A tug of war commenced between the NFL teams and Michigan Wolverines since Jim Harbaugh has shown interest in the NFL teams. While the titillating offers of the Chargers drew Harbaugh to an interview with them, Michigan Wolverines are leveraging the deep chemistry they have shared with their head coach since 2015.

Michigan AD Warde Manuel, staying true to his statement of “working on it” came back with some even exciting and favorable terms for Jim Harbaugh. The original contract extension stood at $125 million, running through 2026. However, the supposed root of hesitation was Harbaugh not leaving the NFL at least for 2024.

Jim Harbaugh’s updated terms of contract

Per Dov Kleiman, Harbaugh engaged in talks with Michigan officials, and can still choose to stay at Ann Arbor. That comes with additional benefits for Harbaugh. The first ones are the monetary ones. While the previous pay that Michigan offered set Jim Harbaugh as one of the top-paid college football coaches, the updated one will make him ‘the most-paid college football coach’. For 6 years, Harbaugh would be paid $11.5 million guaranteed per year, along with added performance bonuses. However, this is not the most tempting part.

Following the previous season’s NCAA investigation breakouts, Harbaugh’s updated contract grants him termination from any finding or sanction that could arise from multiple ongoing NCAA investigations. The NCAA investigations and their consequences were assumed to be one of the biggest hindrances in Jim Harbaugh’s deal with Michigan. Now, with this issue sorted, at least from Michigan’s end, Harbaugh can be rest assured.

Harbaugh still wants to maintain a lower buyout

Still playing his cards very safe, Harbaugh is seeking a delay in the start date of the new contract. The reason? To maintain lower buyout rates than the NFL teams would have to pay Michigan to take him with them. Per his current contract, his buyout rate dropped to $1.5 million from $2.25 million on January 11.

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But if Harbaugh signs the contract with Michigan, this rate would inflate to a solid $4 million. Hence, in simple words, Harbaugh is stalling the date of signing a new contract with Michigan, which per reports is set to be near the end of February. Moreover, Harbaugh is also weaving in some more clauses to come to terms with Michigan on a three-member arbitration panel, if a decision ever arises to fire him ‘for cause’, because of NCAA investigations or otherwise. Hence, fans can still expect to see Harbaugh at Ann Arbor if things work out per him.

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