As Jim Harbaugh storms into his second year as Michigan's head coach, the most common negative recruiting sentiment is the same as it was December 2015: That he'll leave U-M as soon as he's bored or interested in the NFL or something else.
That's largely based on his track record _ he's never stayed in a coaching job more than four years.
But the longer he stays in Ann Arbor, the longer the 52-year-old seems to want to stay.
Asked on SiriusXM satellite radio tonight if he plans on Michigan being his ultimate job, where he would stay 20-25 years, he was emphatic.
"Yeah, I think that way," he said. "I think God willing and the creek don't rise, that'll happen. I love coaching, I love football, I love the University of Michigan. You hope to go as long as you can where you're still going it by example, not just by anecdote and you're doing it as long as the good lord will allow you to do it."
Harbaugh's seven-year contract, where he is now in Year 2, is valued similar to NFL deals, at $7 million per year.
He moved his parents to a house near his Ann Arbor home and wants his young children to grow up in the same city where he spent his formative years.
These comments were more emphatic than he has been in his U-M tenure about staying. Previously, he said he only looks at today and not the future whereas, now, he endorsed the idea of staying and building.
Harbaugh watched what his mentor Bo Schembechler did, staying at U-M from 1969-89 and, with success, has the chance to emulate that type of tenure, which is rare in college football.
