Good luck trying to convince ESPN’s Paul Finebaum that Jim Harbaugh will be back with the Michigan Wolverines next season.
Over the past few weeks Finebaum has made it abundantly clear he thinks Harbaugh will leave the Wolverines for the NFL. He doubled (wait, tripled?) down on Thursday afternoon saying he thinks Harbaugh will be off to the NFL “pretty quickly” after all of his interviews.
“I suspect it ends pretty quickly with whatever other job he wants to interview for,” he said via On3Sports . “I don’t understand how the NFL does it. It’s very bizarre. Because of the Rooney Rule they acknowledge who they interview. This isn’t double secret. Either he needs to come or go. I can’t imagine why he would stay.”
Finebaum addressed a report suggesting Harbaugh wanted “immunity” from potential punishments coming from the NCAA and suggested that will push him to leave.
“If he’s trying to argue a clause in his contract that would make him immune from any NCAA violations, that’s a non-starter,” Finebaum said. “You can’t do that. So I think he’s on his way out. Then it’s whether (Sherrone) Moore gets moved up or they open that search.”
He later added it would be an “upset” if Harbaugh stayed with the school.
“I think Michigan’s in pretty good shape,” he said. “I think the biggest upset to me would be for Jim to stay, because I think everybody has already discounted the fact that he’s leaving. I think it’s an NFL story more than a Michigan story.”
Harbaugh interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers earlier this week.