Harbaugh Completed 2-Hour Virtual Interview With Broncos Yesterday
Considered a "top candidate" afterwards. Article here.
I love Coach Harbaugh, and really hope he stays at UM forever. That being said, I have a feeling that spending two hours on Zoom with Jim would be...weird. He's the kind of guy that stares directly at his web cam and uses the "raise hand" button when he wants to talk and the "applause" button when someone says something he likes...
January 10th, 2023 at 9:42 AM ^
He can be very engaging when he wants to. The space cadet thing is largely an act when he doesn't want to talk to the press.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:43 AM ^
I … very much doubt that’s an act.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
He's an unusual bird.
A 30 minute interview and Harbaugh gets the job . . . a 2 hour interview and he gets a "no way".
He might have gotten the Minnesota job if he cut off the interviews after the first round.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
Harbaugh in interviews reminds me of people I know who actually think about what is being asked of them before formulating an honest response. It's unusual -- and is especially awkward on TV -- since most of us are successfully socialized to be constant bullshitters.
January 10th, 2023 at 1:39 PM ^
I'm convinced he's autistic; his social behaviors match it to a T. You ask a high-functioning autistic a question, basically one of three things can happen:
- For anticipated/familiar questions, you'll quickly get a coherent answer. (We actually tend to do pretty well in customer-facing roles because it's all rehearsed.) Jim doesn't seem to do this much to the media, though, probably because he loathes the media so why bother.
- If you get us comfortable, we'll talk your ears off about subject deep-dives. This won't happen in front of sports reporters, who just want sound bites to fill their pre-written articles. It will happen in two-hour interviews, and we'll usually scare most people off.
- Otherwise, i.e., in the vast majority of Jim's media appearances, we need the time to formulate a response. We're going to stare blankly as we stammer and stutter because talking doesn't come naturally to us. It's literally a social disability -- that's him trying his best to form words into sentences that will be understood.
January 10th, 2023 at 5:16 PM ^
His athleticism is a counter indicator to a spectrum diagnosis.
January 10th, 2023 at 5:28 PM ^
Except that he otherwise would have been the greatest athlete to grace the universe of any species for all of eternity.
January 10th, 2023 at 5:34 PM ^
You mean, he's not? 😉
January 11th, 2023 at 7:40 AM ^
The signs & symptoms of autism include nothing about physical conditioning, whatsoever. For starters, there's nothing stopping someone with a differently wired brain from hitting the gym.
I don't know where you picked up this myth, but better to drop it. There's enough misinformation flying around.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:38 AM ^
It is strange because John Harbaugh isn't like that all.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:19 AM ^
John didn't have an NFL career, let alone a long one before the focus on protecting players' heads and quarterbacks' whole selves.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
I have 2 brothers and we literally couldnt be any different...nature split 'em, not nurturing.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
Do other people not act differently in different social settings? Sure, he’s got his quirks—but he isn’t some guy who goes around just randomly talking in aphorisms and coach speak. I talk a lot differently to my family than I do my students and my colleagues and to strangers.
People who judge him off interviews are judging him off performances of his persona, which is only a part of who the man is. He knows how to talk “normal” when he’s in private conversations or else he wouldn’t be as successful and as he has always been. People aren’t going to hire him if all they get is the same kind of coach speak dude we see after games or even when reporters ask questions about the team.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:24 AM ^
Yeah, either that or he's been doing it 24-7 his entire existence. I mean, he's an odd dude, no doubt about it.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
He sure looked like a space cadet, hopeless sadness witnessing TCU take it to us.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:53 AM ^
100% this. The press ask coaches the worst questions 90% of the time and you can tell Harbaugh just doesn't want to be there when they do.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:38 AM ^
So a lot like a job interview?
January 10th, 2023 at 11:28 AM ^
insane conflation, and the upvotes, jfc is this reddit we're on?
January 10th, 2023 at 1:42 PM ^
The conflation is hardly insane. Media interviews are corporate jackasses asking "gotcha" or filler questions and expecting boilerplate answers. Job interviews are corporate jackasses asking "gotcha" or filler questions and expecting boilerplate answers.
January 10th, 2023 at 5:36 PM ^
Except at the most senior levels, where HR hasn't been invited. Those interviews are *very different*.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:59 PM ^
Nah. HR still has to approve the questions
January 11th, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^
HR was never part of or privy to any interviews I had with CEOs or even their direct reports and I sure as hell never had HR sit with me and the people I was interviewing when I was the CEO.
Also have two first cousins, currently senior HR people in tech (CA and MA), who indicate similar things. They're there to check boxes and insure the company doesn't and won't step on itself in any future/potential suits.
But, as always, YMMV.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
Clearly you didn’t want the amazon series of Michigan in 2017
January 10th, 2023 at 10:45 AM ^
Wonder if it works on the wife
January 10th, 2023 at 11:23 AM ^
Well it is now official. What he told Warde last year was a lie. Im surprised we arent discussing this more.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
Trying to remember. How do we know what exactly Harbaugh said to Warde in terms of being done with the NFL and this not being an annual thing? Seriously, can not remember.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:23 PM ^
After interviewing with the Vikings in February 2022: “I told him, ‘Warde, this will not be a reoccurring theme every year. This was a one time thing.” … “And this is the last time.”
January 10th, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
You don't need to remember to last year. You only need to remember 6 days ago:
"I expect that I will be enthusiastically coaching Michigan in 2023"
January 10th, 2023 at 1:43 PM ^
Jim's public statements are so obviously directed by his agent it's almost comical.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:27 PM ^
Lighten up, Francis. There are several possibilities here, but start with the assumption that if Jim was seriously interested in the Bronco's job, he would have hopped on a plane or met them in person at one of those nice conference rooms in the Metro Airport Westin.
- The zoom call aspect of this speaks of an agent telling Jim he's gotta sit still for two hours on a 'friendly discussion' with the Broncos to help sell the NFL threat to Warde/Santa.
- Jim hired an agent and feels compelled to listen to him and follow the game plan. Is this much different than hiring assistant coaches (e.g. Wiess, Moore) and actually letting them run the offense? I can see Jim buying into an agent's game plan.
- I think the entire basis of Harbaugh-gate 2023 stems back to the loss of trust in handshake deals (Bo's modus operandi) back in 2020, when he was painted into a corner and had to swallow a bitter pill. Jim loves the actual coaching gig itself, but probably has become disenchanted with the administrative/NCAA environment (not that he didn't get seriously burnt out in SF over ownership/GM issues). That's why he's playing the game the way his ham-handed agent wants it played.
I just think if he wanted to leave, it would be playing out differently. For example, he's probably could buy his own contract out and be a completely unencumbered free agent in both the NFL or (ugh) the CFB markets.
Come back home, Jimmy, all will be forgiven (with a large enough buyout on the next contract...).
January 10th, 2023 at 2:12 PM ^
Grampy you might be right but if Denver gives Harbaugh everything he wants he will bolt to the NFL in a second. I really don’t think interviewing is all just a ploy to hold UM’s feet to the fire.
Harbaugh is now sick of the BS in the NCAA and how it’s just become the Wild West yet they want to punish him for some stupid infractions when they turn their head to everyday BS going on.
Denver is all in for Harbaugh and they think the NCAA infractions might be enough to push him back to the NFL. The next week or two will be interesting. But I don’t think this is solely a ploy by Jim and his agent
January 10th, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
The NFL has times when teams can interview coach's in person which is why the interview was over Zoom. They can't interview Sean Payton in person until January 17th.
January 10th, 2023 at 1:21 PM ^
Or, maybe he was sincere at the time about never looking again at the NFL, but then got reprimanded by the NCAA over a hamburger receipt and decided “fuck this shit.”
If so, I can’t really blame him.
January 10th, 2023 at 2:09 PM ^
Thing is, it's not like the NFL is a stress-free utopia. He's left there once in a huff, already.
Nothing more miserable than a goat that keeps jumping fences for the next pasture.
January 10th, 2023 at 4:27 PM ^
I was that goat early in my career, jumped around a lot out of boredom and the grass is greener mentality. It was never really greener, by the way. That was just my personality and it may be his. It's hard for some people to accept that this is the last stop, for a lot of reasons.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
We need to fire him for cause - this NFL dalliance part II. It will hurt the program.
Let him collect unemployment when the NFL realizes how void his mind is.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:17 PM ^
You’re off your rocker on this one
January 10th, 2023 at 9:43 PM ^
Mmmmm . . .
H
A
W
T
!
January 10th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
lol it's not an act at all.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:43 AM ^
Santa/Warde need to make him an offer to be the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten, but he has to take it or leave it today. There's no reason to let this process drag out. And if Harbaugh wants to continue to pursue his NFL dream, we should part ways. It will suck after everything he's done here, especially in the last two years, but there is no reason to keep dragging this out. Promote Moore, retain the recruiting class.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:53 AM ^
5 years at $12 million per year and keep his incentives the same. Add in a $60 million buyout that declines by $12 million each year. Also, let him make some asks regarding assistants pay and facilities, NIL, etc. and say yes to all of them. Finally, tell him that the NCAA allegations are all BS, that you support him 100%, and you’ll fight it if he wants to fight it.
January 10th, 2023 at 9:57 AM ^
All sounds good to me. But make it an exploding offer that expires COB. There is no reason for the University to allow this to continue to drag out.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:22 AM ^
The issue is that he is still under contract. We cannot really do a "take it or leave it" demand unless what he is doing right now constitutes cause to terminate his contract.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:30 AM ^
Good point. He really has us over a barrel, doesn't he? He can do whatever he wants and the only thing we can do is fire him, and that could then get into a protracted legal battle over cause.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:40 AM ^
This is precisely why Warde screwed up last year. Michigan had Harbaugh over a barrel last year when the Vikings situation blew up and he was under contract to be underpaid by us. We should have executed an extension and buyout last year when we had the leverage.
January 10th, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^
You never have an elite coach over a barrel. If we had strong-armed Harbaugh into signing a deal he didn't want, it could have just motivated him to leave the next chance he got.
I think you have to keep things as amicable as possible.
January 10th, 2023 at 10:45 AM ^
What I don't understand is that Harbaugh is seemingly doing this without any real concern as to how it impacts a job he may still come back to? If he is still going to coach Michigan he is going to be dealing with the recruiting fallout of this and it doesn't seem to concern him.
January 10th, 2023 at 1:22 PM ^
Maybe this is a negotiating tactic so he can get the raise and buyout that he deserves and it will stabilize recruiting moving forward. I’m certain schools still negatively recruit towards us because the buyout is low and Harbaugh is a proven NFL commodity. We were told that Harbaugh’s camp actively pursued the Carolina interview with little interest on their end. The only reason I can think of to pursue a job that it’s not that interested in you is to gain leverage in another negotiation. Maybe this Bronco interview was just to show the Michigan brass that he has options if they don’t come through.
He might leave, but I think this is nothing more than contract leverage.
January 10th, 2023 at 1:31 PM ^
I don't think so. If it is about contract leverage, what more would he have to do? Have the two weeks of interviews, rumors, and non-denials not called Manuel and Santa's attention to the situation? If he was trying to deliver a message I would say it has been heard loud and clear and nothing appears to be changing.
If anything, at this point if it was about leverage and there isn't a new contract in place, I think it has moved past that point. Possibly Michigan just didn't bite so now Harbaugh is really leaving. Possibly the NIL movement with Corum and his announcement that he is coming back was Michigan playing its cards back at Harbaugh and telling him to have a nice life.
One thing to consider is the fact that Harbaugh just completely blew a game that Michigan never should have lost. Perhaps the AD and President are not as amazed with Harbaugh as he is with himself.
At this point, I have to say I don't expect him back.
January 10th, 2023 at 11:26 AM ^
Warde has a clause in the contract that Jim cant interview for jobs unless he gives his blessing. So theoritically he could put a contract in front of Jim and say take it or leave it and if you interview for the Broncos youre gone.
But Warde wouldn't do that because 1. it may not be the soundest strategy to keep him on board and even if it was the best strategy 2. he has no balls