Desmond Howard comments Jim Harbaugh to Michigan rumors, but notes Harbaugh's options

Another day, another Michigan Heisman trophy winner speaking out about San Francisco 49er head coach, and former Wolverine, Jim Harbaugh.

Former Michigan receiver Desmond Howard was on the Rich Eisen show Wednesday and was asked where he would like to see Harbaugh coach next season.

Falling short of an endorsement, Howard gave his thoughts on Harbaugh's possible mindset.

"I think Harbaugh is a really, really good coach," Howard said on the show. "His track record speaks to it, the proof is in the pudding. We know that he's a very good coach, we know that he's been successful in the NFL and we know he's been successful at college when he was with Stanford. I just see Harbaugh right now as being like that cutest girl in school that everybody wants to take to the prom. That's kind of how I see the Harbaugh situation, everyone wants to court him, college and NFL alike.

"I could be dead wrong, and I hope I am, when I speak to people and you hear stories about Jim and how the Jets will probably come after him, Oakland will probably come after him. If I was coaching like Jim, nothing would satisfy me more than to say 'the hell with all this, I'm going up to Ann Arbor and I'm getting that ship right, that's going to be my coaching legacy.' Because he's been so successful, he could say 'well, I want to go back to the Super Bowl so I can win one.' "

On Tuesday, Eisen had former Michigan Heisman winner Charles Woodson on his show and was asked the same question. Even though Woodson could be coached by Harbaugh on the Raiders next season, he still preferred to see him go to Michigan to "right the ship" as well, but did it without sounding convinced Harbaugh would actually make the move back down to the collegiate ranks.

Howard notes that his fear heading into the tail-end of the first full week of the coaching search, is having two new faces in the most powerful positions at the University of Michigan.

The president and athletic director.

"We're in a really, really tough position," Howard said. "The three most powerful people at the University of Michigan are the president, the AD and the head football coach. We have a new president, who just came from Brown University, and he spoke a month ago about academics and then tried to venture into athletics and kind of put his foot in his mouth and had to recant his statements. We have an interim AD, Jim Hackett, I think he's a brilliant man and he has an interim tag in front of his name. That can turn some big-name coaches off.

"Michigan's a tremendous job, that's one of the top jobs in college football. But this situation is so rare and unique. You look at Florida, they didn't have to go through that. They pretty much pinpointed the guy they wanted and they went at got him. Same thing with Nebraska. They're not dealing with that."

Howard is the third significant name from the football program to come out and comment on Harbaugh. He has been endorsed by Woodson and former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr endorsing.