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With early signing day just days away, Michigan football’s currently committed 2021 class has to be wondering who its coach will be in the long and short term.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh has one year remaining on his contract — unprecedented in football at any level — creating uncertainty as to his future in Ann Arbor.
Harbaugh and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel were working on a contract extension before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold back in March, but that was put on the backburner with the financial hardship and uncertainty that stemmed from the pandemic. With Michigan having gone 2-4 in the regular season, that’s created something of an issue: do the Wolverines extend Harbaugh or do they move onto another head coach?
FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman shared an update on the Big Noon Kickoff program on FOX on Saturday morning, echoing what John U. Bacon said earlier in the week, but with a big caveat.
“I’m told Jim Harbaugh and AD Warde Manuel have begun preliminary contract talks for a new deal,” Feldman said. “But here’s the thing: when you look at the situation for Jim Harbaugh, I’m told they’re going to look at a lower base salary for him than where he’s at now with big incentives. But, to put this bluntly, people close to Jim Harbaugh have told me they wonder if Jim Harbaugh’s ego would allow him to accept this deal going forward.
“The question is: what are his other coaching options? Is his NFL stock that high? It wasn’t a few years ago, and it’s only seemed to go down a little more. So what is Jim Harbaugh gonna do going forward is a big question hanging over Ann Arbor right now.”
"They're going to look at a lower base salary with big incentives." @BruceFeldmanCFB on Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh's contract extension pic.twitter.com/dApVX7O61r
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 12, 2020
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