Some news reports have released information that makes it a foregone conclusion that Jim Harbaugh is going to be the new head coach of Kansas Football.

If it is true, it’s going to be a tough pill to swallow for Stanford fans considering how rewarding this past season has been.

No longer were we suffering through a 1-11 season as Walt Harris looked on as if someone had stolen his lunch money right in front of the entire stadium. We got to see an energetic and upbeat coach push a team to heights not seen since it was being quarterbacked by a guy named Elway. Or a more recent comparison to the 2001 Stanford football team that earned a Rose Bowl bid, eventually losing to the Ron Dayne—led Wisconsin team. 

As the saying goes it’s OK to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. It appears that the Stanford Athletic department did not do that. Shortly after that memorable season that ended in the Rose Bowl, Notre Dame courted then Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham and plucked home away from The Farm.

The Cardinal did not recover from that loss until the aforementioned Harbaugh came along. While most may see this as a lateral step or a step down in terms of program tradition, it will almost certainly mean more money for Harbaugh.

So this time around why Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby did not get Harbaugh to sign their already agreed upon contract extension is beyond me.

However, in these next couple of hours Bowlsby needs to avoid the catastrophic mistake of losing Harbaugh. Call every big donor that Stanford has, whether they care about athletics or not, and tell them that he is attempting to match Kansas’ offer money—wise. Upon doing that, call Harbaugh and offer a new contract extension hopefully saving the football program and the athletic department as well.

As financial sense goes, keeping Harbaugh means more ticket sales, it also means more NFL players like Luck and Gerhart who will be able to donate to their school in the future.

Alas, Stanford places an onus on academics above all else. Unlike the Texas Longhorns and the Florida Gators of the world ,they can’t break the bank to save their coach from leaving.  So whether or not you believe that Harbaugh is leaving to Kansas, he will most certainly leave eventually.

And that is a tough pill to swallow.