To Harbaugh Or Not To Harbaugh?

Jim Harbaugh is in Minnesota. By today’s end, the University of Michigan head coach might be the new head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Since Saturday, when it was reported that the Vikings had an “exploratory” conversation with Harbaugh, fans have embraced him as the team’s next head coach. Vikings fans think that it will happen. Harbaugh seems to think that it has happened. He’s in Minnesota on National Signing Day. It doesn’t sound like he’s going back to Michigan except maybe to pack. 

The timing couldn’t be worse. 

Yesterday, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed suit against the NFL and three teams - Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos, and New York Giants - alleging discriminatory interviewing and hiring practices. It’s a brave, bold, and right move by Flores. It was only a matter of time. One only has to look at a single black head coach in the NFL to know that something isn’t right. Many idiots believe that those that haven’t played football shouldn’t be coaching or analyzing it. A vast majority of the players at the highest level of the game are black. Why don’t we see more blacks coaching and analyzing the game? Systemic racism is alive and well in this country and in the NFL. The only way it’s ever going to end is to admit and accept that it exists. Then change it! It has to change. 

Long-time NFL reporter Mike Silver has been on the frontline of the war on the NFL’s dirty little secret for decades. He said that he’d be watching the head coach situation in Minnesota. The optics aren’t great. The Vikings had initial, virtual interviews with eight head coach candidates. Those interviews took place before Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was hired as general manager. He brought a short list of three head coaches with whom he’d like to work.

Kevin O’Connell

Patrick Graham

Jim Harbaugh

Only Kevin O’Connell was part of the initial round of interviews. 

Adofo-Mensah’s “wish list” led to a virtual interview with Patrick Graham and the exploratory phone call with Jim Harbaugh on Saturday. I’m guessing that Harbaugh wasn’t even a consideration until Adofo-Mensah mentioned that he could be. Initial reports had the Vikings scheduling second round, in-person interviews with three finalists (and maybe a fourth). 

Kevin O’Connell

Raheem Morris

DeMeco Ryans

and maybe Jim Harbaugh

A Vikings delegation flew to Southern California to interview Los Angeles Rams coordinators Kevin O’Connell and Raheem Morris on Monday. The plan was to then head north to Santa Clara and interview DeMeco Ryans on Tuesday. It didn’t work out that way as Ryans decided to remove himself from consideration. 

This is where things probably catch the attention of Silver. An in-person interview with Harbaugh was scheduled for Wednesday. That would’ve been fine, per the Rooney Rule, if the in-person interview with Ryans had taken place. Teams now have to conduct in-person interviews with two minority candidates before they can hire a head coach. The Vikings can’t hire Harbaugh on Wednesday if Ryans wasn’t interviewed on Tuesday. An in-person interview with Patrick Graham was quickly scheduled for Tuesday. The optics aren’t great. I believe that the interview with Graham was legitimate. Adofo-Mensah is very interested in him as a football mind and a football coach. I believe that Graham is a candidate for the job. In fact, after learning more about Graham, he might be the perfect pairing with Adofo-Mensah. While I believe that the Vikings were sincere in their interest and dealings with Morris, Ryans, and Graham, the last-minute scheduling of the Graham interview probably looks a little fishy to those viewing it from the outside. To be honest, the Vikings are in a no-win situation. Once Harbaugh emerged as a serious candidate, it’s entirely possible that all of the interviews became mere formalities. 

So, Jim Harbaugh is in Minnesota today. If Vikings fans and Harbaugh have their way, he’ll be the team’s head coach by the end of the day. I’m still not sure how I feel about that. I watched him quickly flip a horrible Stanford football team into a formidable one. I was in the stands the day he took The Axe back to Palo Alto after five years in Berkeley. That wasn’t a fun day. I was thrilled when the San Francisco 49ers took him away from Stanford. I wish they’d done it three years earlier. He immediately turned a wayward but very talented 49ers team into an annual Super Bowl contender. Harbaugh’s an excellent football coach. There’s no doubting that. I suppose that should be the top priority. He’s also a loose cannon. With his intensity and potential for lunacy, the work environment might not be the idyllic place that Mark Wilf envisioned when the team’s decision-makers started this head coach search. That worries me. I think that I still prefer Raheem Morris. Patrick Graham really intrigues me. Kevin O’Connell has an excellent offensive pedigree but he’s such an unknown. I like all four options. When I think of Harbaugh as the head coach, I also think of the coaches that he might bring to Minnesota. That’s so damn appealing. With each day, I feel better about the possibility. By this day’s end, I might feel great about it. If the Vikings next head coach isn’t Jim Harbaugh, I fear that fans will storm TCO. 

To Harbaugh or not to Harbaugh?