If Jim Harbaugh leaves Michigan for the NFL, it won't be for Miami.
While the Dolphins have an attractive head coaching vacancy after firing Brian Flores Monday on the heels of two winning seasons, owner and Michigan alumnus Stephen Ross told reporters, "I'm not going to be the person who takes Jim Harbaugh from the University of Michigan."
Ross isn't just any old alumn, of course. Michigan's business school bears his name. He's one of the university's biggest donors, and donors aren't takers. If Harbaugh approaches the Dolphins on his own, maybe that's a different story. But it doesn't sound like Ross or the Dolphins will be the ones making the first move, if any moves are made at all.
"I love Jim Harbaugh," Ross said. “He had the opportunity once before to come to the Miami Dolphins. But he's at the University of Michigan, as everybody really knows. That is my school I graduated from and I’m very involved in it, and I'm not going to be the person who takes Jim Harbaugh from the University of Michigan. I hope he stays there. He's a great coach."
The team to watch regarding Harbaugh, per reports, is the Raiders. They just made the playoffs under interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, and Harbaugh is friendly with owner Mark Davis after starting his coaching career with the organization in 2002.
Harbaugh has also been linked to the Bears, who fired head coach Matt Nagy on Monday and where he spent the first seven years of his playing career.
Whether Harbaugh's NFL interest is genuine or just a leverage play is still unclear.
He could be using it as a way to gain more resources at Michigan a year after having his salary sliced in half, though he did say last month that money is "no big deal." He could also be seeking access to better players through the transfer portal and recruiting, namely by exploiting the NCAA's NIL rules.
However it plays out, we can probably remove the Dolphins from the picture.