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University of Texas head football coach Mack Brown officially resigned from his position on Saturday, although he will coach the team's bowl game. There had been chatter that he was trying to save his job, but apparently that didn't quite pan out.
The rumor mill has been going fast and furious, with 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh right in the center of it. Now it sounds like things will settle down for the time being. Numerous reports are now indicating Harbaugh is not interested in the Texas job. Matt Maiocco reported multiple sources told him "Harbaugh is not interested in returning to the college ranks for any job."
Over at National Football Post, Jason Cole reported that two sources told him that Coach Harbaugh "has no intention of pursuing a college job, taking him out of the running for the University of Texas job that officially opening Saturday night when Mack Brown resigned. Harbaugh was offered the job at Michigan, his alma mater, at one point when he was at Stanford, but his intention was always to be in the NFL as a head coach."
Finally, yesterday afternoon, Tim Kawakami reported that Jed York had a brief discussion with Jim Harbaugh regarding the rumors:
I'm told all of that speculation led York to check in with Harbaugh a few days ago to make sure the coach was still happy with the 49ers and focused on this season.
According to a source, Harbaugh told York that he wanted to be with the 49ers for as long as they wanted him, and York and Harbaugh generally agreed that there would be serious extension talks this offseason.
It's no surprise however that York had this to say on the record:
"The only thing I'll say is he's in the third year of a five-year contract, and I love the job that he's doing," York told me on Thursday.
"But now is not the right time to talk about anything like that. We've got three games left in the regular season and a potential playoff berth, and that's what everybody here's focused on.
"We'll sit down at the end of the season and talk about all this-and I hope he has the utmost leverage when we do that... meaning after we win a Super Bowl."
Once we get into the offseason, I'd imagine plenty of information will leak out as negotiations get going. For now, the situation should be relatively settled through the rest of the season. Who knows what the offseason will bring, but for the time being, this will hopefully be the end of it.
