offensive players, read in part: “I sacrificed so much personally to stand in the fight with each of you, which I would never take back. Unfortunately the past few weeks has told a different story to me about the very little appreciation I have here from administration. In life I would never advise anyone to be where they are not wanted and I owe that to my family and my integrity to hold myself to this standard!”
While Gattis moved on, Harbaugh is back. He told the Free Press that following the Vikings interview, he called Manuel to ask if the AD still wanted him to remain Michigan’s coach.
“He said, ‘Yes, 100 percent.’ And I said, ‘OK then. That’s what I want to do,'” Harbaugh told the Free Press. “And I told him, ‘Warde, this will not be a reoccurring theme every year. This was a one-time thing.'”
Harbaugh later added in the interview: “I told Warde, ‘From here on out, I’m working at the pleasure of the University of Michigan, because that’s, in my heart, where I want to be.”
After Harbaugh’s recommitment to Michigan, the two sides can continue discussing a revised contract, although nothing has been announced.
At 58, Harbaugh might be in the stretch run of his coaching career, especially if he builds on Michigan’s success from 2021. His accomplishments as an NFL coach will always jump out — a 44-19-1 record, three NFC championship game appearances and a Super Bowl runner-up in four seasons with the 49ers. But the NFL appetite for Harbaugh, who clashed with 49ers management, might not be as strong as he and others think. The Vikings, after all, ultimately passed.
Michigan continues to support Harbaugh, but also must decide if it can put up with future NFL flirtations and the potential damage they do to the program. Harbaugh’s status as a decorated former player and an unquestionably successful coach resonates, but every situation has its limits.
While Harbaugh downplayed rumors of an NFL return early in his Michigan tenure, his comments after the Vikings interview suggest the door is closed for good. That doesn’t guarantee, though, another NFL team can’t open it again.
“I think he’d lose his job if he did this again,” a source said. “He’s given a level of leeway because they just went to the playoff, and because he’s Jim Harbaugh. I can’t see this ever happening again.”