Michigan Wolverines news: More momentum for Jim Harbaugh deal, James Franklin takes a shot, and more

There is more momentum for a new contract for Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh, plus more Michigan Wolverines news. 

Starting last week, there was some buzz about a new contract extension for Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh.

We have been pounding the table for Harbaugh to get a new deal with the Michigan Wolverines, regardless of the NCAA mess, for what seems like years now. Harbaugh called it a “3 1/2 year deal” on Tuesday. 

The man deserves whatever Michigan football is willing to pay him and frankly, he should be the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten, if not the highest-paid in the country.

Kirby Smart is a great head coach. Great. But his program plays by a different set of rules (NIL). He doesn’t have to recruit with both hands tied behind his back and still put out an elite product, which is what Harbaugh is doing right now for the Michigan Wolverines.

The fact that it’s taken this long shows the ineptitude of Warde Manuel. Yet, the Michigan Wolverines AD did chime in on the Harbaugh contract and told Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News: “I hope that make that a reality in the very near future.”

Here’s to hoping Harbaugh spends the rest of his career coaching Michigan football in Ann Arbor. It might not work out that way, but getting this deal done soon would certainly help.

James Franklin takes a shot at Michigan football

Even though James Franklin hasn’t won a big game in years, for some reason, he decided to take a shot at Michigan football’s non-conference schedule on Tuesday.

Clearly, Franklin was talking about Michigan, even though he was too scared to say the name.

What’s also funny is that for 56 consecutive years, Michigan football played a non-conference opponent outside of the Power-5 prior to 2022 and 2023. The Michigan Wolverines are also hosting Texas next year.

This narrative is stupid. Michigan played a “soft” non-conference schedule a year ago and somehow still managed to ground and pound a soft Penn State team into dust.

Maybe, Franklin should worry about the fact that he hasn’t beaten Michigan or Ohio State in three years or sniffed a Big Ten title since 2016, instead of other program’s non-conference schedules.

J.J. McCarhty donates NIL to offensive lineman

As if you needed another reason to love Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy, it turns out that McCarthy donates some of his NIL money to the guys blocking for him according to Karsen Barnhart.

It’s easy to see why McCarthy’s Michigan teammates love him so much. When he ran for a touchdown against Nebraska, a microphone picked up McCarthy saying thank you to his teammates as he ran into the end zone.

Not only is McCarthy an elite quarterback — he’s an elite person and that’s another reason to be proud of the young man taking Michigan football to new heights.