During Jim Harbaugh‘s final days as 49ers head coach, the Raiders placed him atop their list. Harbaugh ended up trekking to Michigan, leading Jack Del Rio to Oakland, during that 2015 offseason. Seven years later, the Raiders may be back in the Harbaugh mix.
The Raiders and Harbaugh have been connected for a few weeks now, Albert Breer of SI.com notes, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com adds (video link) that the current Wolverines HC is expected to be interested in becoming the next Raiders leader. While this should be taken with a grain of salt, since Harbaugh surfaces in NFL coaching rumors annually, the longtime HC did begin his coaching career with the Raiders.
Prior to becoming a successful college head coach, the former NFL quarterback was Oakland’s QBs coach from 2002-03. That ’02 season ended with Rich Gannon winning MVP honors and the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. Following the ’03 season, Harbaugh became head coach at the University of San Diego. That led to his Stanford gig and re-emergence on the NFL radar. Harbaugh, 58, has not exactly been off the NFL grid since returning to his alma mater, but there could be more smoke here.
Ahead of Harbaugh’s initial Michigan agreement, the Raiders offered more money and were prepared to make him the NFL’s highest-paid HC. Initially given an $8MM-per-year contract at Michigan, Harbaugh saw his salary slashed to $4MM as part of an incentive-laden deal last year. While Harbaugh said publicly the contract adjustment was “no big deal,” Breer adds, understandably, the veteran coach was not pleased with the pay cut. Harbaugh only accepted Michigan’s latest offer after exploring an NFL return with the Jets and Chargers last year.
After Michigan beat Ohio State for the first time in Harbaugh’s tenure, the seventh-year Wolverines HC led the team to the College Football Playoff for the first time. Georgia dispatched the Big Ten program easily in the semifinals. This coming after Michigan went 2-4 in 2020’s pandemic-truncated season, however, represented tremendous growth for the Wolverines.
The Raiders did not join the Jaguars in going through early HC interviews, with Breer adding the team sticking with interim coach Rich Bisaccia is not out of the question. The Raiders have a chance to clinch their first playoff berth in five years Sunday.
Harbaugh is a great coach but I would prefer given Bisaccia a full season chance. Bisaccia inherited a very touch situation and has done a pretty decent job thus far…
100% Bisaccia deserves to stay, he can do that by coaching special teams.
100% Coach Basaccia should get the opportunity
People complain about NCCA players loyalty? J Harbaugh has 1 ok-good year at UM after 6-7(?)and now he’s open to leaving? Still lost to MSU right? can’t even get a sweep over university rivals?
Thank god that the players can now transfer, and make money off themselves at the collegiate level (NIL). Coaches could care less about loyalty, why should the players?
1 ok-good season? They’ve all been pretty good outside of 2020.
Not according to their, UM’s, NFL alum. Charles Woodson has been all over him. As have many others, prior to beating OSU this year. As still chewed him out over losing to MSU.
He also had a 5 loss season in 2017 and a 4 loss season in 2019. That aint good enough for Michigan football. Only 1 conference title as well
Harbaugh has a 20-15 record after October when the real schedule begins.
How much less could they care? A lot? A little?
Did not really have an opinion yet on the rumors of Jimmy H becoming the Raiders new man in charge. My thought has been swayed for the mere fact that your blood pressure and heart rate will not be able to stand Jimmy H walking the Vegas sidelines with a head set.
Your comments alone are starting to force me to order popcorn in bulk.
Hope the NYG sign him as GM/Coach
Jon Mara & Kevin Abrams need to fire themselves, swapping out head coaches may help win 1-2+ more games but won’t fix the team for the long-term.
What qualifies him to be a GM? How often does giving a coach both jobs work out well?
He’s peaked at michigan. Winning the B10 and a playoff exit is about the best he’ll do. Take the money and run back to the NFL.
Raiders should give him everything to lure him. Every team looking for a HC should actually
Sticking with rich bisaccia would be the most raiders thing ever lmao
Many U of M fans would applaud Jim going to the Raiders. However no team is offering him a contract.
How much of Harbaugh’s success as an NFL coach was Roman and Fangio?
Fangio might be available for a reunion if things go the way they seem to be heading in Denver
Harbaugh was always a better NFL Coach than college coach. He’ll have other teams interested in him as well namely the bears. So if a team offers him a chance to coach the pros again he’d be smart to take it. It’s safe to say that he peaked at Michigan.
Mr Handsome Marc Davis will never pay what Harbaugh would need.
Didn’t see that Gruden contract did ya?
Yeah, but how did that turn out?
The Bears make more sense.
I’d rather have a honey badger coaching the Bears than Harbaugh.
Denver would be a great fit or if Pete Carrol leaves the SeaChickens so he can beat the 49ers at least 2 times a year.
He would want some stability at QB wherever he goes. Denver doesn’t know what to do at QB and the Wilson situation is in flux. Maybe Wilson would stay if Harbaugh came to town.
Harbaugh’s such a weird dude. He wins a lot but unless he’s improved, his act wears thin with professional players and GMs. Him ditching Michigan would be a bad look too. They finally took the next step.
He’s certainly weird, but it’s not like he’s coached Michigan for 1 year. He’s been since 2015 so I doubt leaving is a bad look.