Why Jim Harbaugh will stay with Michigan Football

A detailed look into why Jim Harbaugh will stay with Michigan football and what leverage he’s using to get what he wants from the University.

The past week has been a bloodbath on Twitter with NFL fans debating with Michigan football fans whether or not Jim Harbaugh will leave the University of Michigan.

Every team that has a coaching vacancy seems to think that their team has a shot to land Jim Harbaugh, I am here to prove why this is not the case.

The leading teams that are speculating that Jim Harbaugh will come to coach their club are the Chicago Bears, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Miami Dolphins — all with good reason to believe Harbaugh will come to their franchise, but their speculation is built on the presumption that Harbaugh wants to coach in the NFL again or an “insider” has information.

To be clear, this is all speculation. People claiming they have a source or insider information are not always telling the full truth, or even the truth at all. That’s not discrediting anyone, but there has been a lot of lies thrown around by media personnel acting like they have some inside information on the situation.

Every day, a new insider claims they have the scoop, they claim that they know where Jim Harbaugh is going but they can’t tell us—so why tell us that you know, but refuse to say? This article is not slander toward those people, I just wanted to express to everyone the importance of not just taking whatever anyone says to be the full truth because I do not want anyone to garner hope based on “insider source” lies on either isle of this debacle.

However, good points have been made and good speculations have been made in regards to Jim Harbaugh staying in Ann Arbor.

For example, we’ve yet to see any of the new recruits from this year’s class de-commit as well as anyone unsurprisingly transfer out of the school. While these recruits would most likely wait until after to uncommit or players to transfer, you’d at least hear rumblings of these players decommiting/transferring unofficially.

We’ve also heard lots of rumblings of Texas A&M Defensive Tackles coach Elijah Robinson aka the man behind the best recruiting class of all time coming to Michigan for this season. While he could come regardless of Harbaugh, I find it strange why there would be a coaching decision like that made which is a longer-term play if he had no intentions of returning.

Another major key to note is we’ve yet to see any coaching staff that had a major opportunity to leave Michigan football actually leave. While they could be competing for the job, we know coaches like Gattis have interest elsewhere at higher power positions. We’ve heard complete radio silence on any staffing changes or the possibility of any of them leaving Michigan as of now.

Unlike most coaches, Jim Harbaugh is weighing his options not built on the foundation of money but rather built on the foundation of what he wants in regards to keeping Michigan a national contender every year. We can say without speculation at this point that the main theme of the contract renegotiation was the school’s willingness/unwillingness to agree to Jim Harbaugh’s terms about transfers/NIL deals.

What exactly does that mean though? For starters, Jim wants Michigan to be a bigger contender in the transfer portal market. With such a highly regarded school like Michigan, it can make getting transfers tricky due to a player’s GPA, similarly to recruits. I’m not exactly sure how or what Jim want’s improved in that regard, but none the less it’s pretty clear he wants it done.

Another facet that he wants to enhance is the NIL market. Michigan has been a nonfactor when it comes to the NIL, and he wants that to change. Michigan being more engaged in the NIL will enhance recruiting and transfers coming to Michigan, ultimately leading to better teams and contending for national championships regularly.

One could say that the transfer/NIL stuff is all speculation, and you’d be right. Jim Harbaugh has yet to utter those words out of his mouth so it is speculation until we hear it from him. However, the difference is its credible speculation. He’s made it clear that money does not matter, he’s made it clear that Michigan football is his dream job, he even asked for a life contract a few years ago. So why leave now after almost everything you wanted to accomplish finally happened?

At the end of the day, we’re not sure what Jim Harbaugh will decide. Everyone would love to have Harbaugh back, but he seemingly wants to play GM for Michigan.

Whether or not that’s going to happen is up to Warde Manuel if he’s willing to meet Harbaugh’s demands. I personally think Harbaugh has full intentions of returning to the University of Michigan but he’s using his demand as leverage to improve his “dream job.”

If Harbaugh decides to pursue the NFL, let’s reflect on how fast he turned around a crippling program that was giving away tickets regularly for free. What he’s done for Ann Arbor and the Michigan culture will forever be remembered and my gratitude towards him and his family can’t be described. Go Blue!