Michigan is working on a contract extension for football coach Jim Harbaugh worth $11 million annually over five years, according to a source with knowledge of the negotiations. The main hurdle remaining is a commitment in writing from Harbaugh that he will not pursue an NFL job this cycle. The salary number would take him above Ohio State coach Ryan Day and make him the second-highest-paid coach in the sport behind Alabama’s Nick Saban and his $11.4 million–per-year salary.
Harbaugh’s Wolverines just clinched their third straight Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff berth, but his on-again, off-again dalliances with the NFL have been a constant source of speculation, as his desire for another crack at a Super Bowl is well known. He interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings following the 2021 season, and last season NFL Network reported that NFL teams were again doing their homework on him. ESPN reported after he did not get the Vikings job that “Jim Harbaugh told [athletic director] Warde Manuel that this would not be a reoccurring issue and he would stay at Michigan as long as it wants him[.]”
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Two NFL jobs are already open with franchises he has ties to. He was on the Raiders’ coaching staff that went to the Super Bowl in 2002 and he ended his playing career with the Carolina Panthers. Other jobs that could open by the end of the season include the Chicago Bears and Chargers, two teams he played for. Harbaugh got his start as a head coach in the Chargers’ former home, San Diego, where he led USD, and there will be numerous suitors lining up to work with quarterback Justin Herbert.
All of this comes against the setting of the signal-stealing scandal that has taken over the Wolverines’ season. In October the school was preparing to offer Harbaugh an extension. At the time, Michigan brass wanted to get it done before the stretch run of the season, but the sign-stealing investigation complicated things severely and negotiations were paused. There are currently two active NCAA investigations focused on Harbaugh’s program, one looking into recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period in 2020 and the other into the sign-stealing controversy. Contract language is expected to be boilerplate regarding potential NCAA sanctions.
If completed, this contract would close the book on a three-year saga regarding Harbaugh and his salary. After the 2020 season, he agreed to a pay cut in a new deal that was for four years and incentive-laden, with a new yearly salary of around $4 million. That was reworked again after the ’21 season, when his salary was increased to more than $7 million per year and he was extended through ’26, the deal he is currently on.
Neither Harbaugh nor a lawyer representing him were immediately available for comment. The Wolverines next play Alabama in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, with a shot at the national title game on the line.
