As Jim Harbaugh’s future at Michigan remains uncertain, the coach once again offered a broad and confusing quote in response to his 2023 plans.
One of his options is to leave college football to coach in the NFL for the second time in his career. The Broncos reportedly already interviewed Harbaugh for their coaching position on Tuesday, and with a total of five NFL coaching roles open this offseason, it’s still possible that another team could seek out Harbaugh.
Michigan, though, has continuously shown support for the coach, including on Thursday when president Santa Ono released a statement regarding Harbaugh’s future.
“I pleased to share that I have been having very positive and constructive conversations with our Athletic Director and Football Coach,” Ono wrote. “Warde Manuel and I both want to see Jim Harbaugh stay as the head football coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines.”
This is where Harbaugh’s broad response about Ono’s “support” comes in.
“I am in full support of President Ono’s message to our fans and appreciate his support of me and the team,” Harbaugh said.
This statement comes a week after Harbaugh released another open ended response on his future.
“As I stated in December, while no one knows what the future holds, I expect that I will be enthusiastically coaching Michigan in 2023,” Harbaugh said on Jan. 5.
That same day, multiple sources told Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde that Michigan football is under an NCAA investigation and that charges are expected soon. Athletic director Manuel confirmed that the school received “draft allegations” regarding the football program. One of the potential rules infractions includes a Level I violation committed by Harbaugh after he allegedly didn’t cooperate with NCAA investigators, per Yahoo Sports’s Dan Wetzel. Additionally, four Level II violations are being investigated regarding the team.
