After a flirtation with the NFL, Jim Harbaugh is still the head coach of the Michigan football team and it sounds like he will be for the foreseeable future.
As soon as the Wolverines were eliminated from the College Football Playoff by Georgia, the speculation began that Harbaugh was strongly considering a return to the National Football League.
Harbaugh actually went as far as interviewing with the Minnesota Vikings before ultimately deciding (some say the decision was forced by the Vikings) that staying in Ann Arbor was the right move for him and his family.
While Harbaugh was going through the process with the NFL, many said that it would end up hurting Michigan’s recruiting because potential recruits would not trust that Harbaugh will be around for their entire time at the school.
On Tuesday, Harbaugh spoke to reporters and he was asked if he had a message for Michigan recruits.
“Just signed a five-year deal,” he said. “I could coach a long time and I see no end in sight of being around this kind of group.”
Following his interview process with the Vikings, Harbaugh told Wolverines AD Warde Manuel that he was done considering the NFL and that this was a one-time thing.
From Detroit Free Press:
“I called Warde (Manuel, the Michigan athletic director) and I asked him if he wanted me to be the head coach. And he said, ‘Yes, 100 percent.’ And I said, OK then. That’s what I want to do.’
“And I told him, ‘Warde, this will not be a reoccurring theme every year. This was a one time thing.”
“I’m an honest person,” he said. “There was a large pull there (for the NFL.) But I didn’t feel it was that way for both parties. And that’s it. That’s my mindset now.”
So that chapter is closed?
“Yes.”
You are 100% dedicated to Michigan?
“Yes. … Actually, I told Warde, ‘From here on out, I’m working at the pleasure of the University of Michigan, because that’s, in my heart, where I want to be.”
Jim Harbaugh was asked if he had a message for Michigan recruits after interviewing with the Vikings.
"Just signed a five-year deal," he said. "I could coach a long time and I see no end in sight of being around this kind of group." pic.twitter.com/tXiHMv3jym
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) March 9, 2022
