Michigan Wolverine Football: One Man’s Hopes and Fears

Posted at 6:00am — 12/19/2014

Michigan Wolverine Football: One Man’s Hopes and Fears

One Man’s Hopes and Fears

My fear:

That Michigan interim AD Jim Hackett’s reported 6-year, $49 million offer to current San Francisco 49er coach Jim Harbaugh was presented without any assurance or knowledge that he wants to come. That it was presented the same way the previous one(s) were, as a desperate attempt to change his mind, with the only difference this time being magnitude.

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That it was a strong opening bid which, as is the case in poker, will cause many to fold but a few to up the stakes. And that we may be the ones who saw it as more of a ‘take it or leave it’ than a starting point.

That it may have been presented prematurely, almost a week too soon, giving other options plenty of time (nearly two weeks) to craft their counterattack strategies before season’s end.

That, as was stated in a recent NBC.com piece, all it does is enable him to land a better pro deal, as it did four years ago. Regardless of how flattering he considers it to be, or however agonizing it ends up making his decision whether or not to remain in the NFL.

Michigan Wolverines /

Michigan Wolverines

That in the end, the guy who’s only coached in Cali remains the guy who’s only coached in Cali. And Hackett continues its search–knowing that every other candidate is now aware that they werenot his first choice; knowing that their agents will compare every subsequent offer to the one he already put on the table; but worst of all, knowing the offer to become the highest paid coach in the history of the sport wasn’t appealing enough to make JH want to coach his alma mater.

My hope:

That Hackett really did know what he was doing all along.

That what he told us the day he announced that the search had begun, was true to the very end. In essence, if we were patient and let the process work itself out, that we would be happy with the result.

That he knew the end game before sliding the numbers across the table, that he had had prior contact, he had a handshake commitment in the old Canham style, and that he had his man all along.

That he wasn’t enticing JH but rather, following through on a promise he made to him. A promise not just evident in the offer on that paper, but in the three weeks of respectful patience that preceded it.