Update (12:37 p.m.): Bettors disagree with Sportsbook's take and are trying to profit accordingly:
Jim Harbaugh to Michigan Bets keep coming in, odds moved from 6-1 to 4-1. Despite all rumors saying he wants to stay in NFL.
— Sportsbook.com (@Sportsbook_com) December 8, 2014
Michigan Man Jim Harbaugh's 49ers were crushed by the Oakland Raiders yesterday, 24-13. The 49ers looked largely inept and uninterested, and the performance did nothing to stop speculation Harbaugh's time wanes in San Francisco.
What are the stakes of Michigan getting the man who has to be its No. 1 target? Allow Nick Baumgardner of MLive.com to elaborate:
And so, there's Michigan. It's no secret at this point that the Wolverines want Harbaugh. He's the golden goose here. The ultimate hire. The game-changer. Michigan fans spent much of the 2014 season squawking about poor attendance numbers inside the Big House. If Harbaugh shows up, they'll spend 2015 contemplating whether or not to give their left arm or their right arm for game tickets.
It'd be an absolute home run move, and it would do a lot to clear up the thick dark cloud that has been hovering over this program for the better part of the decade. Michigan would have to pay top dollar for Harbaugh, and it would have likely have to offer him the type of program control that neither Rich Rodriguez nor Brady Hoke ever came close to securing. If you want to win bad enough, then you do just that.
But right now, it's all just an if. Michigan absolutely has to ask, it has to exhaust all its options on that front. We know this. And if Harbaugh hasn't told them "no" through dozens of different back-channels, then they have to keep trying.
As Baumgardner notes, Harbaugh will have all the leverage among his suitors. Is new Michigan athletic director, Jim Hackett, willing to cede control his predecessor wasn't? It's a move that would almost literally require a blank check.
And while there's no doubt it would be an Urban Meyer-to-Ohio State type hype for Michigan, oddsmakers don't seem high on it happening:
Harbaugh coaching odds opened OAK 5-6 Other NFL Team 2-1 Does Not Coach 5-2 SF 6-1 Michigan 6-1 Other NCAA Team 15-1 http://t.co/wgXQWIYuj0
— Sportsbook.com (@Sportsbook_com) December 8, 2014
Re Harbaugh 2015 Odds...within minutes of tweeting out the new odds we took heavy action on Oakland Raiders so moved them from -120 to -200
— Sportsbook.com (@Sportsbook_com) December 8, 2014
It would be interesting to see to whom Michigan would turn if it was spurned by Harbaugh. His brother and current coach of the Baltimore Ravens, John? Les Miles? Because after those three names, Michigan's next option seems to be the corpse of Bo Schembechler. One thing is certain, however: Michigan desperately needs to get this right.
