Photo: Nic Antaya
The Los Angeles Chargers and University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh are reportedly in "striking distance" of completing a deal to make him the team's next head coach, a league source told ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio.
"Harbaugh wanted the job last year, but it wasn’t open. He’s currently interviewing for the job a second time. As one league source tells PFT, 'He wants it,' Florio wrote on Tuesday (January 23).
Harbaugh, 60, who is weeks removed from leading the Wolverines to a College Football Playoff National Championship, recently interviewed with the Chargers and Atlanta Falcons for their respective head coaching positions. Earlier this month, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Michigan offered a record-setting 10-year, $125 million contract extension amid reported interest from NFL teams days prior to their eventual national title win.
"If he signed the deal -- which he has not yet done -- Harbaugh would agree not to entertain or accept an NFL job for the 2024 season. The NFL clause would be one season only, but that's apparently been enough to drag out the process," Rapoport wrote via NFL.com.
Harbaugh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014 and made the playoffs during his first three seasons, recently retained agent Don Yee, best known for representing seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and is reported to have interest from multiple NFL teams with coaching vacancies, Rapoport reported this earlier this month. Michigan's national championship follows an undefeated regular season that began and ended with the coach serving multiple suspensions.
Harbaugh served a self-imposed three-game suspension for "severe breach of conduct," for allegedly misleading investigators during a probe into accusations that he had improper contact with a recruit, which escalated his actions from a level 2 violation, which is deemed a "significant breach of conduct," according to NCAA guidelines. The former Michigan quarterback was later suspended for the team's last three games in relation to an alleged sign-stealing scheme conducted by former staffer Connor Stalions, though the Big Ten claimed there was no evidence found that directly implicated Harbaugh.
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