I am shocked. SHOCKED! Well, not that shocked.
Over the weekend, numerous organizations reported that Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh will be meeting with the Los Angeles Chargers this week to interview for their coaching vacancy.
This comes just a day after Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel told a crowd of supporters inside the Crisler Arena that he was, “working hard to get this man a contract.”
Since the beginning, Harbaugh’s name has popped up every offseason when it comes to NFL openings. After leading the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl before his return to Michigan, many have assumed it would make sense for the Michigan Man to return to the professional level. During the championship game in Houston last week, however, an insider said that Harbaugh to “not count on” Harbaugh leaving Michigan.
Though that same source said only Harbaugh himself, not even his family, knows what he is thinking or will do.
Harbaugh was asked about a possible NFL return after Michigan beat Washington, 34-13, last week.
“I just want to enjoy this,” he said. “I just want to enjoy this. I hope you give me that. Can a guy have that? Does it always have to be what’s next, what’s the future?”
He continued: “Like I said the other day, yeah, I hope to have a future. I hope there’s a tomorrow, a day after tomorrow, a next week, a next month, a next year.”
The Chargers fired coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco in December after losing to the Las Vegas Raiders, 63-21. Few were shocked by Staley’s firing but many saw Telesco’s firing as an extra benefit to hiring someone like Harbaugh, who many see as wanting more control over a team should he return.
Harbaugh played for the Chargers during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. He retired in 2001.
While Harbaugh could make a return to the NFL, and none would blame him, he is clearly very happy with what he’s created at Michigan.
“I mean you could probably write a book, what it means to be a Michigan Man,” he said last week. “But some day, when they throw dirt over the top of me, if somebody who is eulogizing me, who was on this team or one of my teammates, when I was playing at Michigan, if they would simply say, ‘He was a Michigan man,’ that would mean everything. Would mean everything to me.”
