How Jim Harbaugh's future looms over College Football Playoff championship game

Of all the storylines swirling around Houston ahead of the national championship, one of the biggest remains the future of Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. While there’s plenty to discuss, it continues to come around with no guarantee of what he may do after nine years with the blue and maize.

That left plenty for On3’s Andy Staples and J.D. PicKell to discuss on Sunday ahead of the season’s finale. With a potential return to the pros very much on the table for Harbaugh, Staples noted how all the signs, including the calendar, point to a change of scenery being a true possibility.

“We don’t know if this is going to be his last game at Michigan. I think there’s a growing sense that it is,” said Staples.

“There are going to be a bunch of NFL jobs open. As we run this show, you’ve got the Dolphins and the Bills playing. Once they’re done? Everybody starts firing people,” Staples continued. “So, like, it is going to be a pretty wild next week in the NFL. So we’ll see what jobs are open.”

Again, ahead of the championship game of the College Football Playoff, the talk around a return to the National Football League for Harbaugh is quite loud. That’s why, with the media ahead of his biggest game as a college head coach, PicKell pointed how clear it was that Harbaugh was attempting to avert the attention elsewhere.

“You know he’s, like, just trying to walk the finest line. Not say the wrong thing and be a headline before they go play the most important game of his time there,” said PicKell.

As PicKell continued, though, he also reminded everyone that this is nothing new in Ann Arbor. This would be the third straight offseason where there are connections and rumors between Harbaugh and the next level. With that in mind, he doesn’t see it as too much of a disturbance since it’s something they’re used to.

“Even last year? There was this thought of, ‘Okay, we understand that, as long as Jim Harbaugh is the head coach at Michigan? Every offseason we’ll have a holiday of NFL, Jim Harbaugh, headlines, interviews,'” said PicKell. “It just doesn’t matter. There’s going to be smoke there until he does take an NFL job.”

On Monday, Harbaugh may win his first national title and lead the Wolverines to their first since 1997. After that, all bets could be off regarding which way he could go as far as his career.

Of all the aspects that should make the championship as interesting as it is this year, Harbaugh’s status is as front and center as any of them for Staples.

“That’s what makes this game so exciting also – the Jim Harbaugh wildcard factor,” said Staples. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next.”