Feldman: Michigan sources believe Harbaugh would accept Raiders job
Same thing Sopwith has been saying. I guess we need to prepare ourselves that this could happen and just be pleasantly surprised if he returns.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:14 AM ^
Here's a little secret: many "journalists" care more about flattering and cultivating their sources than they do about providing their readers with accurate reporting.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:01 PM ^
"Might"
"Could"
"May"
These people know dick.
Edit: double post and I ain't even mad.
January 21st, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
Sounds like Ancient Aliens...
January 19th, 2022 at 11:01 PM ^
A little more concerned but still thinking he stays. If he does leave, I don’t know what my sentiment would be towards him. Saying after the playoff game it’s only the beginning, dragging this out this long to hinder Michigans recruiting efforts etc. idk maybe it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. I’m any case, I don’t think it will happen
January 19th, 2022 at 11:21 PM ^
Ukraine is in play.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:33 PM ^
Sadly...
January 19th, 2022 at 11:34 PM ^
please don't
January 19th, 2022 at 11:35 PM ^
The Ukraine. You know what the Ukraine is? It’s a sitting duck; a road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It’s feeble.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:11 AM ^
Hello. Feldman.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:27 AM ^
I hope your Risk board is stowed safely somewhere.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:09 AM ^
Nah, I always play board games on busy subways with many tiny, intricate pieces with my slightly overweight best friend/neighbor who enjoys Kenny Rogers Roasters. It would make for a great episode of a sitcom.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
Ukraine is the bread basket of the former Russian empire, the former Soviet Union, and ,I assume, the current Russian situation
January 19th, 2022 at 11:24 PM ^
This is all absurd, of course.
Now, someone on Twitter is saying that John Harbaugh will replace Jim when he takes the Raiders job.
They are just making stuff up at this point. Have been all week.
January 19th, 2022 at 11:47 PM ^
I do not believe Harbaugh has been considered for any HC position for any NFL team at any point during his time at Michigan. There is zero evidence any professional team has wanted his services.
What has become clear is Harbaugh himself wants to go to the NFL. If only someone, anyone, would have him.
Way to kill the fucking mood and good will from this past season. Guy is a putz.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:05 AM ^
You do know college coaches usually don’t have communication from media when they interview or discuss nfl? They don’t want to ruin their current situation. Teams have to report assistance interviewing for jobs at nfl level, college coaches are hush hush. Just last year, Matt Campbell was offered Lions. You didn’t hear about that until much later. So we really don’t know how much buzz is around Harbaugh at nfl this year.
January 20th, 2022 at 6:12 AM ^
Lions never offered Campbell. That is a falsehood.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
I wouldn't be so dramatic as to call him a "putz", but yeah, it sure does kill the mood.
JH: "Hey, what a great season....and this is only the beginning"
.......
".......for some other coach, because I'm going to try to get the hell out of here. Don't worry though, if no one wants me in the NFL, I'll come back to Michigan. And then next year I'll try again to get the hell out of here."
Yeah, after last year and this year, it's getting old. We had Zombie Harbaugh in 2019 and 2020, one great year in 2021, only for Jim to be trying to step on our collective private parts now. Awesome.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:16 AM ^
So just today The Athletic had 3 articles on Harbaugh and the Raiders;
- Feldman says, he's leaning that way.
- Tafur say's it's unlikely
- Baumgardner is straight up the middle - no one knows.
So no matter what happens The Athletic will be spot on!
January 20th, 2022 at 1:17 AM ^
I am sticking to my guns. Harbaugh is staying at Michigan. He had too much fun last season to jump ship when even more fun is in the cards for next season.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:20 AM ^
There’s just no way Harbaugh would go back to the NFL just to coach for another dipshit owner like Mark Davis.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:25 AM ^
I blocked PFF for framing this as a 'likely' outcome in a RT and their previous, poorly-sourced reporting. Feldman's mealy-mouthed story was bad enough.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:38 AM ^
This article was a complete nothing burger
January 20th, 2022 at 3:18 AM ^
I’ll be nervous until the Raiders fill their vacancy with someone other than Harbaugh
January 21st, 2022 at 2:26 AM ^
The Raiders do not have a vacancy.
January 20th, 2022 at 3:31 AM ^
It's interesting to think about what we'd be writing if this had been the rumor a year ago. And I'm sure that's not lost on Harbaugh himself.
However... you don't grow up here and go to college here and be what he is in Ann Arbor if it isn't in his blood. And maybe he wants this for his kids, too.
My sense is he'll stay as long as he's wanted. And maybe we should remember that when the team doesn't win 12 games in a future season, which will happen. Of course, I doubt he gives a damn what people are saying as long as the players are behind him. It just might make this easier on us in the future to have confidence that he knows what he's doing.
So, no, I don't put much stock in this rumor. I certainly would if he hadn't had the experience of taking an NFL team to the Super Bowl.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:00 AM ^
Michigan played football before Harbaugh and will IF he leaves. Personally, I don't believe he is going anywhere and the daily drama here is laughable. Go Blue!!
January 20th, 2022 at 5:54 AM ^
I had a conversation with a booster yesterday that said the feeling in his circle is that Warde and JH were waiting on finalizing the deal until after the Anderson settlement and Schlissel (says it was a known secret?) were addressed. Schlissel was a distraction to regents and the optics of a big contract agreement prior to or on heels of this is touchy.
He is Uber confident (assured) Harbaugh has an agreement. He said his contact said it’s a week or so away from announcing.
He is saying what I want so I agree with him.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:14 AM ^
Congratulations. You just did more sports journalism in the conversation you had and the time it took you to write this up than all of the other “professional” articles that have been written on this subject combined. Your points are very salient and logical. I have not read this angle anywhere else.
Plus, it is also what I too want to hear so I think that it is even more awesome.
January 20th, 2022 at 8:05 AM ^
your post has more credible content than literally every single OP and subsequent post in the last 3 weeks. please make this its own thread.
January 20th, 2022 at 5:55 AM ^
This dragging out is NOT helping the FB Program..
January 20th, 2022 at 7:06 AM ^
I’m just here for the speculation anxiety.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:10 AM ^
A bit of a digression perhaps, but is it possible to block a user so i stop seeing their nauseatingly bad posts, hypothetically speaking?
January 20th, 2022 at 10:02 AM ^
I think you need one more upvote to get to 500 points, then you can use the "troll cave" feature to hide specific user posts. Look at any comment here, there should be a line directly above where it says the join date and mgopoint total; "add to troll cave". But may not show up until you hit 500 points. I gave you one upvote, so you just need one more...
January 20th, 2022 at 10:10 AM ^
I believe the Troll Cave option comes from adding a Google Chrome Extension? I did it about 2 yrs ago but my laptop has since died so I don’t have it anymore. It's not tied to any point threshold.
EDIT: Here is the post from 2019 where some MGoUser developed this extension for Chrome and Mozilla: https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/meta-mgoblog-enhancer-extension-update-troll-cave
January 20th, 2022 at 7:20 AM ^
I’ve made peace with the idea that he could leave. If he wants to go, he’s well within his rights too. I appreciate everything he’s built, especially within the last year.
But can you just rip the Band-Aid off and tell us if you’re going or staying? Whatever you wanna do is your choice, and at the end of the day you don’t owe the fans anything, but at this rate I feel like this could be hurting recruiting.
End selfish rant.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:45 AM ^
I don't think it's being selfish to want him to make a decision already. As a public figure, and with the job he has, thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people (I'm sure the number is larger, I just don't know how many Michigan fans are as invested in who the head coach is as we are) are now hanging on every word, and every bit of information that may have a clue as to what the future holds. It's not selfish to want that to end, one way or the other.
January 20th, 2022 at 8:16 AM ^
At this rate, whatever his decision is, I don't care. He's left Michigan in a better place than he found it, there's a good foundation for the next guy if it comes to that, and a team with plenty of talent. Especially on offense.
But indecision is a killer. I guarantee that Day, Tucker, Franklin, and plenty of other coaches out there are using this as an opportunity to call Michigan's top targets to neg recruit the program into oblivion.
If you're coming back, great, but please let everyone know so this crap can get put to bed and everyone can get back to work. If you're not, that's fine too, but the program needs to be able to move forward from that, and right now it can't.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:21 AM ^
A feelings post follows...
I feel like if this is true that Michigan already has a contingency plan in place. IMO, the plan is likely the promotion of someone already on staff. I'm curious who this may be, I'm not confident that anyone on the staff currently is P5 "head coach" ready. I feel like Elston, and others, have a good idea of what will happen and wouldn't have accepted the job to be let go a few weeks later by some outside hire looking to bring in his own staff. but I mean who knows.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:26 AM ^
I'll never understand why people take Harbaugh's silence on rumors so personal. The man has been a successful coach every place he's been. If he wants to listen to offers and explore every option available to him, that is just logical thinking on his part. Having several career options in life is a great thing. The only thing it's hurting at this moment is some people's feelings on the internet.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:52 AM ^
You may as well ask why people get personal about Michigan. For many here, it is more than just sports fandom; the university and/or the football program (or other programs) are a part of their lives to some non-trivial extent. It becomes far more personal than, say, the local pro franchise. I would think for some of the employees (Harbaugh, Hart, Howard, etc.) it might be more than just another job as well.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:42 AM ^
I believe that there is a 50% chance that Harbaugh is our coach next year and a 50% chance that he is not. I also believe there is a 50% chance that Gattis is our coach and a 50% chance he is not. There is a 50% chance that the cat in the box is dead and a 50% chance it is alive. The box is our coaching position and the cat is a coach. Statistics are awesome. Insiders are far too fluid for stats.
January 20th, 2022 at 7:45 AM ^
Damned Zombie Schrodinger cats.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:36 AM ^
It’s ben a long time since I took stats, but as I read that, there is a 12.5% chance that Harbaugh, Gattis & a dead cat in a box are co-HC next year.
Are you an insider??
January 20th, 2022 at 7:53 AM ^
I get that Harbaugh is a person and that college coaching may be harder than NFL coaching*, so lifestyle choices are legit. But I'm an idealist. I'm committed to the possibly delusional idea that Michigan is better than all of the other schools because of some inherent ineffable quality. Michigan Man means something. Brady Hoke didn't do well at Michigan, but him saying that he would have walked to Michigan meant something. I'm a fan of Harbaugh. #1 because he played for Michigan and he played for Bo. #2 because I think he believes in that same ineffable quality that makes Michigan better than all of the other schools. It's religion. It's politics. Your god or philosophy may be bullshit, but you believe it and you're willing to die for it. That's what I like about Harbaugh.
In that context, making a lifestyle choice and running for the NFL after finally beating OSU seems cowardly. Bo didn't take the money to go to Texas A&M.
I hope Harbaugh still has the fire and chooses to compete.
*If you aren't at a school with a huge talent advantage (established player payment system.) See Urban Meyer.
January 20th, 2022 at 8:26 AM ^
Funny - as this Harbaugh thing has been going on, we've had our own job search anxiety in our house with our son (you may remember my post about it last week). He's supposed to nail everything down today and I will let you all know since some of you commented and helped along the way. It's also a coaching job.
January 20th, 2022 at 8:28 AM ^
Question: Does anyone really think that Harbaugh would prefer to coach at Michigan next year? If you do, you really have to believe that all of the NFL-related discussions he is having solely relate to building leverage for his UM contract. That seems far-fetched. Rather, for whatever reason (e.g., to "top" his brother, unfinished business), he seems ready to go back to the NFL. And we've all seen the mediocrity he produces on the field at UM when his heart isn't in it.
So, go if you want Jim. But, please do it already. And Warde: if you have any intelligence, don't make the criminally negligent and criminally insane decision to hire a current assistant coach as the HC. Words cannot describe how amateur and short-sighted that would be.
January 20th, 2022 at 8:59 AM ^
Honest question: why would you prefer not to hire internally? You mentioned its amateur and short-sighted, but why?
You've got a Broyles award winner as your OC and if he wasn't leaving this year it was a near certainty he was going to leave next year for a HC job anyway. Yes, promoting him to HC is a gamble, but so is hiring externally, unless you know you can reel in a slam dunk hire as your HC, which seems unlikely this late in the process. Not impossible, but unlikely.
You'd also have to consider the potential exodus of players. If you bring in an external coach who is going to run a completely different scheme and philosophy than what the current players were brought here to do, you're potentially looking at a lotttt of guys entering the portal, and you may find yourself building back up from square one all over again. If you believe it will pay off long term then so be it, but I bet everyone thought Rich Rod was going to pay off too.
I don't know what the right move is, but my first inclination is that if Harbaugh leaves, I want to do everything in my power to keep as much of the team intact as humanly possible, and that likely involves going internally. Now, if you don't think Gattis, McDonald, or someone else on staff is ready then so be it. But again, unless you've got a slam dunk hire in the bag, you're taking a big risk by going external as well. You risk blowing up everything Harbaugh built in the last year and starting it all over when you didn't have to, and losing a lot of the guys he brought in. I really hope to not be working with a decimated roster and hoping we're going to scrape by Maryland.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:20 AM ^
I would be very okay with Gattis if it came to that
January 20th, 2022 at 10:07 AM ^
I'd honestly rather give Gattis a shot than go external and blow everything up. At least then you know the offense is going to stay in place and you should be able to bring most everyone back on that side of the ball.
If Michigan was coming off a 7-5 or 8-4 season and then Harbaugh left for the NFL, I'd be more okay with an external hire. But now you know what you have is working and you know it can get you to the CFP. Why in the hell would you want to scrap all of it and start over from square one when you didn't have to? It would be textbook self sabotage.
Plus, I remember a lottt of people thinking that Harbaugh was continually having the offense staying on training wheels and we weren't seeing what speed in space should really be looking like under Gattis. Well, if Harbaugh leaves and Gattis gets promoted, we'll finally find out for sure.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
If it's Gattis, I hope everyone gives him a chance before jumping on the Fire Gattis bandwagon. The first half of this past season, at least on the board, was a shit show of negativity.