Michigan football's Jim Harbaugh silent on NFL rumors, calls J.J. McCarthy 'NFL ready'
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Going into a third straight offseason, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh's name is being thrown around in conversations around potential NFL head coaching positions.
However when he spoke with a group of reporters Wednesday afternoon at Disneyland to preview the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Rose Bowl between No. 1 Michigan (13-0) and No. 4 Alabama (12-1), Harbaugh barely acknowledged the rumors even when asked about them directly, and instead turned back to one of his oft-used phrases to describe his mentality.
“One-track mind,” Harbaugh said shortly after his carriage ride down as a part of the Rose Bowl welcoming festivities. “That's the way we've gone about things. Literally, whatever day we're in, we're going to get the most out of it, dominate the day. Go to sleep tonight, wake up tomorrow and see if we can't dominate that day.
"It's a single-minded group, just very focused on taking care of business.”
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This isn't his Harbaugh's first rodeo when it comes to this topic.
It happened following the 2021 season — after he led the Wolverines to their first College Football Playoff appearance — when he interviewed for the Minnesota Vikings job opening. He flew to Minneapolis on national signing day, but ultimately did not land the position and returned to Ann Arbor.
He followed with another College Football Playoff appearance, but after the loss to TCU, Harbaugh had discussions with both the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers about their job openings.
For the second time in as many years, Harbaugh returned to Ann Arbor and led the Wolverines to another undefeated regular season.
But what would make this year particularly interesting, should he choose to take interviews, is this comes after Harbaugh has reportedly been offered a contract extension that would make him the highest paid coach in the Big Ten.
Harbaugh, 60, is in his ninth season at U-M still has three years remaining on his contract, which pays him at least $7 million per year. He's already topped $10 million this year with bonuses.
"You want to be somewhere where you're wanted," he said earlier this fall when asked about contract negotiations.
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For what it's worth, the response from the players who joined Harbaugh at Wednesday's event — senior running back Blake Corum, senior defensive tackle Kris Jenkins and graduate defensive back Mike Sainristil — matched what U-M's head man said about their focus.
Sainristil said he "didn't even know that was a thing" when asked about the latest batch of rumors.
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In Jenkins told reporters Harbaugh was like a "father figure" to the team and in the same way Harbaugh supports his players making the decision that's best for them, the same is true in reverse.
“He’s a Michigan man from the start to the end of time," Jenkins said. "We know he’s always going to bleed that maize and blue regardless.”
Then, there was Corum, who said the team has not only dealt with the uncertainty of not knowing if its head man would return in recent seasons, but the additional adversity this season.
Harbaugh was suspended twice for three games — first by the university at the start of the regular season, then by the Big Ten at the end of the conference schedule — for two separate investigations.
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“It’s happened a couple times — we don’t really pay much attention to it,” Corum said. “Maybe it’s just people trying to distract you, putting this stuff into the media. It’s happened all year — so we don’t really pay attention to it.”
Harbaugh deems McCarthy 'NFL ready'
While he stopped well short of pushing his star quarterback out the door, Harbaugh couldn't dance his way around the question of J.J. McCarthy's NFL acumen.
All season long, Harbaugh has praised the man the team calls "9." He's compared him to NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, anointed him the best U-M quarterback ever and even said he was the top signal-caller in the NCAA.
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It's one reason earlier this month he approached McCarthy to see if he wanted to discuss the future, only for his junior quarterback to tell his coach he wanted to stay locked in on Alabama and not focus on anything else.
"Like he said, he wanted to play the game," Harbaugh said. "Single-track mind, one-track mind, love it."
But Harbaugh was asked what the advice will be, when the time comes — like had McCarthy wanted to entertain the conversation a few weeks back.
The junior quarterback completed 74.2% (213 of 287 passes) for 2,630 yards, 22 total touchdowns and four interceptions as he finished No. 3 in the nation in QBR (89.7) and has been said to be clocked below 4.5 seconds in his 40-yard dash.
Harbaugh has also said he would advise his entire team to emulate what McCarthy does both on and off the field, saying he would tell his players to "follow him anywhere he leads." What if that path leads to the NFL?
"What's the advice I will give him?" Harbaugh asked rhetorically. "One-track mind right now, just stay in the here and now, see if you can't dominate this day.
"But I can't lie and say I don't think he's NFL ready. I very much think he's NFL ready."
Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jim Harbaugh silent on own NFL talk, but J.J. McCarthy is 'NFL ready'
