Ravens coach John Harbaugh on brother Jim Harbaugh, NFL chatter: ‘He loves Michigan’

The Michigan coach’s brother spoke on the record about Jim Harbaugh’s future plans.

Brad Crawford

When it comes to the next career move for Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh is pleading the fifth when it comes to projections. He said this week that his brother loves the Wolverines and it would be hard to pry him away from Ann Arbor despite recent NFL overtures.

“Well, I mean, I don’t know what he’s going to do,” John Harbaugh said Thursday. “I’m not sure what Jim’s plan are. Whatever he does will be what’s best for his family. I know Michigan’s been a joy for him to go back to his alma mater. His family loves it there, the players love him, the coaches, the fanbase. I would think the president and the board of trustees would be doing everything they can to try and keep them. That would be priority No. 1 if I was them.

“He loves Michigan, but the NFL … he loves the NFL too, so we’ll have to see.”

Jim Harbaugh interviewed this week with the Los Angeles Chargers and the Atlanta Falcons. Rumored to be among the Chargers’ top targets, Harbaugh has not signed a longterm extension with the Wolverines and side-stepped recent questions surrounding his interest in returning to the NFL.

The Michigan coach, who won three-consecutive Big Ten titles and comes off the Wolverines’ first national championship since 1997, first touched on his options in November, describing a previous conversation with his father about coaching as long as he can.

He remains in discussion with the Wolverines on a new contract if certain expectations are met despite interviews this week with two NFL franchises, Yahoo Sports reports. Specifically, sources told Yahoo Sports that Harbaugh wants immunity from termination if there’s any blowback regarding multiple NCAA investigations into Michigan football and a decreased buyout should he decide to leave for an NFL opportunity in the future.

The fact Harbaugh is still in talks about an extension backs up what Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel has assured Wolverines fans for weeks regarding his efforts to keep the national championship-winning coach around for 2024 and beyond. Manuel reiterated that re-signing Harbaugh was a top priority earlier this month inside Michigan’s Crisler Center, the site of the university’s national championship celebration.

NFL Media was first to report that Harbaugh and the Chargers could speak this week, and the Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders are also intrigued by the idea of the Michigan coach leading their teams. Harbaugh’s continued flirtations with various NFL openings in recent years make him an easy target this time of year and given his prior stint in the Bay Area with the San Francisco 49ers, various insiders have suggested the murmurs have merit.

The Michigan Insider reported during the season that sources expected Harbaugh to at least entertain NFL opportunities once again, including the vacancy for the Chicago Bears, but they recently committed to current coach Matt Eberflus for the 2024 season.

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After ditching NFL-related questions before the title game, Harbaugh sidestepped a follow-up inquiring if he has assured the Michigan administration that he will be back in Ann Arbor for the 2024 season.

Tennnessee judge ends conservatorship agreement between Michael Oher and the Tuohy family
A decision has been made on the controversial conservatorship agreement.
Raymond Lucas Jr.

Tennessee judge Kathleen Gomes ruled on Wednesday that she is ending the conservatorship agreement between Michael Oher and Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, according to the Associated Press.

The conservatorship became the center of a public spat between Oher and the Tuohy family. The judge also announced that she will not dismiss Oher’s lawsuit against the Tuohys. Oher, the focal point of The Blind Side, alleged in August that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy chose conservatorship over adoption to benefit from his football fame for personal gain.

“According to the suit, the Tuohys did not adopt Oher in 2004, rather they instead entered him into a conservatorship and impressed upon him that it was the same process as adoption,” CBS Sports reports. “Under a conservatorship, the Tuohys were able to enter into deals legally without Oher’s consent. The conservatorship also allowed the Tuohys to take ownership of Oher’s finances even though he was not a legal member of the family.

The Tuohy family says Oher threatened them with going public after requesting a $15 million check, per TMZ Sports. They added that the conservatorship in question was established to help the former offensive tackle get recruited by Ole Miss and other major programs.

Oher’s allegations against the Tuohy family were brought to light when he filed paperwork alleging he was never adopted. He says that shortly after he turned 18 in 2004, the Tuoys tricked him into signing a document that designated them as his conservators. As a result, he unknowingly granting them legal jurisdiction to conduct business deals on his behalf.

The 14-page petition filed by Oher in probate court alleges that the Tuohys used that power to negotiate an agreement that resulted in substantial royalties stemming from the Oscar-winning movie that amounted to millions of dollars for them the Tuohys and their two biological children. The Blind Side movie amassed more than $300 million in earnings. Meanwhile, Oher reportedly received nothing from a movie “that would not have existed without him.”

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Oher was an unanimous All-American in his final season at Ole Miss in 2008. He was a two-time, First-Team All-SEC selection with the Rebels in 2007 and 2008 before declaring for the NFL Draft after three years in Oxford.

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Oher rated as a five-star prospect in the 2005 class and ranked as the No. 38 overall recruit nationally according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite. He also ranked as the No. 6 offensive tackle and No. 2 overall prospect in Tennessee coming out of Memphis Briarcrest Christian.

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Brad Crawford contributed to this report.

Historic Browns Season on Defense Still Results in Questions for Jim Schwartz Moving Forward
The Cleveland Browns defense was humiliated by the Houston Texans, utilizing concepts that have given the Browns problems all year. Can Jim Schwartz come up with answers for next year?

The Cleveland Browns #1 ranked defense was eviscerated by the Houston Texans. And while the players deserve plenty of the blame, it’s difficult not to ask some difficult questions of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. The Texans hit on so many of the plays that have hurt the Browns all season and when it mattered the most, Schwartz and the defense still didn’t have an answer.

The defense deserves a ton of credit for what they’ve been able to do this season and was the biggest reason the Browns were able to qualify for the postseason. This is not a suggestion that Schwartz should be fired. That’s preposterous.

However, when the Browns suit up again for the 2024 season, is this defense going to be equipped with the answers for offenses that can hold up against their defensive line, beat man coverage, and effectively utilize misdirection to create numbers advantages? Teams they will have to be able to defeat in the postseason.

Many of the problems the Browns had came down to the fact that the defensive front had little if any success against the Texans offensive line. An offensive line that frankly shouldn’t be able to play that well against the Browns. The defensive line is the engine of the Browns defense and it wasn’t running on all cylinders at any point in this game.

And while that is a massive disappointment, it also can’t be the whole game. Not with how good this defense is supposed to be. The Browns struggled to deal with motion. The eyes of the defensive backs were often in the wrong place and the sheer amount of aggression the Browns defense plays with enabled the Texans to create explosive plays.

For example, the wide receiver screen to Nico Collins that went for a touchdown didn’t occur because of the defensive line. It happened because the whole defense was flowing the other way, enabling the Texans to outnumber them and create a path to the end zone. The X’s and O’s were no better than the players in that situation. And while there are times when the offense just calls the right play for a situation.

These aren’t new problems. These are issues the Browns ran into against the Indianapolis Colts Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, and Los Angeles Rams. Talented coordinators calling offenses managed by veteran quarterbacks who understood what the Browns were trying to do, equipped with answers, both pre and post-snap.

After some initial discomfort for the first handful of drives, C.J. Stroud looked the part of a veteran quarterback. With the guidance of offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who might be able to land a head coaching job based on this game alone, Stroud came up with answers that punished the defense for mistakes.

All of those games also happened to be on the road, something else Schwartz will have to figure out. Defense is supposed to travel well and it simply hasn’t happened this year.

When Schwartz’s aggressive defense is working, the Browns showed the ability to dominate games. But when it’s not, Schwartz has to come up with better answers. Every opponent the Browns have o