I laughed at the Harbaugh deal at first like everyone else, but I actually think its quite clever for Michigan. They didn't want to do a coaching search during a COVID year. So instead they kept their current coach at a lower price, and made his buyout much smaller. If things keep going south, they can now fire Harbaugh much more cheaply.
Looking at Michigan's schedule next year, they play a bunch of "could beat Michigan" teams before the end of October, including Indiana, Rutgers, Michigan State, and hell even Northern Illinois. If Harbaugh faceplants against any of them, he could be fired by Halloween and then Michigan will be able to have a robust coaching search, at a time when they will be the best job open.
