Jim Harbaugh Rumors: Lack of Vikings Contract 'Had Nothing to Do with Money'

While the Minnesota Vikings are expected to make Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell their next head coach after the Super Bowl, per The Athletic, the 36-year-old was far from the most high-profile candidate.

That distinction went to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.

Yet, Chad Graff and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic reported the Vikings never offered Harbaugh the job, meaning the reason he will not be the next coach "had nothing to do with money or a contract."

Instead, there was "just a realization that this was not the right fit."

This was about more than just Harbaugh's inability to land the job despite a lengthy interview Wednesday.

Graff and Krawczynski detailed the process and noted O'Connell "blew them away" when talking to the Vikings. As a result, he "quickly became the favorite of the search committee, which was looking to overhaul the working environment at team headquarters, prioritizing leadership, inclusivity and collaboration after the front office, coaching staff and roster fractured under the pressure on [Rick] Spielman and [Mike] Zimmer's watch."

While Harbaugh's resume, which includes time in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, is impressive, there were some questions about how his tenure with the NFC West team and the speculation he was difficult to work with before it ended.

Despite the fact that "reports out of Michigan were that it felt like goodbye" when Harbaugh went to interview with Minnesota, "some in the Vikings organization wondered about his leadership style and how that would align with their new goals in the post-Spielman/Zimmer era."

Any momentum he had started to dissipate as the interview progressed, and he is headed back to the Wolverines as a result.

Harbaugh has been the head coach of his alma mater for seven seasons and has a 61-24 record. Much of his time with the Wolverines has been defined by the inability to win big games, with a 1-5 record against archrival Ohio State and a 1-5 record in bowl games, but he started to turn the corner in 2021.

Michigan defeated the Buckeyes for the first time in a decade and then won its first Big Ten championship since the conference installed a title game at the end of the season. While it lost to Georgia in the College Football Playoff, Michigan has more momentum and accomplishments under its belt than at any time during Harbaugh's tenure.

He will look to build on those accomplishments now that his chance to immediately return to the NFL has seemingly passed with this Vikings news.

Perhaps he will eventually be on an NFL sideline again—he went 44-19-1 and reached a Super Bowl while coaching the 49ers from 2011 to 2014—but the Vikings apparently didn't see him as a fit as they look to build a new culture and challenge the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.