Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines are coming off a disappointing New Year’s Eve loss to Texas Christian in the College Football Playoff Semifinals. It’s the second consecutive season that Michigan has lost in the semis.
It also brings us to our annual Harbaugh rumor mill with the head coach being linked to a return to the NFL.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Denver Broncos have reached out to Harbaugh in order to gauge his interest in heading to Mile High.
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. A previous report indicated that Denver would show interest in Harbaugh after firing first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett in late December.
As for a potential return to the NFL, Harbaugh was close to taking the Minnesota Vikings’ job last cycle. Instead, he used that interest to create leverage for an extension from the Wolverines. Whether the 59-year-old Harbaugh would do this again remains to be seen. What we do know is that he’s a hot commodity in the market once again.
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Jim Harbaugh as a fit with the Denver Broncos
A veteran quarterback of 14 NFL seasons, Harbaugh’s only experience as a head coach in the pros came with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-14. He led the team to a 44-19-1 record with a Super Bowl appearance mixed in.
Interestingly enough, Harbaugh’s tenure in San Francisco included Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks being their chief rival in the NFC West. With Wilson wasting away in Denver, adding Harbaugh to the mix would be seen as an interesting fit.
The team sits at an ugly 4-12 following Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Meanwhile, Denver’s new ownership group is apparently taking a hands-on approach when it comes to hiring a new head coach.
With some of the deepest pockets the NFL has to offer, money won’t be an issue if co-owners Rob Walton and Greg Penner decide Harbaugh is their man.
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As for a potential flirtation with returning to the NFL, Harbaugh shot this down back in early December while providing a caveat.
“That time of the year type of speculation, but I think no man knows the future. But I think that people that think we’ve done a good job and are pleased with the job that we’ve done here at Michigan, they’re going to be very happy to learn that we will be back enthusiastically coaching the Wolverines in 2023.
And for those people that don’t approve of the job we’ve done or would rather see somebody else coaching here, I think they’ll be most likely disappointed to learn we’ll be back coaching the Wolverines and in 2023.”
Jim Harbaugh on his future
In addition to Denver, reports indicate that the Indianapolis Colts are interested in talking to Harbaugh about their vacancy. Indy fired head coach Frank Reich earlier this season. It is now finishing out a disastrous campaign with an interim head coach in Jeff Saturday who likely has no future in that role.
Harbaugh played with Indianapolis from 1994-1997 and has a built-in relationship with owner Jim Irsay.
- Jim Harbaugh college coaching record: 103-46, nine bowl appearances
Harbaugh joined Michigan back in 2015 after being fired by San Francisco due to issues with the team’s ownership group. The Wolverines struggled to a 49-21 record in his first 70 games. Since then, Michigan is 25-3. Though, the team is also in the midst of six-game bowl losing streak after falling to TCU Saturday evening.