Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh extension is reportedly a done deal

While many have expected Jim Harbaugh to return as Michigan football coach in 2021 and beyond, one reporter says that a deal is done.

The contract saga between Michigan football and head coach Jim Harbaugh has gone on long enough. But thankfully, it should be coming to an end very soon.

In fact, if you believe the reporting of Chris Balas of the Wolverine (subscription required), then the extension for Harbaugh to be Michigan football’s coach into the future is done and agreed to.

You will have to subscribe to Michigan’s Rival site in order to read the full update, but Balas has always been an impeccable source for Michigan inside info and he cites a reliable source.

And beyond just what Balas is reporting, the move to fire Don Brown was an obvious sign that Harbaugh was going to return eventually. No other explanation made sense.

Surely, there will be some more smoke that comes from other sources in the coming days if it’s accurate and to be honest, it has seemed like only a matter of time until a deal is struck.

What Harbaugh’s extension could mean for assistants

Once Harbaugh’s deal is finalized, we could finally hear some official news on the assistant coaching front because right now, there are tons of rumors.

There was a rumor on Twitter the other day about Will Muschamp being expected to be named the new defensive coordinator but that didn’t seem trustworthy.

At this point, my top targets for DC are Derek Mason, Charlie Strong and Jim Leavitt. I’ll also include Tim Banks and it seems there is something to the smoke about him and twitter follows.

As far as Michigan football fans are concerned, it will be nice to just move on from the Harbaugh to NFL rumors — for now you know they will pop up again — and get some staff in place.

Even though much of the focus has been on defensive assistants following the dismissal of Don Brown, Balas also reported ($) that Michigan has interest in Joe Moorhead.

Moorhead was formerly the offensive coordinator at Penn State and worked with Josh Gattis there. So it’s very possible he could come in an as a co-offensive coordinator.

I would think that would seem more likely than Gattis getting a demotion to just coach wide receivers, unless he was basically given that choice or his walking papers.

It’s too early to tell and we have no idea if Moorhead will reciprocate the interest, although there have been whispers that he and Mario Cristobal, the Oregon head coach don’t see eye to eye.

The dream scenario is Harbaugh signing his extension, Mason and Banks joining the staff as co-DC’s and then Moorhead coming on board to assist with the offense.

I’d say a new defensive line coach is needed too. But if Harbaugh is able to make the moves above happen, this program will have an even better chance of turning things around quickly in 2021.