5 Thoughts on Jim Harbaugh returning to Michigan Football

Time to sign the extension

This is likely going to happen soon but now that Harbaugh has made this announcement about wanting to stay, it’s time to sign the contract offered by Warde Manuel.

As I have said, Manuel probably deserves some blame for how this all went down. It was ugly and as a fan, it was head-scratching, but also, it’s Michigan.

It sounds like Harbaugh was miffed about the cut in his salary prior to the 2021 season and after beating Ohio State and winning the Big Ten, Michigan didn’t exactly blow him away with its new offer for a long-term extension.

Jim has always said it’s not about money and I believe him. But it’s always about money a little bit and at the very least, Harbaugh felt disrespected. At the same time, John Bacon and others reported that at the end of the day, Michigan’s offer was good enough.

Harbaugh was interested in the NFL and he had every right to be. It could have been handled better and I still believe if Manuel had blown Harbaugh away with a big-money offer after the Big Ten title game, this might have all been avoided.

We’ll never know but what we do know is that Jim Harbaugh needs to sign that contract extension as soon as possible. Maybe he’ll agree to a bigger buyout, but at this point, the negotiations need to end and the focus needs to be back on football.