As Stanford’s football team has met with unprecedented on-field success, its head coach, Jim Harbaugh, has become one of the top commodities in coaching. Harbaugh’s name has been linked to numerous job openings, both around the college world and in the NFL.
In order to try and keep Harbaugh on the Farm, a group of Stanford fans has circulated an online petition to the University’s administration to award Harbaugh a new five-year contract extension and a raise from his current salary, estimated at around $1.25 million annually. Much of the speculation over Harbaugh’s job status is driven by the fact that some of his suitors can offer over three times as much money as he currently earns.
As of this writing, the petition had gained over 1,000 signatures, and has been featured on ESPN.com’s popular Pac-10 blog.
The petition authors wrote, “Coach Harbaugh’s successes on and off the field are of benefit to not only the athletes and students but to the greater mission of Stanford University to provide world-class opportunities in everything it pursues.”
The petition can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/harbaughdynasty/.
–Kabir Sawhney