Michigan Risking Huge Embarrassment with Gigantic Jim Harbaugh Offer

Sometimes you arrive at desperation logically. Panic becomes the only sensible move.   

That's the best way to describe why Michigan is going so far overboard in trying to land Jim Harbaugh as its new football coach, after he already told the Wolverines no. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that Michigan is offering Harbaugh a six-year contract at $8 million a year, which is more than 10 percent higher than the $7.16 million current NCAA highest-paid coach Nick Saban makes and 60 percent more than Harbaugh's current $5 million yearly salary.

My first thought: desperation. Never going to get him. Going to end in embarrassment. Exactly the right play.

That Michigan feels it would take a ridiculous offer to interest a superstar coach who should have an emotional connection to the place shows just how far Michigan has fallen.

Season	Team	W-L
2004	University of San Diego	7-4
2005	University of San Diego	11-1
2006	University of San Diego	11-1
2007	Stanford	4-8
2008	Stanford	5-7
2009	Stanford	8-5
2010	Stanford	12-1
2011	49ers	13-3
2012	49ers	11-4-1
2013	49ers	12-4
2014	49ers	7-7

Harbaugh is now willing to think about it, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. That would be great, if I believed it for one second. No, it's a far better bet that he is using his alma mater as leverage for a few weeks until the NFL season ends, the San Francisco 49ers dump him and other NFL teams come after him. Now they can see how much it will take to get him.

I'm suspicious, too, about who leaked the news. If it was Harbaugh or someone from his camp wanting NFL teams to know, Michigan should already know it's being used. If it was Michigan, well, that's pathetic. It's an announcement to the world that Michigan can still be considered by the hottest coach in the country, like it wants all the kids in school to know that the popular girl is considering its invite to the prom. There's currency in that.

Either way, Michigan doesn't seem to be denying the report.

And it's just such a curious thing that Harbaugh is so hot. Every time a big opening comes up, Harbaugh's name immediately is leaked. Oakland Raiders, New York Jets, Chicago Bears. Michigan. Everyone wants this guy.

Everyone except for the team who has him. And it can't wait to get rid of him.

Harbaugh has a shelf life. You love him when you get him because he's such a great coach and he instills discipline and toughness. And he wins. But he's sort of a prickly football genius who thrives on challenging people, pushing their buttons and making them uncomfortable.

In the pros, players are recyclable. And if they don't get along with Harbaugh, they can be dumped. In college, you can't just do that. And if Harbaugh makes everyone around him, including co-workers, uncomfortable, how will he do with Michigan's big alumni, boosters and all those players' parents? What a mess.

So how can I say that Michigan is doing the right thing by going for him with such outrageous money?

Let's call is justifiable panic. The place is in a free-fall and has no idea what it wants or needs. It tried to modernize by hiring Rich Rodriguez as coach, and then started trying to force him out as soon as it shook his hand to welcome him. Then it went the traditional Michigan Man route in Brady Hoke, who failed miserably.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

What's left? Tough love. Michigan is not a national program anymore. The Big Ten is slipping from national relevance overall, other than Ohio State and maybe Michigan State.

I've heard calls in Michigan for the Wolverines not to worry about name recognition in a coach, and to worry instead about building things slowly and over the long term, like Mark Dantonio did at Michigan State.

That is a different animal. Michigan is still trying to stay within shouting distance of the national stage. Get the wrong guy again, and that's over. It might never come back (see: Nebraska).

If getting a superstar coach is part PR, fine. There is nothing wrong with PR. Michigan needs to think one way: How will we land the stud high school quarterback in Florida or Texas or wherever? Those kids are going to high-powered, fast-paced offenses in warm weather. They don't know who Bo Schembechler is. And everyone is on TV now, so Michigan has lost nearly all of its built-in advantages just for being Michigan.

Do you know what these kids do know?

Jim Harbaugh.

Michigan needs a big-name coach right away. It needs a reason for people to look at the Wolverines before everyone starts forgetting they're there at all. One of the big reasons Ohio State has kept its name while the entire Midwest fades is that Urban Meyer is its coach. Every recruit knows who he is.

Harbaugh has been to the Super Bowl, has developed Alex Smith at quarterback. He also worked a miracle at Stanford, taking a smart-kid team and turning it into a blood-and-guts place. No way would anyone have thought that would work there.

Meanwhile, all the other big-name coaches keep saying no to Michigan. Les Miles, Sean Payton, TCU's Gary Patterson, who got a contract extension out of Michigan's interest in him.

Reality sets in. Options run out. So Michigan took another run at the Big One. If it pulls this off, Harbaugh will likely turn Michigan around quickly. But his shelf life will still be an issue. The clock is always ticking with him.

On the other hand, what if he turns down the job? What if he's only using Michigan as leverage? How will it look if Michigan can't even get a local boy to take the job as the richest coach ever?

Well, Michigan can deal with that later.

This is the time for panic.

Greg Couch covers college football for Bleacher Report. He also writes for The New York Times and was formerly a scribe for FoxSports.com and the Chicago Sun-Times. Follow him on Twitter @gregcouch.