Knocked out of postseason contention on Sunday afternoon for the second time in three seasons, the Miami Dolphins are one of many teams rumored to be moving on from their coach come Black Monday.
In three years at the helm, current Dolphins coach Adam Gase has compiled a 23-24 record and taken Miami to the postseason once, as a wild-card team in his first season. But those passing grades haven't stopped rumblings that Dolphins brass could move on from the young coach and his general manager Mike Tannenbaum this offseason.
The latest name to circulate as Gase's potential replacement is one familiar to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross: University of Michigan head coach and former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
But Ross told The Miami Herald on Monday that he will not attempt to steal Harbaugh away from Michigan, where the coach has led the Wolverines since 2015.
Ross' connections to Michigan run deep. The Dolphins owner earned his bachelor's degree there, is the namesake of the university's business school and has donated over $350 million to the business school and athletic department over the past 15 years.
This isn't the first time Ross has been linked to Harbaugh in coaching rumors. In January 2011, the owner flew to California to try to hire Harbaugh, then the coach of Stanford, even though Tony Sparano was still employed as Miami's skipper. Harbaugh instead joined the Niners and Sparano was fired midseason.
Harbaugh's name has also been linked in recent days to the New York Jets, whose acting owner and CEO, Christopher Johnson, declared Monday that there was "no truth" to their reported interest in the Michigan skipper.
Harbaugh is entering the fifth season of a seven-year deal signed in 2014 that pays roughly $7.5 million per year.
The Dolphins wrap up their season with a Week 17 bout in Buffalo.
