Getty The Vikings have had communication with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, John U. Bacon reported.
The Minnesota Vikings have cast a wide net in finding the franchise’s next head coach.
After interviewing nine different candidates, the team has yet to schedule a second interview.
There are no clear signs of which way the Vikings could go — especially after a report that Minnesota has an interest in former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh — who has not interviewed for a single head coach job this offseason.
John U. Bacon, formerly a reporter with The Detroit News, recently followed up that report, saying that the Vikings have had “communication” with Harbaugh.
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Bacon Confirms ‘Communication’ With Harbaugh
Bacon appeared on a segment of The Wolverine Digest podcast and addressed the possibility of Harbaugh, who is currently the head coach at Michigan, taking a head coaching job with the Vikings.
“I don’t know how big of a thing it is. There has been some communication [with the Vikings]. I can say that,” Bacon said. “For awhile there was with Denver also, and that, obviously, didn’t go very far. So yeah, you never know.”
Bacon originally reported that Harbaugh’s field of potential NFL head coaching jobs was shrinking, with the only genuine interest lying with the Las Vegas Raiders. However, he added, “don’t count the Vikings out” of the Harbaugh sweepstakes — the first inkling that there was any interest in Minnesota.
“Harbaugh Watch, Day 23: Nobody Knows Anything. But FWIW (for what it’s worth), I’m hearing the NFL possibilities seem to be shrinking, not expanding, especially with probably the best fit, Las Vegas,” Bacon said in a tweet on January 25. “Flip side, just heard, ‘Don’t count the Vikings out.’ ”
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Harbaugh Watch, Day 23: Nobody Knows Anything.
But, FWIW, I’m hearing the NFL possibilities seem to be shrinking, not expanding, especially with probably the best fit, Las Vegas. Flip side, just heard, “Don’t count the Vikings out.”
See you tomorrow!
Josh McDaniels is expected to become the Raiders head coach, leaving the Vikings the only team with any publicly leaked interest still in the running for Harbaugh.
Harbaugh also has some ties to the Vikings already.
Harbaugh Among Top-5 Coaching Records in NFL History
Newly hired Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah overlapped with Harbaugh for two seasons while working for the 49ers.
The two worked together in San Francisco before Harbaugh parted ways with the organization for undisclosed reasons. Harbaugh took over as head coach in 2011 — an anticipated rebuilding season for the franchise that hadn’t made the playoffs or had a winning season since 2002.
Harbaugh worked wonders immediately, leading the 49ers to a 13-3 regular season and an NFC Championship Game appearance. He won three consecutive NFC West titles en route to three straight conference championship games and a Super Bowl appearance in 2012. But amid a turbulent 8-8 season, Harbaugh was told he would be fired at the end of the season but stayed to the finish the season before the 49ers announced they had “parted ways” with him.
“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 is 44-19-1 in his NFL coaching career for a .695 winning percentage as a head coach, which ranks fifth all-time.