Michigan's Jim Harbaugh on possible NFL future: 'I'll gladly talk about it next week'

His Michigan team’s College Football Playoff championship game matchup against Washington Monday night isn’t the only thing looming in front of Jim Harbaugh.

Following the completion of the Wolverines’ season Monday, their coach will have to decide whether he remains in Ann Arbor or departs for the NFL. As his team gets ready for the program’s biggest game of the past 25 years, it’s a question that continues to hover over Harbaugh.

On Saturday at a media day in Houston in advance of the championship game, Harbaugh was evasive when asked about how the result of Monday’s game against the Huskies will influence his interest in coaching in the NFL.

“I couldn’t be more happy to be here,” Harbaugh said. “This is tremendous. They do everything big in Texas. This is cool. This is right where we want to be. This is where we worked to get.”

When the reporter followed up with a question about whether he has assured Michigan’s administration that he’ll be back, Harbaugh spoke in generalities.

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“There’s a calendar,” he said. “I’ll gladly talk about the future next week. I hope to have one. How about that? A future? I hope to have one.”

Given the magnitude of the game in front of the Wolverines, it’s understandable that Harbaugh would take such an approach, both out of respect to his players and the university, as well as trying to prevent it from becoming the kind of distraction that could negatively affect his team’s on-field performance.

Harbaugh is familiar with fielding such inquiries.

His success at Michigan and his experience in the NFL, both as a coach and player, have made him a logical candidate for any number of openings over the past several years. Harbaugh reportedly met with the Denver Broncos last year about their head-coaching vacancy. He interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2022 and later told the Detroit Free Press it would be “the last time” he would pursue an NFL job.

This coaching cycle, Harbaugh has been tied to open positions with the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders. A move to the NFL could make more sense this time around given that Michigan is facing NCAA recruiting violations and is the subject of an ongoing NCAA investigation into alleged in-person scouting and sign-stealing.

Compounding matters is that Harbaugh has also reportedly hired Don Yee as his new representation. Yee’s list of clients includes several high-profile figures from the NFL world, including legendary quarterback Tom Brady and Broncos coach Sean Payton.

Before being hired at Michigan in December 2014, Harbaugh coached the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons, leading them to a 44-19-1 record, three NFC championship games and an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII.