Jim Harbaugh is one of the most polarizing figures in college football. When he returned to his alma mater in 2015, Michigan fans thought he would bring a Big Ten championship home to Ann Arbor and hopefully a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Harbaugh has been semi-successful during his tenure with the Wolverines. There are some glaring holes in his resume, though. He has yet to beat Ohio State and hasn't been to Indianapolis to play for a Big Ten title. Without achieving either one of those, appearing in the College Football Playoff is only a prayer.
Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports is questioning if Michigan still views Harbaugh as its coach moving forward. Harbaugh has only 14 months remaining on his seven-year deal, and schools almost always extend a coach before his final season if they intend to keep him around.
Harbaugh is the only Power Five coach with less than two years remaining on his contract. Few even have less than three. With a winning percentage and a reputation that should have earned him an extension long ago, Harbaugh instead is inexplicably headed toward the end of his contract.
“That just doesn’t happen in college football,” an industry source said of Harbaugh’s contract situation. “No one coaches to the last year of their deal in college. They are either fired or extended.”
In July, Harbaugh said he and Michigan were "right there" on a contract extension before conversations were tabled by COVID-19. But as Thamel points out, Harbaugh has wrestled with the powers above him in the months since, mostly over the return of Big Ten football this fall.
Now here’s the problem. Harbaugh appeared to cross swords with Michigan’s president, Mark Schlissel, during the pandemic. And that’s who ultimately will have to decide whether Harbaugh is worth $8 million annually, the amount he was reportedly scheduled to make this season prior to a 10 percent COVID-19 pay cut.
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Harbaugh’s prior track record is that he’s so day-to-day strange, awkward interpersonally and ambivalent toward authority that he eventually wears out his welcome.
It doesn't help Harbaugh's case that Michigan has only slipped further behind Ohio State since he arrived, despite a salary that consistently places him among the highest-paid coaches in the country. And Thamel says "his ego would struggle with" the idea of taking a pay-cut.
Things could grow even more uncertain this season. Michigan has a loaded schedule, starting with a visit to No. 24 Minnesota. The Wolverines also cross over to play No. 16 Wisconsin, along with their usual dates with No. 9 Penn State and No. 6 Ohio State. A 4-4 regular season record is not out of the question.
Which, as Thamel concludes, "potentially leaves the Michigan brass with a vexing question: Do you keep shelling out a penthouse salary to a coach who after five years hasn’t shown the ability to get there?"