With rumors swirling that the most famous University of Michigan alumnus may be retiring from the NFL, another could be returning to the highest level, at the expense of the Wolverines.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is reporting that the Minnesota Vikings are interviewing Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh for their head coaching vacancy.
This comes a day before the San Francisco 49ers -- who Harbaugh coached from 2011-2014 -- will play against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game. While his NFL head coaching stint was relatively short, Harbaugh had tremendous success with the 49ers, with the team reaching three NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl. Harbaugh has a 44-19-1 (.695) record as an NFL head coach.
Since he and the 49ers parted ways after the 2014 season, Harbaugh has been the head coach at Michigan, where he played collegiately from 1983-1986. There have been some bumps in his seven years as the Wolverines' head coach, but Harbaugh does have a 49-22 record as Michigan's head coach, and is coming off his most successful season there. One of Michigan's 12 wins in 2021 came against Ohio State, the first time they've defeated their bitter rivals since Harbaugh took over. And while Georgia quickly dispatched them in the Orange Bowl, the Wolverines did reach the College Football Playoffs for the first time in school history under Harbaugh this past season.
After going 8-9 in 2021, the Vikings fired both head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman. The Vikings hired former Cleveland Browns vice president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as their general manager earlier this week. Adofo-Mensah became the manager of football research and development for the 49ers back in 2013, Harbaugh's second last season as the team's head coach.
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