Report Reveals Holdups In Jim Harbaugh Contract Talks

After winning a National Championship last week, Michigan football has one goal this offseason: keep Jim Harbaugh from bolting to the NFL (specifically the LA Chargers) via a new contract. With the sign-stealing and recruiting investigations still ongoing, a new report from Yahoo Sports revealed the current hold-ups in talks between Harbaugh and the University of Michigan. 

New report reveals the hold ups with a new contract for Jim Harbaugh

Jim Harbaugh has an impressive 40-3 overall record over the past three seasons, including three Big Ten titles, three CFP appearances, three wins over Ohio State, a Rose Bowl win, a National Championship, and more. This impressive record, which restored the Wolverines back to greatness, is enough to earn Jim Harbaugh a massive six-year deal from the University of Michigan, which would pay $11.5 million (guaranteed) per season. For those counting, that’s the biggest deal in college football.

Still, there are two main holdups in the contract — both revolve around termination details, especially when it comes to the NCAA’s ongoing investigations into the Michigan football program.

“Sources said Harbaugh is seeking language that would grant him immunity from termination from any finding or sanction that could arise from multiple current NCAA investigations into the football program,” reads Yahoo’s report from Dan Wetzel. “Harbaugh is also seeking a delay in the start date of the new contract to maintain a lower buyout that NFL teams would have to pay Michigan to hire him away.”

Michigan football looking to keep Harbaugh from the NFL after his interview with the LA Chargers

First off, with the NCAA gunning for Michigan football, it makes sense that Harbaugh would like the school to commit to him regardless of what comes of the investigations; after all, the Wolverines are national champions for the first time since 1997, and that should be enough for the program to trust Harbaugh at the helm regardless.

Secondly, seeing as Michigan’s 9th-year head coach just interviewed with the LA Chargers this week, it also makes sense that he would like to wait and see how the NFL responds before coming back to coach the Wolverines again next fall. But these conditions should not matter too much to the school — as long as Harbaugh’s NFL choice is made soon, the University of Michigan should be able to iron these details out.

We’ll see what Warde Manuel and Santa Ono are able to do here, but there seem to be some very cut-and-dry issues to fix with this contract from the University of Michigan’s perspective. That said, Harbaugh’s interest in the NFL is very real — which has been proven time and time again over the past few seasons — so it remains to be seen what he prefers to do as well.

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