Harbaugh interviewing with Vikings in person on Feb 2

Because he strikes me as a guy who isn't going to sign a long-term contract with a school and then interview every year afterwards; again, this is the first interviewing he's done in 7 years despite near-constant speculation by various NFL talking heads.  He's interviewing now because UM basically told him "here's a one-year contract to prove you've still got it" and he did so he's figuring out what direction he wants to take what is likely the last major change in his career, unless you think a guy post-60 is going to be on NFL radars.

Sure, maybe there's a world where he interviews constantly with a bunch of NFL teams going forward, but that would be against past precedent by him.  Wherever he signs that's likely his last job as a coach, and so he's going to figure it out.  

I'd imagine UMs extension that he hasn't signed yet has a significantly higher buyout than his current contract.  It may be that if he signs the extension, financially he won't get the chance to look around again until the contract expires. 

Pretty odd circumstances all around, especially considering where we were least offseason and the recent Tucker and Frames extensions.  

Yeah, I'm leaning more toward him going to the NFL than before because, well, he's actually interviewing with the Vikings (though to be fair the Vikings apparently just interviewed O'Connell for the second time so there are other options on the table).  But I could also see this being one of those instances where you want to see if you actually want to make that transition again and so you go through the motions.  I did something similar a couple years ago with my career and realized that the grass isn't always greener even at a new spot and stuck to my old employer, which has thus far worked out.  But you want to do your due diligence and that's what Harbaugh is doing.

Things people said about beilein 

If he is playing the long game, he should stay at Michigan.  From what we have heard about his personality, it’s probably the only place that will give him most of all that he needs and wants.  
 

Also, very very very difficult to stay employed in the NFL. If Michigan was an NFL team, Jim would have been fired a long time ago. You don’t get 7 years to finally produce what you were hired for in the NFL.  Where does JH go when in 3-5 years he is fired by the Vikings?

The patience being shown by Warde as well as the staff is interesting. Macdonald made a move which made sense and we brought Elston in the midst of all of this.

It leads me to speculate there is a plan. Harbaugh may stay but I’m betting Gattis is in line with plans to keep the staff together.

Sure, there's always a chance he'll look elsewhere but that's always the deal with an HC.  MSU just "locked up" Mel Tucker for an outrageous contract that pays him a metric ton of money and basically has no buyout; he can actively look for a new job every year and there's not much MSU can do to dissuade him from it.  And all year he actively flirted with other programs about their HC jobs.  And yet, recruits didn't seem to lose their shit and coaches kept working for him.  

I think he knows this is likely his last contract one way or another, and i'm sure he feels like there's something missing from his NFL run.  So maybe he does go to the Vikings because it's an NFL job (though I think if he gets an offer it'll be matched by the Dolphins so we'll see if he goes) because then he can scratch that itch, and so be it.  But if not I do believe he'd be back for the long haul, and I think the people who wanted him shit canned last year will just have their knives sharpened for him when he inevitably doesn't make the CFP and beat OSU by 15 every year.

How does he know he wants the Minnesota job more than he wants the Michigan job? Seems like total speculation. That seems more like it would be dependent on what Minnesota is willing to offer him and he needs to interview with Minnesota to see if that’s somewhere he wants to be. 

Mike Leach's leverage games once included hanging out in a hotel lobby trying to snag an "interview" with an AD that wasn't even interested. So while the conclusion may well be true, I don't think the premise is.

He's literally been flying across the country recruiting for 2023. What are you talking about Thad?

And we are not signing anyone so NSD means nothing for us (and a bunch of other schools) this year.

Harbaugh was in Portland last week recruiting 4* TE Riley Williams from Central Catholic.  M is late to the recruitment of Williams, so Coach is still ‘crutin even the long shots.

If Coach wants to go, wish him well.  If he wants to stay, just beat the Bucktards, again!!

Oh I totally agree, it shouldn't make any difference, but hiring the Next Hot Coordinator (TM) has been a league trend for years now and the more venerable types have gotten fewer and fewer shots at it. I think it's an unfounded bias but it's there. Otherwise, he'd have gotten multiple offers given his credentials. Of course, you also have to factor in his personality (and reputation). He's seen as a weird dude (true) and hard to work with (depends on who you ask).

Look at the sidelines in the playoff games. Half the time the coaches look like they could still be playing age. Hell man, Zac Taylor is coaching in the Super Bowl. He was an assistant wide receivers coach in 2017 and a QB coach in 2018. In 2019 he's an HC. The league has really transitioned it's thinking on who is qualified to get the top job.

We may not have much, but we have several excellent steakhouses and all the whole milk you could want. In fact, I wouldn't be too surprised if his first endorsement deal is with Kemp's.