All signs point to Harbraugh heading to Michigan

Published 10:29 pm Sunday, December 28, 2014

It appears that former Michigan All-American Jim Harbaugh will become the 20th Wolverine head coach on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy 49ers.com)

It appears that former Michigan All-American Jim Harbaugh will become the 20th Wolverine head coach on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy 49ers.com)

After months of rumors, it appears that Michigan has landed former Wolverine Jim Harbaugh as its next football coach.

According to reports Sunday morning by NFL insider Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Harbaugh has agreed to replace Brady Hoke as Michigan’s coach.

If true, Harbaugh would become the Wolverine’s 20th football coach.

He would also be Michigan’s third coach since 2007 when Lloyd Carr retired.

According to Rapoport, Michigan officials will meet with Harbaugh following San Francisco’s season finale against the Arizona Cardinals.

In his fourth season with the 49ers, Harbaugh is 43-19-1. He took San Francisco to three consecutive NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl.

But this year, the 49ers have struggled and have lost four straight games heading into Sunday’s finale.

On Saturday, it was reported that Michigan, including interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett, was headed to San Francisco to meet with Harbaugh on Sunday. Earlier, reports said that Michigan was going to offer the former San Diego State and Stanford Cardinal coach a six year, $48 million deal to coach the Wolverines.

Also on Saturday, Bleachersreport.com reported that two members of the San Francisco staff and a third NFL source said they expected Harbaugh to take the Michigan job.

Through all this, Harbaugh has refused to discuss the Michigan job or whether or not he would return to San Francisco, where he still has one year left on his contract.

The Detroit Free Press Sunday published a story saying that Harbaugh’s friend Dave Feldman tweeted Saturday night that Harbaugh is expected to be introduced as the Wolverine’s head coach on Tuesday.

“Confirmed: Harbaugh to Michigan! Press Conference Tues in Ann Arbor” @feldycsn.

According to the Free Press story, Feldman works for Comcast Sports Network in the Bay Area and when to high school with Harbaugh at Palo Alto, California and does a 49ers pregame show.

Harbaugh and the 49ers held team a team meeting Saturday night and it appears he informed the players of his decision.

“One of his players, offensive tackle Anthony Davis, tweeted about his coach’s departure late Saturday night as the 49ers wrapped up their meetings before Feldman’s tweet,” Mark Snyder’s story said.

Rapoport said Sunday morning on the NFL Network that no deal is in place and that at least one NFL team — Oakland — is still trying to make a run at hiring Harbaugh as his coach.