Warde Manuel shouts out Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh

Yesterday, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh led his Wolverines to an impressive 52-7 victory over the Indiana Hoosiers — the team’s seventh victory of the 2023 season. Following the game, during Harbaugh’s post-game press conference, athletic director Warde Manuel gave a shout-out to his 9th-year head football coach.

Warde Manuel shouts out Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh

Contract talks are starting between Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel, with everyone seemingly on the same page in hopes of keeping Harbaugh with Michigan football for the foreseeable future. Over the past 2.5 years, Michigan has only lost three games — yesterday’s win moves the Wolverines’ record to 32-3 since the start of the 2021 season.

While relations between Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel have been rumored to be quite tense in the past, that didn’t seem to be the case after Michigan football beat Indiana yesterday. Early on in Harbaugh’s post-game press conference, he gave shout-outs to many of Michigan’s other coaches, though Manuel pointed out that he missed one: himself.

“Hey Jim — you missed one coach in your praise. Great job by you,” Warde Manuel said to Jim Harbaugh at the end of his presser. “Oh — hey, thanks Warde,” Harbaugh responded with a laugh.

It was an interesting exchange between the two, especially with contract talks starting in the middle of the Wolverines’ season, though it seemed pretty genuine.

Right now, reports suggest that the University of Michigan is about to offer Harbaugh a new contract that will keep him in Ann Arbor long-term and make him the Big Ten’s highest-paid head coach. For the time being, coaches like James Franklin (Penn State), Ryan Day (Ohio State), and even Mel Tucker (Michigan State) before his firing all made more than Harbaugh.

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