Big Ten Football

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh on Thursday addressed his flirtation with the Minnesota Vikings and why he decided to stay at his alma mater.

Speaking to Alejandro Zuniga of the Michigan Insider, Harbaugh said his "love for Michigan is strong" when talking about what compelled him to remain in his current position.

"I'm not going to do any in-depth interview or anything like that. I want to get back, talk to my players, coaches in person," he added.

Talking to Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press, Harbaugh explained why he contemplated going back to the NFL:

"There was a tugging at me that I was once that close to a Super Bowl and I didn't get it. Some NFL jobs came open. I was contacted by the Vikings.

"For better or for worse, it was something I wanted to explore. I went in thinking, 'I'm gonna have 100 percent conviction on this, and if they [Minnesota] have 100 percent conviction on this, then it's something I'm gonna do."

Harbaugh had a phone conversation with Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel about his short- and long-term plans.

"I called Warde and I asked him if he wanted me to be the head coach," Harbaugh told Albom. "And he said, 'Yes, 100 percent.' And I said, 'OK then. That's what I want to do.' And I told him, 'Warde, this will not be a reoccurring theme every year. This was a one-time thing.'"

Harbaugh added:

"Sure, the Super Bowl is the greatest prize in our sport. But winning a national championship. That's pretty darn great. Let's do that.

"There was a pull to the NFL because I got that close to the Super Bowl, but this was the time [to try and return]. And this is the last time. Now let's go chase college football's greatest prize."

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Wednesday that Harbaugh called Michigan officials to let them know he would return to the school in 2022 despite interviewing with the Vikings for their vacant head coach position.

Per ESPN's Courtney Cronin, Harbaugh was on Minnesota's radar because of his prior relationship with new general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

Adofo-Mensah was hired as manager of football research and development by the San Francisco 49ers in 2013 when Harbaugh was their head coach.

Cronin noted Harbaugh "operated under the assumption that the job was his and prepared for the interview as such."

Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport, the Vikings are expected to name Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell as their next head coach.

Harbaugh signed a contract extension with Michigan in January 2021 that tied him to the school through the 2025 season.

The Wolverines hired Harbaugh in December 2014 after he agreed to a mutual parting of ways with the 49ers. The 58-year-old has a 61-24 record in seven seasons at Michigan.

Michigan won the Big Ten championship in 2021 for the first time in 17 years. The Wolverines were the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff but lost 34-11 to Georgia in the semifinals Dec. 31.

Joe Burrow grew up in Ohio, graduated from the state's flagship university and is the quarterback for one of its two NFL teams. It should come as no surprise, then, that he considers himself a Buckeye even though he transferred to LSU to continue his football career.

"I'm definitely still a Buckeye," he told reporters Thursday. "I graduated from there."

Burrow arrived at Ohio State as a 4-star prospect in the class of 2015, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

He was competing for the backup job behind the entrenched J.T. Barrett in 2017 but suffered a broken hand. That allowed Dwayne Haskins to move ahead of Burrow on the depth chart.

It ended up being a critical injury because Barrett later suffered his own injury during the rivalry game against Michigan. Haskins entered and rallied the Buckeyes to a comeback victory, essentially cementing himself as the starter for 2018 when Barrett would no longer be on the team.

Perhaps if Burrow did not break his hand, he would have been the one to come in and start building his Ohio State legacy.

But Burrow transferred to LSU and won a national championship with the Tigers during the 2019 campaign. It's not like Haskins was a bad choice for the Buckeyes, though, as he set the Big Ten record for passing yards and passing touchdowns during a dominant 2018 season while Burrow was inconsistent in his first year at LSU.

The Buckeyes also landed Georgia transfer Justin Fields for the 2019 season after Haskins went to the NFL. And Ohio State nearly faced Burrow and LSU in the National Championship Game but lost to Clemson amid a couple of questionable calls in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Burrow has been much better in the NFL than Haskins, which has fueled discussion about how things played out at Ohio State.

The No. 1 pick of the 2020 draft is now the face of the Bengals and has led them to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1988 campaign. They will face the Rams on Feb. 13.

That has surely further endeared Burrow to football fans in Ohio—at least the ones who don't cheer for the Cleveland Browns—and he made sure to let everyone know he still considers himself a Buckeye.

While the Minnesota Vikings are expected to make Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell their next head coach after the Super Bowl, per The Athletic, the 36-year-old was far from the most high-profile candidate.

That distinction went to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.

Yet, Chad Graff and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reported the Vikings never offered Harbaugh the job, meaning the reason he will not be the next coach "had nothing to do with money or a contract."

Instead, there was "just a realization that this was not the right fit."

This was about more than just Harbaugh's inability to land the job despite a lengthy interview Wednesday.

Graff and Krawczynski detailed the process and noted O'Connell "blew them away" when talking to the Vikings. As a result, he "quickly became the favorite of the search committee, which was looking to overhaul the working environment at team headquarters, prioritizing leadership, inclusivity and collaboration after the front office, coaching staff and roster fractured under the pressure on [Rick] Spielman and [Mike] Zimmer's watch."

While Harbaugh's resume, which includes time in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, is impressive, there were some questions about how his tenure with the NFC West team and the speculation he was difficult to work with before it ended.

Despite the fact that "reports out of Michigan were that it felt like goodbye" when Harbaugh went to interview with Minnesota, "some in the Vikings organization wondered about his leadership style and how that would align with their new goals in the post-Spielman/Zimmer era."

Any momentum he had started to dissipate as the interview progressed, and he is headed back to the Wolverines as a result.

Harbaugh has been the head coach of his alma mater for seven seasons and has a 61-24 record. Much of his time with the Wolverines has been defined by the inability to win big games, with a 1-5 record against archrival Ohio State and a 1-5 record in bowl games, but he started to turn the corner in 2021.

Michigan defeated the Buckeyes for the first time in a decade and then won its first Big Ten championship since the conference installed a title game at the end of the season. While it lost to Georgia in the College Football Playoff, Michigan has more momentum and accomplishments under its belt than at any time during Harbaugh's tenure.

He will look to build on those accomplishments now that his chance to immediately return to the NFL has seemingly passed with this Vikings news.

Perhaps he will eventually be on an NFL sideline again—he went 44-19-1 and reached a Super Bowl while coaching the 49ers from 2011 to 2014—but the Vikings apparently didn't see him as a fit as they look to build a new culture and challenge the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.             

Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day had been rumored to be drawing interest from the Chicago Bears for their head coach opening, but Day plans on staying put.

During an interview with the Big Ten Network on Wednesday, Day reiterated that he's not interested in jumping to the NFL and plans on remaining the coach of the Buckeyes for the foreseeable future.

"I love Ohio State. I love this place," Day said, per Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors. "My family loves it here. I tell recruits all the time, if I was to go take another job, I'd be going by myself because my family's not leaving Columbus. And that's the truth. They love it here."

Day is the second Big Ten head coach to decide to stay in the college ranks on Wednesday. Jim Harbaugh reportedly told Michigan that he will be returning for the 2022 season after he had interviewed with the Minnesota Vikings.

The Buckeyes went 11-2 last season. They ended the year with a victory in the Rose Bowl over Utah.

In three-plus seasons, Day has coached Ohio State to a 34-4 record. Day acknowledged that the rumors of his NFL prospects were not unexpected after his success at Ohio State.

"In this profession, in this world right now, if you're not winning, they're going to talk about replacing you," he said. "If you do well, they're going to talk about maybe you going somewhere else."

Day reiterated that he is fully committed to continuing to build the football program at Ohio State and that won't change anytime soon.

"We're very proud of our culture. And guys like to be here. And we think that we've recruited really well," Day said. "We have some really good talent, so the future is extremely bright here. We’ve brought in great people. So this is the best place in the country to be the head football coach. I love it here."

This is a critical offseason for the Ohio State football program.

After all, the Buckeyes are coming off their first failure to reach the College Football Playoff during head coach Ryan Day's tenure. It is a testament to the strength of the program that an 11-2 campaign that included a Rose Bowl victory is seen as a failure, but that is the reality in Columbus, Ohio.

Especially if that 11-2 campaign included a loss to the hated Michigan Wolverines for the first time in a decade.

Day wasted no time responding by making drastic changes to the defensive staff, bringing in former Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and adding secondary/cornerbacks coach Tim Walton and safeties coach Perry Eliano. In fact, highly regarded defensive line coach Larry Johnson was the only full-time defensive coach from last season he retained for the 2022 staff.

Ohio State also hired offensive line coach Justin Frye from UCLA to replace the departed Greg Studrawa.

"It weighed heavily on me," Day told reporters when discussing the staff overhaul. "I felt like a fresh start was the right thing to do."

The next thing to do is to put the finishing touches on an impressive 2022 recruiting class during Wednesday's National Signing Day. Thanks to the early recruiting window, there is little drama remaining since much of the Buckeyes' class is already set.

Still, there are a few more question marks for a class that entered the day ranked No. 4 in the country, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

One name Ohio State fans shouldn't have to worry about is offensive lineman Carson Hinzman even though he announced he will not be signing his letter of intent until Wednesday afternoon.

Bill Landis of The Athletic suggested there won't be any last-minute "tomfoolery" for the verbal pledge.

Hinzman is a 4-star prospect, per 247Sports' composite rankings, and the Buckeyes impressively won the recruiting battle against the home-state Wisconsin Badgers that are known for their ability to develop offensive linemen.

Wednesday won't bring all good news for the Scarlet and Gray, though.

Defensive lineman Christen Miller announced he will also be making his decision on National Signing Day when he chooses between Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Miami and Florida A&M.

The 4-star prospect and 14th-best defensive lineman in his class, per 247Sports' composite rankings, would be quite the addition for the Buckeyes, but the Georgia product is being recruited hard by the in-state Bulldogs, which have 100 percent of the predictions on 247Sports' Crystal Ball.

Johnson may be one of the best defensive line coaches in college football history, but he will not be able to beat out the national champions for Miller.

That makes landing defensive lineman Omari Abor all the more important. While he is a verbal commit, there are other programs that could look to make a late pitch.

"When he committed, the plan was for Abor to still take visits elsewhere," Landis wrote. "That doesn't appear to have happened, but there's also been nothing at all coming out of Abor's camp since he issued his commitment. That silence could be a good thing for OSU, but there are still some programs—Miami and Texas to be specific—that might try to flip Abor at the last minute."

That could leave some Buckeyes fans nervous, but 100 percent of 247Sports' Crystal Ball predictions for the 4-star prospect still have him headed to the Big Ten powerhouse.

Final Predictions: Hinzman and Abor end up at Ohio State, but Miller joins Georgia.        

The Michigan football team is coming off its best season since 1997 after winning the Big Ten title outright and making the College Football Playoff for the first time.

The Wolverines' season ended in the semifinals, losing to eventual national champion Georgia. But the school finished with a 12-2 record and a No. 3 Associated Press poll ranking.

The question now is whether Michigan can parlay its excellent 2021 season into further Big Ten dominance and national prominence, but a massive question mark exists.

Specifically, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewing for the Minnesota Vikings' job Wednesday. He is one of four finalists.

Naturally, if he goes, then there's a big question mark looming over the program heading into next year and beyond. It also could factor into decisions for players considering Michigan.

However, what's certain is that Michigan has a stacked class of 2022. Heading into national signing day, 247Sports ranks the Wolverines eighth in the country.

Twenty-two players have signed letters of intent and should be at Michigan for at least next season. One, 3-star edge-rusher Kevonte Henry, is a hard commit.

Michigan is also on the shortlist for some notable recruits, including the highest-ranked uncommitted player in 247Sports' class of 2022, 5-star offensive tackle Josh Conerly Jr.

The 6'5", 283-pound lineman out of Rainier Beach, Washington, who is No. 8 overall, has a final six of Washington, Miami, Michigan, USC, Oregon and Oklahoma.

Conerly said he will not be announcing his decision or signing anywhere until March, so don't expect him to make an NSD splash.

The 247Sports crystal ball projections have two experts predicting that Conerly stays home to play for Washington, while the other two have him going to Michigan.

Conerly will be more than welcome wherever he goes. Gabe Brooks of 247Sports compared him to Houston Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wrote that he's "built like a jumbo edge defender with the field demeanor of a tone-setting offensive lineman."

As far as picking his next destination, the guess here is that it's not Michigan, especially with Harbaugh's future undecided and five other teams on Conerly's list, including one from his home state. And while Washington would appear to have a preeminence, an announcement is still one month out.

As for Henry, the expectation is that he will not be taking his talents to Ann Arbor. He did not sign with the Wolverines during the early signing period, and 247Sports credits him with making three visits since then to Washington (Dec. 10), Oklahoma (Jan. 14) and Arizona (Jan. 28).

Keegan Pope of On3 provided more information.

He visited the Sooners two weeks ago, and they have been trending as his likely landing spot. He scheduled a trip last month to see the Gators right before signing day; however, they’re now out of what appears to be a two-team race.

According to On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons, the fact that Arizona will get Kevonte Henry’s final official visit, as well as his connections to a number of the Wildcats’ West Coast signees, makes this a very tight race with just days until signing day.

All signs point to Henry playing elsewhere in 2022.

The name to watch on national signing day, then, is Andrew Paul.

The 3-star running back out of Dallas' Parish Episcopal School has named his final three as Georgia, Michigan and Clemson, and he plans to make his announcement at 12:20 p.m. ET Wednesday.

Paul visited to all three schools in January, per 247Sports.

Four of five 247Sports predictions have Paul going to Georgia, while the lone dissenter chooses Clemson.

Georgia is an enticing place for a running back to go.

For starters, the Bulldogs have sent running backs Nick Chubb, D'Andre Swift, Sony Michel and Todd Gurley to the NFL since 2015.

Second, James Cook and Zamir White are headed to the NFL, leaving some room on the depth chart for more playing opportunities.

Plus, it helps that Georgia is the reigning national champion.

The guess here is that Paul ends up picking Georgia, letting the rich get richer.

In sum, expect national signing day to be a quiet one for the Wolverines, but they still have a fantastic class headed to Ann Arbor.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is making a change to its cartoon mascot, Herbie Husker, to eliminate confusion about the meaning of a hand gesture he does that has been connected to white supremacy, according to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN).

Originally, the mascot made an "OK" sign with his left hand. The mascot's index finger and thumb formed a closed circle, which some hate groups have used as a sign for white power in recent years. 

The mascot now makes a "We're No. 1" gesture with his index finger raised, per the Associated Press. 

"The concern about the hand gesture was brought to our attention by our apparel provider and others, and we decided to move forward with a revised Herbie Husker logo," Nebraska Athletics said in a statement to The Associated Press. "The process of changing the logo began in 2020, and we updated our brand guidelines in July of 2021. The revised logo is now the only Herbie Husker mark available to licensees."

According to Jordan Pascale of the Lincoln Journal-Star, the original gesture's meaning was brought to the attention of the Lonna Henrichs, the athletic department’s licensing and branding director, weeks after George Floyd was murdered by then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. 

Floyd's murder and several other similar cases prompted protests around the United States, including some where white supremacy groups flashed the "OK" hand gesture, Pascale noted. 

Henrichs said, per Pascale:

That hand gesture could, in some circles, represent something that does not represent what Nebraska athletics is about. We just didn't even want to be associated with portraying anything that somebody might think, you know, that it means white power. 

We made that change as quick as we could.

 The Anti-Defamation League added the "OK" hand gesture to its Hate Symbols Database two years ago, noting “particular caution must be used when evaluating this symbol.”

Nebraska is one of several schools to make changes to its mascot for such reasons. One such example saw the University of Illinois drop the Chief Illiniwek logo in 2007, though they are still called the Illini, because it was considered offensive to Native Americans.

Several professional sports teams have also undergone name changes for sensitivity reasons, such as the Washington Football Team and Cleveland Guardians. 

The Big Ten is considering eliminating conference alignments for football beginning with the 2023 season. 

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said one proposal would see the Big Ten pare down its in-conference games from nine to eight so that schools could schedule non-conference games with the ACC and Pac-12. The Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 recently formed a coalition called The Alliance to combat the SEC's upcoming addition of Texas and Oklahoma.

"We've had several conversations," Barta said, per Scott Dochterman of The Athletic. "One of the things that we're watching is whether it's related to The Alliance, which we're talking through and/or, what gives us the best opportunity to have the most success in the College Football Playoff format?

"We’re wondering if we're going to know what the format is before we have to make that decision. So, we're kind of waiting to see where that lands. But we have had active conversations about the schedule beyond 2022."

The Big Ten's media contract expires after the 2022 season, and having a plan in place soon would allow scheduling adjustments to be made with ease. The conference is currently split into East and West divisions of seven apiece. Teams play six games against divisional opponents and three games against non-divisional opponents on a rotating basis.

Eliminating one in-conference game would allow increased flexibility, particularly for teams that already have non-conference games locked in well into the future.

Within the Big Ten, the change may also help create a better balance of power. The Big Ten East has won the conference every year since the current format was adopted. Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State are near-perennial Top 25 teams, while the Big Ten West's top teams are Iowa and Wisconsin.

A rotating schedule, which would likely preserve rivalry games, could create a more accurate look at the conference's actual balance of power. 

The Chicago Bears reportedly may have reached out to University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh to gauge his interest in returning to the NFL.

Hub Arkush of Pro Football Weekly reported the latest buzz about the Bears' head coaching search Tuesday on NBC Sports Chicago (13:10 mark):

One source—it's not Jim, I've already said I've had some contact with Jim, I didn't ask him and he didn't tell me—but one other source, who is usually pretty good, told me that there was just a brief phone conversation ... between Jim and someone in the organization, which I think may have just been saying 'hi,' may have been trying to read the tea leaves without asking the questions. I don't know, I can't confirm that for certain.

Harbaugh's situation has been tough to pin down since the Wolverines suffered a 34-11 loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

The 58-year-old former quarterback has been frequently mentioned as part of the NFL coaching carousel but, at least as of Friday, he'd yet to formally interview with any teams with a vacancy, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Nick Baumgardner and Austin Meek of The Athletic reported Wednesday that Harbaugh had "productive conversations" with Michigan about a contract extension, but high-ranking school officials continue to "wonder if the head coach is torn" between staying at U-M or going back to the NFL.

Harbaugh previously posted a 44-19-1 record across four years with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 through 2014. He led the Niners to an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII, where they came up short against his brother, John, and the Baltimore Ravens.

That success would make him a coveted commodity if he confirmed his interest in an NFL comeback, but time is a factor in that regard with most teams already well into their interviews.

The Bears have already conducted six interviews and have at least four more planned, per Alex Shapiro of NBC Chicago. So far, Harbaugh is not on the list.

Chicago is coming off a 6-11 campaign, but it's outlook is more promising than that record would suggest. It finished sixth in total defense despite superstar linebacker Khalil Mack being limited to seven games because of injury, and rookie quarterback Justin Fields showcased ample upside despite lackluster numbers as part of an up-an-down debut year.

Whether that would be enough to attract interest from Harbaugh is unclear since he hasn't provided any public details about his status, which has left the situation open to plenty of speculation in recent weeks.

Unless a Harbaugh interview is confirmed in the coming days, however, it's best to assume the Bears will end up going a different direction to replace Matt Nagy.

The Michigan Wolverines and head football coach Jim Harbaugh have reportedly held "productive talks on a new deal" and a "competitive offer-package has been made," according to Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic. 

He added that some at the school "wonder if he's torn" about potential NFL interest and that he's "heard almost nothing to suggest Michigan hasn't met what he wants (the opposite in fact). Question remains: Where's he want to be?"

On Saturday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported that Harbaugh is "watching and waiting to see whether a team with a reasonable ownership and general manager situation is interested in giving him an opportunity to continue [his] NFL career." 

He added that "Harbaugh wants to get back to the Super Bowl and win it."

Granted, college football head coaches are no strangers to generating buzz that they might be on the move during contract negotiations with their current schools. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. 

But with seven head coaching vacancies at the NFL level this year—and Harbaugh finally accomplishing the goal of winning a Big Ten title after seven years at Michigan—it wouldn't be shocking to see him return to the pros. 

There are a number of intriguing openings available, from the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos to the Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears and New York Giants. The Jacksonville Jaguars are in a perpetual rebuild but do have young quarterback Trevor Lawrence in place, though their last foray into the coaching ranks with Urban Meyer ended in unmitigated disaster.

As for Harbaugh, the 58-year-old spent four years as an NFL head coach for the San Francisco 49ers (2011-14), going 44-19-1 with three postseason berths and a Super Bowl appearance on his resume. He's also held multiple head coaching gigs at the college level at San Diego (2004-06) and Stanford (2007-10) alongside his time at Michigan. 

It's pretty simple. If Harbaugh decides he wants the NFL, he'll likely become the top candidate for multiple teams. And if he doesn't, his rumored interest is going to get him a nice raise in Ann Arbor.