FINE TIME FOR HARBAUGH, BACK FROM THE DEAD, TO TAKE ANOTHER NFL LEAP

Armed with leverage for a change, the Michigan coach could have multiple next-level bidders for his services — and with uncertain winds sweeping through college football, he should make his move now

     We forget. Jim Harbaugh does not forget. Only months ago, he was dining with the Wilf family, interviewing in Minnesota for the Vikings’ head coaching gig. And he made sure the news went public because one year before, his salary had been slashed in half at the University of Michigan. You can call him many things, this quirk-a-holic who drops the word “biblical” more than the Pope, but he is no amnesiac.

     He remembers how he was treated in 2020, how his name had turned to detritus in the profession, how he thought he’d lose his job in Ann Arbor, how his brother had become the supreme coaching star in the family. A pay cut? In a seismic-boom industry where groundskeepers are swimming in new money? Turns out his comeuppance served to resuscitate the foundering Michigan program, forcing Harbaugh to construct a new culture and change his ways, such as ramping down the social-media-inspired headlines that once had him picking Twitter fights with rival coaches and striking a friendship with Judge Judy. The grand result: He has crushed Ohio State in successive seasons, a perfecta once thought impossible as long as he was in charge, and he finds himself in the College Football Playoff for the second straight year, a pair of victories from a national championship.

     Anyone who knows Harbaugh realizes this thrust of redemption won’t be enough to satisfy him. The coaching game is about leverage, a grip he’d lost for years and didn’t have last winter, when the Vikings rejected him and hired Kevin O’Connell, who immediately is contending for a Super Bowl. But now that Harbaugh has his mojo back, why continue as the Big Man On Campus? There is no reason to stick around if he wins it all, beating TCU this Saturday and, presumably, Georgia in the title game. But even if he falls short, he’d be crazy not to take another NFL leap when no fewer than four franchises are kicking his 59-year-old tires.

     He finds himself in a likely bidding war. The Broncos, flush with Walmart wealth, might throw an open checkbook at Harbaugh, a known quarterback whisperer who’d be asked to fix Russell Wilson. The Colts, for whom he once starred as Captain Comeback, know they need credibility quickly and will draft high enough to draft a potential star quarterback. The Cardinals, about to fire the overmatched Kliff Kingsbury, would assign him to piece together the broken pieces of Kyler Murray. In Carolina, multi-billionaire David Tepper doesn’t like to lose — or be outbid — and might crave Harbaugh’s starpower, though he’d have to abandon interim Steve Wilks and ignore league-wide pressure to retain a Black coach. And those are just the current openings.

     So, tell me, why should Harbaugh stay at Michigan? He’s on a deal — re-done last February at five years, $36.7 million — that is woefully underpriced on the elite college market and easily could be doubled in average salary and tripled in total value by Rob Walton in Denver, Tepper in Charlotte and maybe Jim Irsay in Indianapolis. Remember, Jon Gruden was on a $100 million, 10-year deal in Las Vegas before his self-destructive e-mails were leaked. The highest-paid NFL coaches, per season, are Bill Belichick ($20 million), Pete Carroll ($15 million), Sean McVay ($14 million), Mike Tomlin ($12.5 million) and Harbaugh’s older brother, John ($12 million). Given the exploding inflation involving All Things NFL, a Harbaugh sweepstakes could evolve into a name-his-price bonanza. When Mel Tucker, his nemesis at inferior Michigan State, landed $95 million for 10 years, and the likes of Kirby Smart, Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly have followed Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney into rarefied contractual air, why would Harbaugh remain quiet and where he is?

     Answer: He won’t, from my view. No matter his denials.

     “A lot of that-time-of-year type of speculation," Harbaugh said this week, issuing a standard statement that means nothing. “No man knows the future, but I think people that think we've done a good job and are pleased with the job that we've done here at Michigan are gonna be very happy to learn that I'll be back enthusiastically coaching the Wolverines in 2023. And those who don't approve of the job we've done and would rather see somebody else coaching here, I think they'll be most likely disappointed to learn that I'll be back coaching the Wolverines in 2023.”

     Then he did what he does routinely, deflecting the story, wondering why other Big Ten coaches aren’t in the rumor mill. “I mean, it’s really biblical. No man knows the future. I can't make any vows of what's going to happen, what's not going to happen,” Harbaugh said. “I might ask you a question. I mean, there's tremendous coaches right here in our league. Ryan Day, Greg Schiano, Bret Bielema, I could go on and on, P.J. Fleck. I think they deserve, with the job that they've done, they deserve to be asked the same question.”

     This was Harbaugh’s way of giving himself a compliment. By mentioning those who lack what he owns — back-to-back league titles — he is elevating himself above the pack. In particular, he’s dissing Day, who is under fire at Ohio State for losing twice to Michigan and was lucky to slip into a national semifinal against Georgia. Locked into a love affair with a team positioned to reach a Jan. 9 finale in Hollywood, Harbaugh logically expects the same administrators who slashed his salary to produce a reward approaching nine figures and two commas. Riley and Kelly have yet to win nattys. Tucker is regressing. Why shouldn’t Harbaugh match their riches? Matt Rhule, James Franklin — why isn’t he earning nearly their money in the conference he rules?

     Yet even if Michigan antes up, and no one on high has mentioned anything so far, it’s a fine time for Harbaugh to leave regardless.

     The college game, as he grasps, is a landscape fraught with landmines and swirling winds. One would think Michigan is set for ongoing prominence, but it took many painful seasons and failed coaches for the Wolverines to reach the Big Boy level. The Big Ten is a ruthless corporation in the midst of a realignment-driven expansion, with USC and UCLA arriving in 2024 — who knows how many programs will follow? — and making it more difficult for Harbaugh to win national titles. Yes, a dozen teams will qualify for a swollen CFP, but many will be from the SEC and others from less-powerful leagues. Twice in two seasons, Michigan has reached the national semifinals. How often will that happen in the realistic future? It could become a frustrating dance in a hurry, with restless alums howling for his hide again.

     He also must contend with the NIL era. Michigan has resources — deep-pocketed boosters, a proud tradition, a catchy fight song — but keeping up with Ohio State and USC in the Name, Image and Likeness collectives game will be challenging. Harbaugh is active in the transfer portal and he recruits decently enough, but he’ll struggle to hang with Riley, Saban and Smart. The mission is much larger now than beating Michigan State for local prospects and finding a way to overcome Ohio State in the Midwest. The expectation for Harbaugh will be regular visits to the semifinals.

     Does he want that pressure? And does he want the hassles of dealing with young players, between 18 and 22, who have their eyes on NIL jackpots, feel entitled and sometimes break the law? Harbaugh sold his soul in the case of defensive tackle and co-captain Mazi Smith, who was allowed to keep playing after an October arrest for carrying an unregistered concealed weapon in his car. A felony charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, to which Smith pleaded guilty this month. Suspicious, no? Another key player, running back Donovan Edwards, was given a second chance after pulling a Kyrie Irving: promoting an antisemitic message on Twitter. No sooner had edge rusher Eyabi Okie been kicked off the team at Alabama than he showed up for practice in Ann Arbor.

     Then there was the tunnel. The narrow space leading to the locker rooms at Michigan’s famed Big House, it was allowed to become an inferno. It wasn’t Harbaugh’s fault that Michigan State players lost control and assaulted his players, which led to a $100,000 fine for the East Lansing also-rans. But Franklin earlier had complained when Penn State encountered problems there. Is Harbaugh allowing the inmates, so to speak, to run his program? Isn’t he a hypocrite for demanding swift justice against the Michigan State culprits while pooh-poohing Smith’s gun? Why did tight end Erick Ali, a co-captain, quit the team a day after the Big Ten championship game? “Not everything/everyone are what they seem and I learned that from my time here at Michigan,” he tweeted.

     Of course, Smith has nothing but raves for Harbaugh. “He put himself on the line for me, which is what any good leader does," he said Wednesday in Arizona, where the Wolverines are preparing for the Horned Frogs. "A lot of head coaches around the country that you can go play for are quick to throw somebody under a bus, quick to, you know, cover themselves and protect themselves. Coach Harbaugh (didn’t). And that's very important.”

     Rightfully, Harbaugh has been hammered for flouting the law. In the NFL, he wouldn’t deal directly with such legal headaches. Commissioner Roger Goodell would take over and apply the league’s personal conduct policy. On the collegiate level, Harbaugh serves as judge and jury. In that context, he has become a players-first coach, which flies against Michigan’s academic reputation but helps form close bonds that lead to a 13-0 record and No. 2 national ranking.

     “Coach Harbaugh loves us and appreciates us no matter what we're going through,” defensive lineman Mike Morris said. “We have to realize that we're kids. You know, I just left my mom's house two, three years ago. Mazi still probably lives close to home. So we're still children, and when a child falls and slips, somebody has to be there to help him up. I feel Coach Harbaugh, in this instance, said it's OK, let's get up. We'll fix it. You know, you can't do that again. But he was that person in his corner and in all of our corners just saying that we're going to be OK.”

     It explains why Harbaugh often tosses around another word: love. Once as uptight in his sideline khakis as he was goofy on Twitter, he has commanded the respect of kids who easily could look at him sideways. They’re amazed that he works out in the weight room with them. “He always tells us he feels like he's in his 30s,” linebacker Junior Colson said. “He's out there working out with us, he's got his cleats, but still in his khakis.”

     Not that he understands the fuss about his personal transformation. “I don’t think I’ve changed one bit. I’m the same as I was before,” Harbaugh said. “When you get to this age, you’re not going to change. I really think it’s the players. I think the players really appreciated that as well, that there was no change. We made it about the guys on the team getting good at football.”

     There’s no doubt he has loosened up, which only can help him in the NFL. When last we left him in San Francisco, he was at war with the front office — namely, general manager Trent Baalke — and eventually was dismissed by owner Jed York. The firing came two seasons after Harbaugh and the 49ers came within a series of maddening, game-ending incompletions — Colin Kaepernick and Michael Crabtree failing to connect — of beating the Ravens and brother John in Super Bowl XLVII. He was called a lunatic, impossible to work with, and returning to the college ranks was his only option. Michigan welcomed him back to save its program. It took much too long, but he finally rewarded his alma mater with football glory.

     His work is finished. He needn’t win a national title to complete his job assignment. The real unfinished business is in the NFL, where he’ll operate best with the megamillions he wants, the personnel control he needs and a once-great, now-wayward quarterback who needs a kick in the ass.

     Denver is that place. He’ll keep refuting it, because that’s what Coach Khaki does, but crazy as he seems sometimes, the man is not stupid.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.