Acclaimed Detroit News columnist Mitch Albom spoke with Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh after Harbaugh left Minnesota without being hired by the Vikings.
Why did the 58-year-old former leader of the NFL’s 49ers go home without the job when it was reported by numerous Michigan insiders that he was expecting to be hired?
It’s been reported, including by Albom, that Harbaugh was never offered the job by the Vikings. But in Harbaugh’s words, the Vikings, who he said contacted him, didn’t express “100 percent conviction” in him.
“For better or for worse, it was something I wanted to explore. I went in thinking, ‘I’m gonna have 100 percent conviction on this, and if they (Minnesota) have 100 percent conviction on this, then it’s something I’m gonna do,” Harbaugh said.
In other words, Harbaugh was taking the job if the Vikings would’ve made an offer.
Instead, the Vikings are reportedly hiring Rams rising star coordinator Kevin O’Connell, who had a cup of coffee in the NFL as a quarterback and then a stint as a broadcaster before becoming a coach.
O’Connell, 36, is the newest head coach from the Sean McVay coaching tree, which includes Zac Taylor of the Bengals, Matt LaFleur in Green Bay and the Chargers’ Brandon Staley.
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