NFL teams are doing their homework on Jim Harbaugh as a possible head coaching candidate

after he They are interviewed for a Vikings head coaching job Last winter, Jim Harbaugh said he was close the door On a potential return to the NFL.

It appears the NFL is not ready to close the door on Harbaugh.

Sources say several NFL teams have been doing background work lately on Harbaugh, who led Michigan to a Big Ten championship and earned a College Football Playoff bid with Saturday’s 43-22 win over Purdue.

An NFL source connected to the situation said they believed Harbaugh would consider returning to the NFL, and a source from another team that could run looking for head coaching said they believed Harbaugh would discuss opening if asked and weighed the right position.

Harbaugh, 58, will be as accomplished as almost any head coaching candidate in the NFL’s upcoming recruiting cycle. He was 44-19-1 as the head coach of the 49ers from 2011-14, leading San Francisco to the NFC Championship Game three times, and an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII.

Harbaugh returned to his alma mater after parting ways with the 49ers and led Michigan to five double-digit winning seasons in eight years, including a 12-2 record and a College Football Semifinal trip last season and now a 13-0 run with another CFP trip on the back. Next ship. (Perhaps more importantly for Wolverines fans, they’ve beaten Ohio State in back-to-back seasons, too.)

While the NFL’s interest had been rumored for years, Harbaugh didn’t officially interview for another head coaching job until the 2022 recruiting cycle, when the Vikings spoke with him roughly once and again for nine hours in person on Feb. 2. Harbaugh the job that ultimately went to Kevin O’Connell, who led Minnesota to a 9-2 start, with Chance to win the NFC North title Today by defeating the Jets and losing the Lions or drawing against the Jaguars.

Getting Harbaugh to the NFL certainly wouldn’t come cheap. Michigan rewrote Harbaugh to a five-year deal in February, keeping him under contract through the 2026 season and ensuring he would make more than $7 million annually, with the chance to earn millions more through performance bonuses.

“In the end, I decided this is where I want to be,” Harbou told reporters in March. “And really, a lot of gratitude for that.”