Michigan Football: What the hell is happening with Jim Harbaugh?

The strategy of waiting until after the season to talk to Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh about his contract is baffling and could kill recruiting.

The big news of the day Tuesday for the Michigan football program was the announcement that the Wolverines would not be heading to Columbus for the game this Saturday.

After missing last week’s game against Maryland and what sounds like a pretty extensive outbreak within the Michigan program, it wasn’t a huge shock to see it called off.

What was shocking though, was listening to Warde Manuel say that he and Jim Harbaugh would meet at the end of the season to discuss his contract. This comes in spite of the fact that solid sources and multiple outlets are reporting a three-year extension currently on the table.

Manuel “we will meet at the end of the year to discuss the program” says he won’t get into contract extension rumors
— angelique (@chengelis) December 8, 2020

Obviously, I didn’t really expect Manuel and Harbaugh to address the contract issue in that zoom call but what was said wasn’t good for Michigan football.

Early signing day is literally a week away and after Harbaugh went around and told recruits he was getting an extension, that now appears to be up in the air. When asked if he was worried about negative recruiting, Manuel basically shrugged it off saying it happens all the time.

What all this means for recruiting?

Well, sure, negative recruiting does happen all the time, but do Manuel and Harbaugh realize they are asking recruits to sign next week not knowing if Harbaugh will be around?

If you went in for a job interview and the manager or whatever told you they might be gone by the time you start work, you’d probably be a little hesitant, not knowing who the new boss might be.

This same thing is now happening on the recruiting trail and there are already plenty of reasons to be worried.

Xavier Worthy, at this point, is gone. It was unlikely Michigan football held onto his commitment anyway, but there is zero chance he signs with this much uncertainty in my opinion. He also has a tight relationship with Josh Gattis who could be on his way out.

Yet, there are other recruits to be worried about. EJ Holland of Rivals reported ($) that Jaydon Hood and Branden Jennings will not be signing early, leaving open the possibility of a flip for each.

Then, not long after Michigan football held its zoom conference, three-star safety Rod Moore, a commitment from Ohio and a good one at that, tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/Rodmoorejr/status/1336486886043512832

Moore did tweet just last week that he was planning to sign with the Wolverines on Dec. 16 but there has been some worry about him and he will be another commitment to watch.

Five-star quarterback J.J. McCarthy has been solid and others such as Tristan Bounds, have been really vocal in supporting Jim Harbaugh. But Harbaugh had been telling recruits he was coming back and know, that doesn’t seem like such a sure thing.

At this point, if Michigan does plan on keeping Harbaugh on this three-year extension, a deal needs to be hammered out right now. Not at the end of the season.

If you are moving forward with Jim, why in the world would you handcuff him like that and risk damaging the 2021 recruiting class, which at one point looked like it could be one of his best.

More from GBMWolverine

This doesn’t even mention the fact that the top target left on the board, four-star running back Donovan Edwards, the No. 2 player in the state of Michigan, still hasn’t decided.

The Wolverines own all of his crystal ball picks, but we have seen how that has worked out with others. Edwards told EJ Holland of Rivals ($) a decision will come either on signing day or before, so we should know in the next week and that makes me worried.

A commitment from him in the next week would be huge and maybe that would give the Wolverines enough positive momentum to hold the class together. And obviously, McCarthy will be huge too.

However, after being certain that Michigan was going to keep Jim, it seems like the mutual parting of ways people have been suggesting could actually happen.

If so, then all of this makes sense and if you don’t think Harbaugh is the man for the job, then sacrificing one recruiting class would be worth it.

On the other hand, if Harbaugh and Michigan end up coming to agreement on a deal and it doesn’t happen in the next few days, that will be incredibly stupid. It’s like shooting yourself in the foot.

dark. Next. 3 Logical targets if Harbaugh is fired

Which makes it perfectly acceptable to ask, what the hell is going on here?

Home/Michigan Football