Jim Harbaugh confirms contract extension talks, but ‘bigger fish to fry’ after pandemic

Michigan Wolverines head football coach Jim Harbaugh still has two years remaining on his contract with the university, but there has not been much by way of contract extension news since the end of the 2019 season. However, it appears that preliminary talks have at least taken place.

Harbaugh spoke to the media on Wednesday via a Zoom call and revealed that he and athletic director Warde Manuel had discussions back in February about extending the deal, but that talks were abruptly cut during the March shutdown of sports due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Since then, athletic departments across the country have had to make decisions on budgets and Michigan itself reports a projected loss of around $26 million for the fiscal year. With that in mind, Harbaugh understands where Manuel’s priorities are, but seems to think they will come to an agreement eventually.

“I think there’s bigger fish to fry for our athletic director, our administration, me as a coach...but I would expect something (to get done),” Harbaugh said.

Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic put out a piece back in October about Harbaugh and how he handles his contracts, which points to him being someone more focused on the task at hand and letting those things figure themselves out when the time is right. It is a good look inside his brain as it pertains to negotiations for those looking for a read.

Harbaugh has a record of 47-18 in five seasons in Ann Arbor and has three 10 win campaigns to his name, one 9-4 season this past year and an 8-5 record in 2017.