Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh isn’t worth elite money

Reportedly, there is a holdup in contract negotiations between Michigan football and Jim Harbaugh, because Harbaugh’s ego won’t let him take less money.

Jim Harbaugh has always been a little different. But if the Michigan football coach can’t accept a new contract from the University because his ego can’t take a pay cut — he really has lot his marbles.

After all, does he really expect to be paid at an elite level? Still?

Be serious, Jim.

If you don’t want to the head coach of Michigan football anymore, just say so. Walk away. But if you do, there’s no way you should look into the mirror and honestly believe should be paid as an elite football coach.

Certainly, Harbaugh is worth a good salary and he’s made the University of Michigan a pretty penny. Maybe that’s why he’s bristling at the idea of taking a pay cut to return on a three-year extension to his original seven-year deal.

However, for the most part, college football is a black and white business. You either win or you lose and there is very little room for gray areas.

Sure, Harbaugh can say he’s run a clean program and doesn’t cheat. We all know it happens and we have talked about higher academic standards hurting Michigan football, just about as much as a lack of bag men.

But at the end of the day, Harbaugh’s had the resources and the talent to turn this thing around. He’s recruited well, but the development side of things has caused some problems, especially at quarterback where he hasn’t hit on a single one of his own QB commitments yet.

So much for being the quarterback guru.

Looking back to December 2014, I didn’t think it mattered what Michigan paid Harbaugh because at the time, he seemed like the rarest commodity in college football — an elite head coach.

If you get your hands on one, they are priceless and in Harbaugh, Michigan assumed it was getting its own Nick Saban or Urban Meyer.

For that, just about any dollar amount is worth it. And the early returns were good. Harbaugh won 10 games in three of four seasons and had Michigan in the playoff mix in 2016 and 2018, before getting beaten by Ohio State.

Since then, the program has digressed, until it crashed and burned during this COVID-19 shortened season. According to Warde Manuel, that’s not enough to fire Harbaugh, who still has one year left on his contract.

But as far as paying him as an elite head coach, Michigan is right not to. Incentives? Sure. And the three-year deal is short enough that if Harbaugh delivers the goods, meaning produces as an elite coach, the money will take care of itself.

So does he really believe in himself? He’s told recruits he’s staying and that he was betting on himself. Well, if that’s true, he should have accepted the deal Manuel offered, shored up this recruiting class and got to work proving he’s the elite coach he believes he is.

Harbaugh has been good at Michigan, outside of this season and there really is no debating that. But good and elite are two very different things and if Jim wants elite money again, he needs to earn it with his performance.