Yahoo Sports Jim Harbaugh to stay at Michigan after Vikings interview
Jim Harbaugh is staying at Michigan.
After interviewing for the head-coaching job of the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday, Harbaugh informed school officials that he will be back in Ann Arbor for the 2022 season, ESPN is reporting.
Multiple media outlets reported that Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell will be the Vikings' new head coach. He is currently preparing for the Super Bowl, where the Rams will face the Cincinnati Bengals on Feb. 13, and can't be officially named to the job yet.
In the meantime, Harbaugh will be back at his alma mater for an eighth season.
“With an enthusiasm unknown to mankind!” Harbaugh said in a text message to The Associated Press.
Harbaugh has spent the past seven seasons coaching Michigan, his alma mater. The 2021 season was his best yet.
The Wolverines beat rival Ohio State for the first time since 2011, won their first Big Ten title since 2004 and advanced to the College Football Playoff for the first time.
Now, after flirting with the NFL, Harbaugh will be back with the Wolverines next fall.
In a text message to the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Harbaugh said: "The Wilf family and organization are first class all the way and in every way and [general manager] Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah] is a shining star! The team is poised for greatness.”
Based on his past success as an NFL head coach, many have wondered when Harbaugh would try to return to the professional ranks. And by all accounts, Harbaugh made a serious run for the Vikings job.
Harbaugh reportedly flew to Minnesota on Wednesday to meet with Vikings officials, but it appears that the franchise did not offer him the job. Not long after the news of Harbaugh's return to Michigan emerged, multiple outlets reported that the Vikings were prepared to offer their head-coaching job to Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell.
After missing out on the Vikings job, Harbaugh reportedly told Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel that the pursuit of an NFL job will not be a "re-occurring issue" moving forward.
Jim Harbaugh told Warde Manuel that this would not be a re-occurring issue and he would stay at Michigan as long as it wants him, per sources. https://t.co/d3NVS4EdLl
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 3, 2022
Jim Harbaugh’s NFL experience
Harbaugh had a strong run as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014. With the 49ers, Harbaugh worked alongside new Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
In four seasons in San Francisco, Harbaugh amassed a 44-19 record, led the 49ers to three consecutive NFC championship game appearances and a Super Bowl appearance in the 2012 season. The 49ers lost that Super Bowl 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens, the team coached by John Harbaugh, Jim’s older brother.
The 49ers went 8-8 in Harbaugh’s final season and he eventually had a tumultuous divorce from the franchise that led him back to the college ranks.
Before his time with the 49ers, Harbaugh rebuilt the Stanford program, culminating in a 12-1 record in 2010, his final season with the Cardinal. Harbaugh also coached at the University of San Diego from 2004 to 2006 and spent two seasons as the quarterbacks coach of the Oakland Raiders.
Harbaugh was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 1987 and ended up playing 15 seasons in the NFL with the Bears, Colts, Ravens, Chargers and Panthers. Notably, Harbaugh worked as an assistant under his father Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky during his final eight seasons playing in the NFL.
Harbaugh coached Michigan to College Football Playoff
It was a winding road to get to the 2021 Big Ten championship for Harbaugh.
A beloved Wolverines quarterback in the '80s, Harbaugh returned to Ann Arbor in late 2014 to much fanfare after his four-year stint coaching the 49ers. His task was revitalizing a historic college football program that was in the midst of a long stretch of mediocrity.
Harbaugh quickly elevated the Wolverines. Michigan won 10 games in his first two seasons, but finished third in the Big Ten East and lost to Ohio State both years — once via blowout and once in a controversial double-overtime heartbreaker.
The Wolverines took a step back in 2017, finishing 8-5, before another 10-win season in 2018. Michigan had a chance to get to the Big Ten title game, but got blown out by Ohio State 62-39.
In 2019, Michigan won nine games but again finished in third place in the Big Ten East and lost to the Buckeyes in blowout fashion. That preceded a horrific 2-4 record during the 2020 season played amid the pandemic.
Following that season the heat was on Harbaugh, with many suggesting he should be fired. Instead, he returned for his seventh season with an amended contract that included a substantial pay cut. Harbaugh also made significant changes to his coaching staff.
What followed was Michigan’s best season in more than two decades.
Michigan started 7-0, dropped a heartbreaker to Michigan State, and then closed out the year with four more victories. The highlight was a 42-27 beatdown of Ohio State that clinched the Big Ten East title for the Wolverines. From there, UM destroyed Iowa 42-3 in the Big Ten title game to clinch a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Michigan would lose to eventual national champion Georgia in the CFP semifinals, but Harbaugh expressed plenty of optimism about the future of the program after that defeat.
"It was a great season," Harbaugh said. "To me, it’s one of the best seasons in Michigan football history. We were trying to make it greater tonight, but it was still a great season. Proud of them, the way they kept fighting. Ton of resolve with this football team. To me, it feels like a start. It feels like a beginning."
Only a month after making that statement, Harbaugh was out interviewing for a different job.
In the end, he will stick around in Ann Arbor and has a chance to lead the Wolverines forward. However, there could be some hurt feelings — both on the Michigan roster and in the fanbase — to tend to in the coming weeks for Harbaugh.
