Joel Klatt explains the reason Jim Harbaugh would leave Michigan

Jim Harbaugh is rumored to be leaving the Michigan program for the second consecutive offseason. The difference? The Wolverines head coach finally hit the marks fans wanted, beating Ohio State and making the College Football Playoff after a Big Ten championship win.

This time, Harbaugh could be bolting to the NFL, with a slew of franchises interested in the once San Francisco 49ers head coach taking over.

FOX analyst Joel Klatt made an appearance on The Herd and explained why Harbaugh may be interested in the move back to the professionals. With college football being completely different than a few years ago, it may be less stressful in the NFL.

“I don’t know whether he’ll go or not,” Klatt said. “I’m 50/50 on that as well. I’ve tried to talk with people in the know. I don’t know if he’s going to go or not. If he does, I don’t believe it will be because of the contract situation. I don’t think he harbors ill-will toward the contract situation. If he leaves, I think it would be because college football has changed drastically in the last two, three years. Now, with NIL and the one-time transfer — they’ve got great jobs but it’s just different. It’s hard to manage rosters, it’s hard to recruit your own players constantly, now you got to recruit the transfer portal, now you’ve got to have a kid sit in your living room asking ‘hey can I get a State Farm deal?’ and it’s like ugh.”

Klatt went on to explain why it may be a little bit easier to deal with players in the NFL. With the NIL landscape changing by the day in college football, coaches only have to worry about football and not constantly trying to manage their roster.

“Matt LaFleur doesn’t have to do that,” Klatt said. “Everyone’s like, the NFL, they have all of these same things. No, they don’t. The coach isn’t being asked ‘can you get me a watch deal and a shoe deal and a car dealership?’ It is different and I think if he leaves, I think it would be more because of the changing structure of college football than the contract situation. Whether he leaves or not is interesting.”

For now, Jim Harbaugh is with Michigan and was recently on the road recruiting before national signing day. The NFL season has two weeks remaining as teams will begin to hire head coaches after the playoffs are over.