Getty Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines discusses a previous play with a line judge during the fourth quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions on October 19, 2019 at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. Penn State defeats Michigan 28-21.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh made his intentions clear the night before his interview with the Minnesota Vikings.
He plans to take the job if given an offer.
“Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh is headed to Minnesota for a Wednesday interview, but multiple sources say it’s a formality. Harbaugh heads there planning to sign a deal to become the NFL Vikings’ head coach,” Chris Balas of TheWolverine.com reported on February 1.
Harbaugh said his “thank yous” and “goodbyes” in Michigan on Monday, January 31, Balas added.
However, in the NFL, it’s not over until it’s over. There’s still one final hurdle for Harbaugh: convincing Vikings ownership he’s an ideal candidate amid a reported divide among the Vikings brass.
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Adofo-Mensah & Ownership Divided on Harbaugh
On Monday night, Michigan insider Sam Webb reported that Harbaugh is pushing for Minnesota’s head coach position.
“I was told by multiple university sources today that Harbaugh’s desire to return to the pros… if he can… has been made clear. Wednesday’s interview isn’t merely another step in the feeling out process. He is pursuing the opportunity hard. And as should be expected under those circumstances, I’ve heard he’s made overtures toward potential targets for his would-be staff,” Webb reported to 247 Sports subscribers, per InsideTheVikings’ Will Ragatz.
Harbaugh was once deemed a longshot candidate for the Vikings, but now it appears the only thing stopping Minnesota is ownership.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who worked with Harbaugh for two years with the San Francisco 49ers, had Harbaugh at the top of his list, Webb reported. However, ownership may not be convinced of the Harbaugh hiring yet.
“This time that agent shared buzz from NFL circles suggesting that Harbaugh is at the top of Adofo-Mensah’s list, but that Michigan’s headman still needs to be sold to others in the organization,” Webb added, per InsideTheVikings. “There’s reportedly a perception in league circles that ‘Harbaugh can be tough to deal with.’ But that’s a concern that his already-established rapport with Adofo-Mensah might quell.”
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Ownership Doesn’t Want Another Zimmer
GettyMike Zimmer
Harbaugh’s coaching history has been marred by rumored tension with 49ers ownership and players.
In their initial coaching search, the Vikings steered far from Harbaugh, interviewing eight different candidates before Harbaugh’s name was even mentioned in the same breath as the Vikings. Coming out of a “fear-based culture” under Mike Zimmer, Harbaugh’s murky past likely made him a periphery candidate to the team’s hiring committee.
But when Adofo-Mensah entered the organization a week ago on January 26, the Vikings general manager quickly made the potential Harbaugh hire materialize. Harbaugh had an interview on Saturday and is being flown in for his interview on Wednesday.
However, Harbaugh will have to answer for his fallout in San Francisco.
San Francisco Fallout
Harbaugh worked wonders for the 49ers when he was first hired in 2011. He took over a 6-10 team and led them three straight NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl XLVII appearance.
But amid a tumultuous 2014 campaign, Harbaugh was given notice that he would be fired at the end of the season.
“Yes, I was told I wouldn’t be the coach anymore — and you can call it mutual. I wasn’t going to put the 49ers in a position to have a coach they didn’t want anymore,” Harbaugh said, per NFL.com. “That’s the truth of it. I didn’t leave the 49ers, I felt like the 49er hierarchy left me.”
Harbaugh butted heads with general manager Trent Baalke, leading to a polarizing public image for the head coach. He’s been rumored to be a control freak and wanted full autonomy of the 49ers.
However, NFL insider and editor-and-chief of The Athletic’s Bay Area branch Tim Kawakami reported back in 2014 that Harbaugh had never asked for personnel powers in his tenure in San Francisco.
“He doesn’t want to be a GM–you think he wants to put together draft boards, review 30 game tapes of potential 6th-rounders from New Mexico or spend all of March going to Baylor/Maryland/Colorado/Nebraska pro days and gossiping with college coaches and other execs? No, he does not,” Kawakami said.
The divide between Harbaugh and Baalke came as both “football maniacs” had disagreements and had no other avenues to establish a cooperative work relationship.
“When two football maniacs start butting heads, they also have nowhere else to go in the relationship. You think they’re going to go watch movies together or hold cook-outs? Nope,” Kawakami wrote. “Football is the only thing for both men and when they begin to disagree on football matters, even the littlest things become epic battlegrounds and the guy who loses the battle remembers it forever, so it only builds towards the next battle and the next one.”
However, Harbaugh has a penchant for creating chaos and “fall in and out of love with players quickly,” Kawamaki said.
“I’ve heard he has occasionally stormed into personnel offices suddenly demanding that the team make dramatic changes, just like that. Which is not at all how Baalke operates, and he was pushed back at Harbaugh every time that has happened. And Baalke has control of the roster, of course,” Kawakami reported.
There are numerous reported disputes between Baalke and Harbaugh over individual player decisions.
Adofo-Mensah doesn’t hold a light to Harbaugh’s football acumen, which could be a situation with less tension between the GM-head coach pairing.
However, Harbaugh will have to answer to Minnesota’s scouting department that ownership wants to retain — with Adofo-Mensah playing arbiter.