Baltimore Ravens head coach Jim Harbaugh revealed Monday that the team has had internal conversations about an extension for superstar quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Jackson, 28, set an NFL record with his last contract in 2023. Since that five-year, $260 million deal, Jackson has won his second MVP award and come close to another, and the quarterback market has been reset a few more times. The current most lucrative contract in the NFL was signed last month, as Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is set to make $330 million over the next six years.

The Ravens will likely look to seal a deal with Jackson before next off-season when his salary cap hit jumps. “You just got to manage the salary cap dance, and Lamar is the main part of that because he’s the franchise player,” Harbaugh said. “Sooner or later, that’s definitely going to have to happen.”

Jackson threw for 4,172 yards in 2024 and rushed for another 900, putting up 41 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He finished with a rating of 119.6 rating despite a lackluster receiving corps, completing two-thirds of his passes to cap off another MVP-caliber season, finishing second behind Allen in voting.

Asked to put a value on Jackson’s potential contract, Harbaugh was effusive. “The value is the top,” he said. “When Lamar gets paid, he’s going to be the highest-paid player in football, just like he was last time. I think every contract he signs probably until he decides to hang up his cleats, he’s going to be that guy.”

The only limiting factor on Jackson’s value seems to be the postseason. Despite leading the Ravens to sparkling regular-season records over the past few seasons, Jackson is 3-5 in the playoffs over the course of his career and has given up 11 playoff turnovers in that time – the most of any quarterback over that span. He’s never advanced past the conference championship.

Following another tough postseason loss, though, the Ravens clearly don’t see their quarterback as the problem.

“He works hard, and he’s got a growth mindset, and he wants to be better,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the thing. That’s what I love about Lamar Jackson. He just wants to improve all the time. He’s never satisfied, and he talks about winning the Super Bowl, and when he wins a Super Bowl — not if, but when he wins a Super Bowl — he’s still not going to be satisfied. He’s going to want to get another one, and that’s just the way he’s built.”

Whatever happens, it seems inevitable that Jackson will sign another record-setting contract in the next year. Harbaugh and the Ravens will have to hope that he’ll earn it with a Super Bowl.

In the first quarter of the game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh left the sideline and went into the blue medical tent. He returned to the field and finished coaching his team to a 23-16 win over their division rival. Harbaugh revealed after the game that his condition makes his heart beat too quickly and that it has happened to him before.

“It’s called atrial flutter. I got into an episode today with it. Doctors checked me out and it got back into a sinus rhythm, normal rhythm, so I came back,” he said. “I had a couple ablations, one in 1999 and one in 2012. I’ll always remember the one in 2012, it was during the Monday night game. Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers versus the Chicago Bears, and Colin had a great night that night. After the game, got checked out. Ended up having to have an ablation for that one because it didn’t go back into rhythm, but 2-0 with arrhythmias. It would take my heart stopping for me not to be out there on the sideline.”

Harbaugh says that his heart rate is being consistently monitored and that he is wearing a monitor. He does expect to coach on Monday night against the Arizona Cardinals. The Chargers look to win their second game in a row and keep pace with the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. According to ESPN Bet, the Chargers are 2.5-point road favorites against the Cardinals.

Harbaugh is in his first season with the Chargers and his first year back in the NFL in ten years since he last coached the San Francisco 49ers in 2014. He recently won an NCAA National Championship at Michigan in 2023, fulfilling his dream to his alma mater before jumping back into the pros.

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said Wednesday that he has offered a coaching position to free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The former San Francisco 49ers star has not yet responded, and may still be considering a comeback as a player.

“He’s considering it,” Harbaugh said of his talks with Kaepernick. “He was out of the country. He said he was going to get back to me. We haven’t reconnected since then. That was early, early in the year.”

After a promising start to his NFL career, including a Super Bowl appearance in 2012, Kaepernick’s career took a tumultuous turn in 2016. After kneeling for the national anthem to protest racial injustice during the 2016 season, Kaepernick went unsigned in free agency and sued the NFL for conspiring to punish him for his activism.

Some coaches, including Pete Carroll, defended the quarterback and claimed that he should have been rostered. Carroll claims to have considered signing him to the Seahawks at one point, but couldn’t offer a starting position. Others argued that Kaepernick’s injury history and performance regression made him difficult to sign. He agreed to an undisclosed settlement with the league in 2019.

Since then, Kaepernick has consistently stated that he feels prepared to return to the quarterback position in the NFL, but teams have become increasingly wary of signing him. Harbaugh’s coaching offer could represent another way to re-enter the league.

Speaking to reporters, Harbaugh added that Kaepernick could be a “tremendous” coach, and that he wanted to work with him on the Chargers. Harbaugh, a former player himself, coached Kaepernick for most of his NFL career with the 49ers.

After years of half-hearted scouting efforts and loose discussions, Harbaugh’s coaching offer for Kaepernick appears to be a solid, genuine offer. It may not be the manner in which the 36-year-old prefers to rejoin the NFL, but it may be the only path remaining.

Former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has been suspended for one year and given a four-year show-cause penalty. The NCAA made the announcement Wednesday after determining that Harbaugh “violated recruiting and inducement rules,” among other charges.

Harbaugh, who accepted a position as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers earlier this year after Michigan’s national championship victory, will likely be completely unaffected by the disciplinary ruling. The show-cause penalty will prevent him from participating in any collegiate athletic activity for the next four years, but Harbaugh has a five-year deal in the NFL with Los Angeles.

Based on a statement from Harbaugh’s attorney, Tom Mars, the head coach likely isn’t taking the NCAA’s decision seriously.

“The way I see it, from Coach Harbaugh’s perspective, today’s [Committee on Infractions] decision is like being in college and getting a letter from your high school saying you’ve been suspended because you didn’t sign the yearbook,” Mars said.

The charges against the head coach have nothing to do with Michigan’s 2023 scouting scandal, which resulted in the Big 10 conference suspending Harbaugh during the season. The NCAA’s disciplinary actions concern incidents in which Michigan engaged in recruiting during a point in the Covid-19 pandemic when such practices were not permitted.

Addressing the unrelated scouting scandal at a press conference earlier this week, Harbaugh suggested that he stands by his conduct at the University of Michigan.

“Yeah, I do have a comment on that. Never lie, never cheat, never steal,” Harbaugh said. “I was raised with that lesson. I have raised my family on that lesson. I have preached that lesson to the teams I have coached. No one’s perfect. If you stumble, you apologize, and you make it right. Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate, was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations. So for me, it’s back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”

As an NFL head coach from 2011 to 2014, Harbaugh led the San Francisco 49ers to three straight NFC Championship game appearances and a Super Bowl appearance in the 2012 season.

Just 16 days after winning the national championship on a perfect 15-0 season with the Michigan Wolverines, Jim Harbaugh signed to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.

L.A. fired their previous head coach, Brandon Staley, after a disappointing 5-12 season with quarterback Justin Herbert.

Harbaugh led Michigan to an 86-25 record since his arrival in 2015, but his latest season was marked with two three-game suspensions, one self-imposed and the other coming directly from the NCAA. And with winning the college football national championship and sitting on top of the mountain, Harbaugh looks to start fresh, this time in the professional realm.

“The only job you start at the top is digging a hole, so we know we’ve got to earn our way,” Harbaugh said. “This organization is putting in the work — investing capital, building infrastructure and doing everything within its power to win. Great effort equals great results, and we’re just getting started.”

Before at Michigan, however, Harbaugh was head coach with the San Fransisco 49ers, leading them to a 49-22-1 record while reaching the Super Bowl in 2012. In his time in the Bay Area, Harbaugh made three NFC championship games in four years, while also winning NFL Coach of the Year in 2011. With his current NFL coaching record, Harbaugh ranks fifth in all-time coaching win percentage with a minimum of 50 games, right behind legends such as John Madden and Vince Lombardi.

After playing quarterback at Michigan from 1983-86, Harbaugh jumped around the league playing with teams such as the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts. Though his first time coaching the Chargers, Harbaugh also played for the team from 1999-2000 as quarterback, going 6-11 in games he started and threw for 4,177 yards, 18 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in that span.

Though he didn’t set Hall of Fame level stats as a quarterback, Harbaugh’s time as a player helped jump-start his coaching career from 2004 on. Since his move to coaching, beginning with the University of San Diego 20 years ago, Harbaugh has an all-time head coaching record of 182-72-1 in college football and the NFL.

“You don’t build a résumé like Jim’s by accident, and you don’t do it by yourself,” Chargers president John Spanos said. “You need a team. And nobody has built a team more successfully, and repeatedly, in recent history than Jim Harbaugh. His former players swear by him, and his opponents swear at him. Jim is one of one.”

With the Chargers hiring Harbaugh, Herbert and the team look to make a playoff run next year. Michigan, on the other hand, now has some decisions to make. They will surely see many players leave through the transfer portal as well as the NFL draft, and have to do a bit of a restart after winning the national championship.

Most importantly, they need a new head coach and someone who can confidently take the reigns after Harbaugh. Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore coached the team in four of the six games Harbaugh was suspended for, winning all of them and putting himself in a strong spot to land the job. Other notable names still on the table for Michigan to hire are Kansas head coach Lance Leipold and Baltimore Ravens coordinators Todd Monken and Mike Mcdonald. 

University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh dodged questions about the Los Angeles Chargers at a Rose Bowl press conference Wednesday. Harbaugh has been named as a potential candidate for the NFL team’s head coach position in 2024.

Harbaugh is currently preparing the Wolverines for a College Football Playoff matchup with Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The winner of that game advances to play either Washington or Texas for the national championship.

The Michigan head coach is currently under investigation for recruiting violations and has also been barred from the sideline during games more much of this season for allegations of sign stealing. But instead of focusing on his potential future in college football or the NFL, Harbaugh has repeatedly stated that he is focused on the present moment.

“Yeah, just a very one-track mind about this game,” Harbaugh said. “Right now, just have fun with the family and the team and the players…. We’re gonna enjoy ourselves. And then get back to business, see if we can’t dominate the day. Got some good meetings tonight. We’ll wake up tomorrow and practice, see if we can’t dominate that day. … One day at a time, one play at a time, and that’s how we’re approaching each day.”

Rumors about Harbaugh returning to the NFL have come about as a result of the Chargers’ profound struggles and the coach’s own issues in college football. Shortly after the Chargers emphatically fired coach Brandon Staley after an embarrassing 63-21 loss to the Raiders, Harbaugh was hit with renewed allegations from NCAA officials that Michigan violated a number of recruiting guidelines.

Harbaugh has coached in the NFL twice, most notably as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014. In 2012, he led San Francisco to the Super Bowl but the team lost to the Baltimore Ravens, coached by his brother, John Harbaugh.

The Chargers have gained a reputation as one of the NFL’s worst underachievers in recent years. The team has quarterback Justin Herbert leading an offense featuring stars Austin Ekeler and Keenan Allen.

The team also has household names like Nick Bosa and Khalil Mack on defense. Despite all this, Los Angeles has not won a playoff game since 2018 and notoriously blew a 27-point lead to the Jaguars in the Wild Card round last year.

The University of Michigan Wolverines and coach Jim Harbaugh have agreed to the Big Ten’s three-game suspension of the coach. 

This means that Harbaugh will not coach against Maryland and Ohio State.

Following this agreement, the Big Ten agreed to close its investigation of sign stealing by Michigan. 

“This morning, the University, Coach Harbaugh, and the Big Ten resolved their pending litigation,” Michigan’s statement read. “The Conference agreed to close its investigation, and the University and Coach Harbaugh agreed to accept the three-game suspension. With the University’s support, Coach Harbaugh decided to accept this sanction to return the focus to our student-athletes and their performance on the field. The Conference has confirmed that it is unaware of any information suggesting Coach Harbaugh’s involvement in the allegations. The University continues to cooperate fully with the NCAA’s investigation.”

The conflict between Big Ten and Michigan began last Friday, when Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti announced Harbaugh was being suspended for the final three games. Harbaugh has served one of his three-game suspensions, watching last week’s win against Penn State from a hotel room about 20 minutes away.

Michigan, who are 10-0, are currently ranked No. 3 in the college football playoff ranking.  

The University of Michigan reportedly sent a ten-page response to the Big Ten Conference Wednesday, arguing that officials need to respect due process ahead of likely disciplinary action. The Wolverines have been accused of illegally stealing opponents’ signs ahead of scheduled matchups.

“We remain steadfast in our conviction that due process matters,” a Michigan spokesperson told ESPN. “Like all members of the Big Ten Conference, we are entitled to a fair, deliberate and thoughtful process to determine the full set of facts before judgment is made. We continue to fully cooperate with the NCAA and the Big Ten regarding this matter.”

Though the response has not yet been released to the public, Michigan seems to be arguing that Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti would be breaking protocols by issuing “penalties” at this point.

Petitti and the conference are rumored to be announcing their ruling at some point this week, which could include fines and suspensions for head coach Jim Harbaugh and other staff members. Players are not expected to be punished.

The conference first began investigating Michigan in September after photos surfaced of low-level Wolverines staffer Connor Stalions at a Central Michigan game early in the season. Other Michigan opponents soon discovered that Stalions had bought tickets to their games as well and attempted to take video of their sidelines. Stalions was suspended by Michigan after the scandal broke and has since resigned.

The Big Ten does not have any rules specifically forbidding teams from stealing their opponents’ signs, but the NCAA has had rules in place forbidding advanced scouting for years.

Michigan’s practices, if proven true, would be in clear violation of those rules, which forbid team personnel from attending opponents’ games ahead of matchups.

In a statement released in October, Harbaugh denied having any knowledge of the allegations made against the program.

“I do not have any knowledge or information regarding the University of Michigan football program illegally stealing signals, nor have I directed any staff member or others to participate in an off-campus scouting assignment,” Harbaugh said.

Jim Harbaugh is reportedly garnering interest from teams and could potentially return to the NFL in 2023.

Multiple teams including the Denver Broncos have been doing homework on the Michigan Wolverines’ head coach, according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

He also said that “maybe Indianapolis Colts” have discussed potentially hiring Harbaugh as well.

Another team with an interim coach this season is the Carolina Panthers.

Plus, once the season ends, more teams will likely part ways with their current head coaches and expand Harbaugh’s market.

But Rapoport noted it remains to be seen if he’s actually interested in a return to professional football.

“We’ll see how much interest actually for real has in the NFL,” he said.

Meanwhile, The Athletic reported, citing multiple sources, that Harbaugh is expected to leave Michigan if an NFL team offers him a job.

For years now, Harbaugh has been rumored around NFL head coaching jobs.

This includes in 2021 when he reportedly had interest in either leading the New York Jets or Los Angeles Chargers.

And the rumors are swirling up again with Michigan’s season coming to an end after losing 51-45 in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday.

In eight seasons with Michigan, Harbaugh has posted a 74-25 record.

As head coach of the San Fransisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, Harbaugh was 44-19-1.

The 59-year-old helped take the franchise to the Super Bowl and to two NFC championship games.

The NFL experience and success have likely been eye-catching to NFL teams with head coaching openings.

But it remains to be seen if there be a mutual fit and if a team can strike a deal with Harbaugh this time around.

Last year, Harbaugh signed a five-year $36.6 million contract extension with Michigan.

Another coach that could spark big interest this year is Sean Payton, who stepped away from the New Orleans Saints after last season.

The Saints are expected to ask for a first-round pick for Payton, according to reports.

In an interview last weekend, Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh said that he would personally raise the babies of anyone in his program if they were unable to care for them. His comments came in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has led to abortion bans in eight states and restrictions in many more.

Speaking with ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski on Saturday, Harbaugh went on to say that his response to unplanned pregnancies came from his Catholic faith. As supporters of the right to life movement, he and his wife, Sarah, have strongly advocated for seeing pregnancies to term, regardless of their nature. In cases close to Harbaugh where the parents were unable to provide for the child, the coach said that he would do everything in his power to help.

“I’ve told [them] the same thing I tell my kids, boys, the girls, same thing I tell our players, our staff members. I encourage them if they have a pregnancy that wasn’t planned, to go through with it, go through with it,” Harbaugh said. “Let that unborn child be born, and if at that time, you don’t feel like you can care for it, you don’t have the means or the wherewithal, then Sarah and I will take that baby.”

While Harbaugh did not directly comment on people’s legal right to abortion access, his stance is staunchly in favor of protecting life after conception. At an event in Plymouth, Michigan, last week, Harbaugh made that clear in a more general sense.

“I believe in having the courage to let the unborn be born,” Harbaugh said.

This is not the first time Harbaugh has weighed in on social and political issues. The former 49ers coach has publicly supported quarterback Colin Kaepernick on multiple occasions in relation to his job search in the NFL and the Black Lives Matter movement. He also attended a march in Ann Arbor following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May 2020.

As has been the case previously, Harbaugh’s comments following the Supreme Court’s decision represent one argument in a complex and polarizing issue in the United States. As states rush to pass legislation protecting and restricting access to abortions, Harbaugh’s call for discussion and collaboration within the Michigan program comes amid a growing divide across the nation.

The University of Michigan won’t be looking for a new football coach, as Jim Harbaugh won’t be going to the Minnesota Vikings. Harbaugh met with the team earlier this week.

The potential move comes on the heels of the Wolverines posting a 12-2 record with a College Football Playoff appearance, at which they fell to the eventual champion Georgia Bulldogs. It was Harbaugh’s seventh season at the school, and if he had left the campus he would have departed with a 61-24 record with just one bowl win.

He beat Ohio State for the first time this past season.

Harbaugh was also rumored to be filling the Miami Dolphins coaching vacancy. He has now promised Michigan that’s committed to staying at the school.

Many are speculating that Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh could leave the college game and head back to the NFL on the heels of a Big 10 title and an appearance in the College Football Playoff.

The latest reports link Harbaugh to the Las Vegas Raiders opening, which, of course, is vacant after the Jon Gruden scandal.

Harbaugh restructured his Michigan deal prior to the 2021 season and has since gotten a win over Ohio State—his first—and the two aforementioned accolades under his belt.

Harbaugh’s previous stint in the NFL saw him lead the 49ers to three straight NFC Championship games, including a Super Bowl appearance.

This year Harbaugh led Michigan to a 12-2 record, and he’s 61-24 at Michigan overall; this season ended with a loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinals. Including his stints at Stanford and the University of San Diego, he boasts a 119-51 record as a head coach in the NCAA.

“Really proud of our guys,” Harbaugh told ESPN’s Marty Smith outside of the locker room. “The score was lopsided, but they were having fun fighting. I was right next to them. They’re fighters. The way they train. The way they play. This is the start. We just talked about it in there. The team’s not going be the same next year, but it’s a start. I believe it’s one of the best teams ever in (school history).”

The Los Angeles Rams fired Jeff Fisher on Monday, and are now searching for a new head coach.

Rams’ Coaching Search Could Include High-Profile Names Like Jim Harbaugh, Jon Gruden

Special teams coordinator John Fassel is currently serving as the team’s interim coach.

This search will likely be very different from most others in the NFL, for a variety of reasons.

First, the opening is for a job in the country’s No. 2 market and that evidently implies a lot of potential, particularly with a $2.6-billion stadium set to open in 2019. There’s also the appeal of working with No. 1 draft pick Jared Goff, who has had a slow start but remains viewed as a player with much potential.

Second, there’s the fact that Stan Kroenke, one of the league’s richest owners, has so much at stake with the Inglewood Stadium, and selling personal seat licenses, that he will need to think of big names for the head coaching position.

Several household names have already begun to appear. Among the most interesting people rumored to be taking the job are Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh and Super Bowl-winning-coach-turned-broadcaster Jon Gruden, both of whom specialize in working with quarterbacks. Hiring either would likely mean the Rams would be paying their new head coach over $10 million per year, which is significantly more than Fisher had been earning. (Fisher was earning about $6.5 million annually, a hefty sum for a coach whose Rams career consisted of five straight losing seasons.)

In his second season with the Wolverines, Harbaugh is NCAA football’s highest-paid coach at $9 million a year. Previously, he coached the San Francisco 49ers, whom he led to a Super Bowl and three back-to-back NFC title games.

One big name who has weighed in on Harbaugh as a possible choice for the Los Angeles coaching job is former Rams Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson, who was recently embroiled in a he-said/she-said in which he claimed Fisher banned him from the sidelines at the team’s games, although Fisher and his staff denied this.

“People are talking about Jim Harbaugh,” Dickerson said. “That would be a good fit. He develops quarterbacks. He had Alex Smith in San Francisco. He had an offensive line he had to rebuild. It’s almost the same situation you have here.”

Those close to Gruden have stated he would be open to a Rams pitch, and that he could be interested in a return to coaching after seven years as color analyst for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” He is also familiar with quarterbacks, resuscitated a dead Oakland Raiders franchise, and won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay at the end of the 2002 season (by defeating his former Raiders team).

Plus, Gruden and Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ top executive, worked together with the Buccaneers.

Other names circulating include New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, and Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. The Rams lost their last two games against these two teams.

In 2009, McDaniels was hired at age 33 to replace Mike Shanahan– Kyle’s father– as coach of the Denver Broncos. His teams went 8-8 and 3-9 before he was fired late in the 2010 season. McDaniels was also offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams in 2011 and has now had that same job for nearly four years with the Patriots.

McDaniels was spotted hanging around the Ram’s locker room, talking to his former colleagues following the team’s road loss to the Patriots in Week 13. This seems strange, considering Fisher was already on thin ice.

Nevertheless, Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager Dave Caldwell is believed to be interested in McDaniels, so the Rams’ being on the hunt for a coach could impact how the Jaguars deal with Coach Gus Bradley, who is 14-47 in nearly four seasons.

In his press conference Monday, Demoff said the investment in the Rams’ offense doesn’t necessarily mean the franchise will hire an offensive-minded head coach to replace the defensive-minded Fisher. The Rams are ranked 32nd on offense.

“You may find an unbelievable head coaching candidate who you meet with and believe is absolutely perfect for the Los Angeles Rams who has a defensive background,” Demoff said. “I think what’s most important is they have a plan to maximize the offense.”

Other potential candidates amongst the NFL’s offensive coordinators include the Seattle Seahawks’ Darrell Bevell and the Detroit Lions’ Jim Bob Cooter. 

Other non-offensive candidates include Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith and former New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin.

ANN ARBOR, MI – OCTOBER 17: Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Spartans defeated the Wolverines 27-23. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

USA Today released its annual survey of college football coaches’ salaries on Wednesday, and Alabama’s Nick Saban is no longer at the top.

Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh Is NCAA’s Highest-Paid Football Coach With $9M Contract

Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh is earning a whopping $9 million in 2016, overtaking Saban at $6.9 million.

Last year, the Alabama coach headed the list at $7,087,481.

Harbaugh’s big salary includes two $2 million interest-free loans– coming in the form of annual life-insurance premium payments– one of which he received June 3 and the other he will be paid if he is still coaching Michigan on Dec. 6.

Rounding out the top five are Ohio State’s Urban Meyer at $6 million, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops at $5.5 million and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher at $5.25 million.

The SEC had the highest median coach salary at $4,172,500, followed by the Big 12 ($3,540,788), the Pac-12 ($3,102,960), the Big Ten ($2,753,100) and the ACC ($2,562,485).

Charlie Strong, whose job security is in question at Texas, comes in at sixth with $5.2 million, followed by three SEC coaches — Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin at $5 million, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn at $4.725 million and Mississippi’s Hugh Freeze at $4.7 million. Penn State’s James Franklin ranks 10th with $4.5 million.

New Mexico State’s Doug Martin is listed as the lowest-paid coach at $376,044. However, nine colleges– Baylor, BYU, Tulane, SMU, USC, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Miami and Syracuse– did not submit contract information to USA Today.

USA Today’s survey also reveals how much it would cost to fire a coach.

For instance, if Florida State wanted to sever ties with Fisher, it would cost the school $33,125,000. On the opposite end of the spectrum is San Diego State, who can part ways with coach Rocky Long for the bargain price of $349,334.

Of course, much of this relates to the number of years remaining on the contract (among other things).

Furthermore, Thirty-six FBS coaches are earning at least $3 million this year, up from just nine in 2011. USA Today also reported that at least seven FBS coaches– not all contracts are public — would be owed at least $20 million guaranteed if they were fired after the regular season. Fisher would have the highest buyout at $33 million, and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz would be owed more than $25 million.

Of the 53 publicly available contracts for Power 5 coaches, 33 include buyouts of at least $8 million.

Here’s a look at the Top 25 highest-paid coaches in college football:

Who has it better than the Michigan Wolverines?

San Francisco rapper Bailey claims nobody does.

After lending a tribute track to his hometown San Francisco 49ers a few years ago, the hip-hop star is now paying homage to Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh’s team using the impassioned coach himself in his latest video.

In it, Bailey shows one of Harbaugh’s biggest attributes: his loudness. The coach, who also previously led the 49ers, is shown touting the school’s accolades and rowdy spirit in the song, entitled “Who’s Got It Better Than Us?”

PHOTO: ANN ARBOR, MI – OCTOBER 17: Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Spartans defeated the Wolverines 27-23. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Forget about the 2017 recruiting class. And 2018? Don’t worry about it.

Instead let’s focus on the recruiting class for 2020.

That was the message sent by Michigan’s head football coach Jim Harbaugh, or at least, how it has been interpreted.

Harbaugh continued to show his knack for making headlines when eighth grader Sol-Jay Maiava announced he was offered a scholarship by the Wolverines head coach.

“Blessed 2 say I received my first scholarship offer from the University of Michigan,” Maiava tweeted early Wednesday morning, while including the hashtags “Wolverines” and “Go Big Blue.”

The news was first reported by MLive.com.

Maiava is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound dual-threat quarterback who claims to have posted a forty time of 4.7 seconds. That is the type of athlete that would get any campus buzzing, but Big Blue will have to wait a few years before seeing Sol-Jay’s smiling face in Ann Arbor.

MAIAVA’S HIGHLIGHT REEL: EASY FOLKS HE”S STILL IN 8TH GRADE

The Laie, Hawaii, native came onto Harbaugh’s radar as the Michigan coaching staff continued its extensive, and controversial, satellite camp tour that spanned areas of California this week, before touching down in the 50th state.

Maiava cannot officially sign a letter of intent until his junior season, but Michigan’s head coach wanted to make sure the middle school signal caller was aware of Michigan’s interest in his future.

Can anybody “hang loose” better than Harbaugh?

Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh fired back at Nick Saban’s “lecturing” via Twitter on Tuesday night after the Alabama coach said satellite camps were “bad for college football” and compared them to “the wild, wild West” during Tuesday’s SEC spring meetings.

Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh Responds To Alabama’s Nick Saban On ‘Lecturing’

After originally saying he would not discuss satellite camps, Saban delivered a five-minute rant in which he lambasted the practice for incorporating third parties into recruiting, and for the lack of guidelines as well.

“This is the wild, wild West at its best,” said Saban. “There have been no specific guidelines relative to how we’re managing control of this stuff. It’s happening outside the normal evaluation window, which means we’re taking time away from our players. We have to worry about our players doing the right things with the limited time we have them, but we’re not going to do that because we have to be somewhere else to see someone else.”

Saban, who has never been fond of satellite camps, went on to call them “ridiculous.”

Harbaugh, who has oppositely embraced satellite camps more than virtually any other college coach, was evidently disturbed by the Crimson Tide coach’s comments and responded with a tweet in which he referenced (without naming him) Alabama assistant coach Bo Davis, who resigned in late April after alleged recruiting violations.

The SEC has banned its coaches from participating in satellite camps, and the NCAA followed with a satellite-camp ban. However, in April the NCAA overturned the ban and ruled that satellite camps would be allowed.

Saban then added at Tuesday’s meeting that Harbaugh “can do whatever he wants to do if he thinks that’s what’s best,” but that there “needs to be somebody who looks out for what’s best for the game, not the SEC or the Big Ten or Jim Harbaugh. But what’s best for the game of college football.”

PHOTO: ANN ARBOR, MI – OCTOBER 17: Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Spartans defeated the Wolverines 27-23. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith criticized the Michigan football program and particularly head coach Jim Harbaugh after the latter decided to conduct a portion of the Wolverines’ spring practice in Florida earlier this month. Bleacher Report’s Ben Axelrod tweeted out Smith’s quote.

Jim Harbaugh Responds To OSU AD Gene Smith With Comment On Tattoo

Refusing, as always, to back down from a fight, Harbaugh quickly fired back at Smith on his own Twitter account, referencing an old scandal involving a tattoo that rocked the Ohio State Buckeyes program of deposed coach Jim Tressel back in 2010. Ohio State’s sanctions from the NCAA in 2011 centered on players having a financial arrangement with a tattoo parlor.

The Buckeyes have two undisputed national championships since the Michigan Wolverines last sat in first place in college football alongside Nebraska in 1997.

In fact, Michigan hasn’t won a game since 2011.

Former Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott also later responded to Harbaugh via Twitter, reminding him of the Buckeyes’ 42-13 win at Michigan in November.

Smith eventually apologized via Twitter on Wednesday morning, stating, “My comments at a soccer press conference yesterday were not meant to discredit our rival. I apologize to UM student-athletes & my good friend Warde Manuel. We at OSU look forward to continuing the greatest rivalry in collegiate football.”

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer also commented on the issue regarding the Florida trip for spring training.

“It doesn’t mean we won’t do research or keep an eye out, but it’s funny. … Somebody said the other day, ‘I saw you guys were going to Florida.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ Somebody stuck a microphone in my face and I said (we’d look into it). We wouldn’t take their free time away from them. If there’s some way to do something like that and it helps the players, we’ll look into it.”

Michigan Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh has discovered an interesting way to pitch the Michigan program to kids in Florida.

Jim Harbaugh Pitches To Florida Kids

Harbaugh has drawn anger from some SEC and ACC coaches for conducting several satellite camps in the Southeast. He will serve as first base coach for the Detroit Tigers for a spring training game in Bradenton, Fla., on Wednesday, according to The Detroit News.

This is not Harbaugh’s first spring training coaching gig, however. He helped coach the Oakland A’s during a game in last year’s spring training and has previously stated that he would have liked to have played baseball professionally.

There’s even a chance he will spend some time on the Pittsburgh Pirates coaching staff too, since he’s a friend of Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, a Michigan fan.

For all of his success on the field, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh can be a pretty weird guy.

In the past, he’s been known to randomly tweet at rappers, ran around a high school football camp shirtless but still in his signature khakis, and admitted to calling his future wife nine times in a row before they went on their first date. So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that he took a Wolverine tradition to the next level.

Every year before the big game against Ohio State, there is a “cemetery walk” past the graves of legendary coaches Fielding Yost and Bo Schembechler in addition to former Michigan radio broadcaster Bob Ufer. Not only was Harbaugh the first coach to ever attend, but he spoke at the grave of Schembechler, his former coach.

After his words, Harbaugh produced a literal buckeye nut and placed it on top of Schembechler’s grave. He then smashed it with a yellow hammer, hopefully setting the tone for this weekend’s match-up between his Wolverines and the Buckeyes.  

Photo: Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Michigan Wolverines reacts during the college football game against the Michigan State Spartans at Michigan Stadium on October 17, 2015 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Spartans defeated the Wolverines 27-23. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)