Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. If Harbaugh\u2019s future is the main subplot to the national title game, the subplot to the subplot is whether DeBoer would be a candidate to replace him?
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer participates during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will be played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer participates during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will be played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer participates during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will be played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer participates during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will be played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer participates during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will be played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer participates during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will be played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is interviewed during media day ahead of the national championship NCAA College Football Playoff game between Washington and Michigan Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, in Houston. The game will played Monday. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)
HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh had barely settled into his seat on a riser at College Football Playoff media day when he received the question that is seemingly always hanging over him at this time of year.
With NFL franchises apparently intrigued again,<\/a><\/span> could the national championship game Monday night between the top-ranked Wolverines (14-0) and No. 2 Washington (14-0)<\/a><\/span> be Harbaugh\u2019s last as coach of his alma mater?
\u201cI have no idea about that. I couldn\u2019t be more happy to be here,\u201d said Harbaugh, who was 44-19 with a Super Bowl appearance in four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before taking over at Michigan in 2015.
What makes this latest round of will-he-or-won\u2019t-he with Harbaugh and the NFL unique is how it has reverberated all the way out to Seattle, where Washington has been working on a new contract for Kalen DeBoer since November.
\u201cA lot of it is I just didn\u2019t want the distraction, don\u2019t want the distraction during this time of the year,\u201d DeBoer said Saturday. \u201cI think before the season, after the season is where they really like to iron out details.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems unlikely. Michigan appears to already have its next man in offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore,<\/a><\/span> who went 4-0 with victories over Penn State and Ohio State while Harbaugh was serving three-game suspensions to start and finish the regular season.
\u201cYou\u2019ve already got a glimpse of the shining star that he is. He\u2019s just phenomenal, so smart, works so hard at it,\u201d Harbaugh said.
And DeBoer, 49, seems thrilled with the prospect of settling down in Seattle for a few years after a decade of bouncing around the country while working his way up the career ladder. The former NAIA coach from South Dakota<\/a><\/span> is 25-2 in his two seasons leading Washington and his daughter, high school senior Alexis, recently committed to play softball for the Huskies.
At the Sugar Bowl last week in New Orleans, DeBoer talked about looking forward to being able to walk from his office to the softball field to watch her play.
Here\u2019s the catch: Michigan is one of the few jobs in the country that just about any coach would have to at least consider taking if available.
From Michigan\u2019s standpoint, as good as the 37-year-old Moore has been, DeBoer right now qualifies as one of the very few coaches who \u2014 if interested \u2014 the administration would have to at least consider.
Hence, the underlying angst among Huskies fans that new athletic director Troy Dannen has tried his best to ease.
Dannen, who moved from Tulane to Washington in early October, said Saturday he approached DeBoer\u2019s representatives about a new contract his second week on the job. DeBoer became a client of Jimmy Sexton, the high-powered agent who represents Alabama coach Nick Saban and Georgia\u2019s Kirby Smart, last year.
\u201cI would have loved to have had it done and behind me and worried about whether we\u2019re going to renegotiate the renegotiation,\u201d Dannen said. \u201cBut you know, the priority is his wants, his needs and what he thought was best for the program and he wants to wait, so we\u2019ll play the game Monday night and Tuesday, we\u2019ll be talking again.\u201d
No matter the result, DeBoer is in line for a huge raise. He received a contract extension after last season, when the Huskies went 11-2, that bumped his salary to $4.2 million and runs through 2028. That salary places DeBoer 44th in the country this season among major college football coaches at public universities and seventh in the Pac-12, according to USA Today\u2019s database.
Saban, with seven national championships, is the highest paid coach in college football, at more than $11 million this past season. Clemson\u2019s Dabo Swinney and Georgia\u2019s Kirby Smart, the other active coaches who have recently won national titles, are both over $10 million per year. LSU\u2019s Brian Kelly and Ohio State\u2019s Ryan Day, both with multiple playoff appearances, have salaries that surpass $9 million.
Dannen said with Washington moving from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten for 2024, his goal is to slot DeBoer in among comparable coaches in the Huskies\u2019 new conference.
Harbaugh came into the season as the fourth-highest paid coach in the Big Ten at $8.2 million, behind Day, Penn State\u2019s James Franklin and since-fired Michigan State coach Mel Tucker.
Like Washington, Michigan has been working on a new deal for Harbaugh, despite the NCAA investigation into an alleged in-person scouting and sign-stealing scheme that led to his late-season suspension by the Big Ten. Michigan is prepared to make Harbaugh the highest paid coach in the Big Ten.
\u201cBelieve me. I\u2019ve been working on it,\u201d Michigan AD Warde Manuel told reporters last week.
Dannen said the uncertainty at Michigan isn\u2019t a factor in getting a deal done with DeBoer.
\u201cNow if the Dallas Cowboys call, that\u2019s another story,\u201d Dannen said.
For now, everybody involved is focused on Monday night and winning a national championship.
\u201cI\u2019ll gladly talk about the future next week,\u201d Harbaugh said. \u201cAnd I hope to have one, how about that? A future, I hope to have one, yes.\u201d
AP college football: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-football-poll<\/a><\/span> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-football<\/a><\/span>
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n