After several days of reports that made Jim Harbaugh the apparent favorite for the Minnesota Vikings’ head-coaching position, reports emerged that Harbaugh will return to Michigan to remain head coach of the Wolverines. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Vikings met with Harbaugh for nine hours on Wednesday, but Minnesota didn’t make an offer.
The #Vikings met with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh for 9 hours today, but the team didn’t make an offer, per source.
So Harbaugh returns to Ann Arbor and Kevin O’Connell — soon — is expected to head to Minnesota.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 3, 2022
And as Pelissero alluded to in that tweet, the Vikings have chosen Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell to be the head coach (but it can’t be official until after the Super Bowl).
Well, while the Vikings clearly had some level of legitimate interest in Harbaugh (if not, what a waste of nine hours), one NFL source claims that the Harbaugh interest was quite limited around the league, despite the daily rumors for the last several weeks.
New England Patriots beat writer Andrew Callahan of The Boston Herald claims he was told by a source that the month-long Harbaugh rumors were “all from [Harbaugh’s] camp.”
The source added, “No one is knocking down his door.”
One source on the month-long Harbaugh to NFL rumors: “That’s all from his camp. No one is knocking down his door.”
Harbaugh had 1 interview with 9 head-coaching vacancies. https://t.co/EYuXq4VJza
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) February 3, 2022
Despite being linked to the Chicago Bears (where he played quarterback), the Las Vegas Raiders (where owner Mark Davis is known to take big swings and hand out record-breaking contracts- see: Jon Gruden), and surprisingly even the Miami Dolphins in recent weeks, Harbaugh only had one interview for the nine head-coaching vacancies.
Now, maybe there were multiple unofficial interviews or at least gauging interest — for both Harbaugh and NFL organizations — through backchannels. But it appears that NFL organizations’ interest in Harbaugh was a bit overblown.
And it’s interesting that Harbaugh’s camp would be pushing this. That’s likely to put pressure on Michigan to give him a bigger payday eventually, but there’s also a fine line there when it comes to recruiting and building a winning culture in Ann Arbor- does _ recruit want to commit to the school if they fear Harbaugh leaving for the NFL? That’s where the transfer portal and short-term fixes can help, at least.
For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Harbaugh has told Michigan that he intends to stay with the university long-term and his NFL interest won’t be a re-occurring issue.
Jim Harbaugh told Warde Manuel that this would not be a re-occurring issue and he would stay at Michigan as long as it wants him, per sources. https://t.co/d3NVS4EdLl
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2022
We’ll see about that in January 2023, when the NFL rumors will likely pick right back up.
