Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has made no secret regarding his interest to return to the NFL. The Vikings will be the first team to take him up on the possibility.
Per multiple sources, the Vikings will interview the former 49ers coach for the vacancy created by the firing of Mike Zimmer.
The league office, we’re told, is aware of the interview and is awaiting the formal paperwork that must be filed for all head-coaching interviews.
Harbaugh coached the 49ers four years, from 2011 through 2014. He compiled a record of 44-19-1 in the regular season, and he took a 6-10 team to the brink of the Super Bowl in his rookie year -- despite having no offseason program, due to the lockout. The next year, Harbaugh went to the Super Bowl, and he nearly won it.
Overlapping for two years in San Francisco were Harbaugh and new Vikings G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Despite intense friction between Harbaugh and former 49ers G.M. Trent Baalke, there has been no suggestion of any issues between Harbaugh and Adofo-Mensah.
If there were, the interview surely wouldn’t be happening. Indeed, given recents events in Jacksonville, it’s reasonable to wonder whether Harbaugh maybe wasn’t the problem.