It’s that time of year again, the mills turning grain into flour and Jim Harbaugh-to-the-NFL rumors into clicks.
Will this cycle end any differently?
Actually ...
If you trust the reporting of those most plugged in at Michigan — and my Magic 8 Ball — signs point to yes.
Here’s what I know:
A year ago, Harbaugh made clear his desire to return to the NFL, and this time around, his stock figures to be higher after a second straight tour-de-force season in Ann Arbor.
It doesn’t take Columbo to piece the puzzle together and deduce what might happen next.
We asked the followers of our sports Twitter account: Do you think Jim Harbaugh will actually leave for the NFL this time? Here are the results.
■ Yes: 45.9%
■ No: 54.1%
Total votes: 246
Already, the Michigan coach has been connected to every open job but speaker of the House. The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers have reportedly reached out and no one will be surprised if Indianapolis — which enshrined Harbaugh into its Ring of Honor for his playing heroics with the Colts — jumps into the mix, too.
As for Harbaugh, The Athletic reported his departure for the NFL is “a done deal if he gets an offer,” citing a source close to the coach, while Michigan insider John U. Bacon said the speculation is “real.”
“Could even happen fast,” Bacon tweeted.
Now, I know, but didn’t Harbaugh say ...
Yes, he did.
Last offseason, after he spent signing day in Minnesota interviewing with the Vikings — only to be passed over — he renewed his vows with Michigan.
As much as he wanted another crack at the NFL — where he did everything but win the Super Bowl in four seasons leading the 49ers — he assured AD Warde Manuel he was a Michigan man for good.
“I told him, ‘Warde, this will not be a reoccurring theme every year,’” Harbaugh told Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press. “This was a one-time thing. ... Sure, the Super Bowl is the greatest prize in our sport. But winning a national championship. That’s pretty darn great. Let’s do that.
“There was a pull to the NFL because I got that close to the Super Bowl, but this was the time (to try and return.) And this is the last time.”
We’ll see.
Coaches say a lot of things.
Tommy Tuberville once told Mississippi fans the only way he'd leave was “in a pine box” ... days before leaving for Auburn.
Nick Saban famously declared, “I'm not going to be the Alabama coach” ... two weeks before he became the Alabama coach.
Maybe Harbaugh is different.
I also don’t believe he’s so itching to go to the NFL that he’ll take any job.
Why? Because Michigan — which he has at its greatest heights in a generation — is not just any job.
Remember, for Harbaugh, the biggest reason he came to UM in 2015 was the enchantment of it all.
He loved the idea of returning home to Ann Arbor, where he came of age as the ball-boy son of a Wolverines coach and later as the star quarterback. Now, his own kids attend St. Francis of Assisi grade school, same as he did, and he has a big house on Bo Schembechler’s old street, next door to which his parents, Jack and Jackie, moved in.
He’s the prodigal son, back leading Michigan to glory.
But, again, the chatter isn’t for nothing.
Harbaugh could end all of this with one clear statement denying his interest in the NFL. He has not.
Where no fire used to accompany the annual smoke of speculation on Harbaugh’s next move, you can now see the orange glow above the Ann Arbor sky all the way from Toledo.
My hunch: He’ll be offered the Colts job and accept.
And who could blame him?
As much as Harbaugh has enjoyed the past two seasons, college football has changed. (Harbaugh is a coach’s coach, and the appeal of leading a team at the highest level — with no recruiting, NIL, or transfer portal to worry about — no doubt grows each year.)
So has his relationship with Michigan.
Loyalty is a two-way street, and if Harbaugh returned to Michigan as a football romantic, the pandemic season of 2020 — a disaster that ended with calls for his firing and a half-rate offer to stay on — no doubt reinforced the cold reality: This is a business, plain and simple, with every man and school for themselves.
I would have rolled my eyes if Harbaugh had left after last season, bolting Dodge after he finally beat Ohio State, then lobbed a cutting personal shot at Ryan Day. But more power to him now. He not only gave Day and the Buckeyes a chance to answer. He beat them again, the highlight of another playoff season.
If his heart is set on the pros — and he gets a good offer — he’ll have two fine options.
Harbaugh, 59, can return to the NFL and resume his pursuit of “the greatest prize in our sport,” or he can continue his chase of the most personal one: a national championship at Michigan.
Either way, Michigan fans should wish him only the best, as long as he doesn’t leave them twisting in the winter winds for too long this time.
It’s starting to get a little cold.
First Published January 4, 2023, 8:15 p.m.
