After their loss last weekend to Michigan State, Jim Harbaugh and Michigan are staring down the barrel of another four-loss season. This time, in a season with eight games.
Never has the feeling been stronger that Harbaugh just isn't the coach to get Michigan over the top.
And with Harbaugh still in limbo regarding his next contract, never has the feeling been stronger that a breakup might be for the best.
In an appearance Wednesday morning on ESPN's 'Get Up,' Paul Finebaum shifted from his usual stance of bashing Harbaugh and Michigan to proposing the two sides reach an 'amicable divorce.'
"I think it’s time, not to fire Jim Harbaugh -- they’re not going to do that. But the point is, they just need an amicable divorce. He has another year on his contract after this, it’s not going to get any better. So let’s sit down, work it out and let Jim Harbaugh look for a job in the NFL. I don’t know if he can get one, he may. It’s a different league than it was when he was with the 49ers.
"But I think he’s better off somewhere other than Michigan, and quite frankly I think Michigan fans are starting to agree."`
Harbaugh was scheduled to make $8 million this season before taking a 10 percent pay cut due to COVID-19, making him the fourth highest-paid coach in college football. He said in the offseason an extension was "right there" before the pandemic changed Michigan's priorities, something he reiterated last month.
"Bigger fish to fry," Harbaugh said.
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His contract runs through 2021. He's the only Power Five coach with less than two years remaining on his deal. It might be that Michigan is asking him to return at a lesser salary given a) the financial fallout of COVID-19 and b) the stalled growth of the program -- and it might be that Harbaugh has no interest in doing do.
In which case an 'amicable divorce' might be the only solution.