Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh won't talk about interest from Michigan and the NFL. Understandably, he's occupied with preparations for the Cardinal's Orange Bowl match-up with Virginia Tech on January 3.
↵Of course, rumors that Harbaugh could replace Rich Rodriguez at Michigan or take over in San Francisco or Dallas won't go away just because he won't discuss such matters. That's led to reporters seeking out other sources to get a sense of what Harbaugh might do. For instance, his brother John, currently the coach of the Baltimore Ravens.
↵Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post spoke to John Harbaugh about his brother's thought process:
↵↵↵"I think he wants to stay at Stanford, I think he’d love to stay there, but then again, you just have to see what happens. He’s not the kind of guy that’s going to make any kind of commitment until he’s ready to make a commitment. I think his commitment right now is having a baby and winning the Orange Bowl. So, we’ll see what happens."
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But even if Jim was considering leaving Stanford for another job, would John really reveal that? John's a head coach; he knows how this game is played, and he presumably wouldn't want to say anything that could cause problems for his brother.
↵Rumblings persist, however, that Jim Harbaugh's preference is for his next job to be in the NFL. As the Detroit News' Lynn Henning wrote earlier this week, Harbaugh reportedly has very specific ideas of what he'd be looking for, and if a NFL team met those criteria, perhaps that would supersede an offer from Michigan.
↵But this is all obviously speculation. Both of the NFL teams Henning mentioned in his article -- the San Diego Chargers and Chicago Bears -- probably won't be replacing their coaches after the season. And if Harbaugh doesn't like what he sees, he's apparently happy to stay at Stanford.
↵Michigan won't know what Harbaugh's preference is unless it offers him its head coaching job. And that's the big question, isn't it?
↵(via College Football Talk)