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Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer
The Atlanta Falcons are scheduling a second interview with Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh for the team’s vacant head coach position, a source told ESPN on Saturday, confirming a report.
The date of the second interview is not yet clear. Harbaugh first interviewed with the Falcons on Tuesday — a little more than a week after he led Michigan to its first national championship since the 1997 season.
According to a source with knowledge of the search but not authorized to speak publicly, the search is still “wide open,” and the franchise is happy with the way it has gone thus far.
The 60-year-old Harbaugh has been at Michigan since 2015, and he has an 86-25 record, including 12-0 this past campaign despite being suspended twice during the regular season. He has won three straight Big Ten titles with the Wolverines.
Harbaugh has won at every stop where he has been a head coach. Before Michigan, he coached the San Francisco 49ers for four seasons with a 44-19-1 record, two NFC West titles, three NFC title game appearances and one Super Bowl berth, losing to the Baltimore Ravens following the 2012 season.
He took over a struggling Stanford program in 2007 and finished with a 29-21 record, including a 12-1 mark in 2010 and a 40-12 win over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. It was the first time the Cardinal had won a BCS bowl game. While at Stanford, Harbaugh also helped develop future No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck at quarterback.
He started his head-coaching career in 2004 at the University of San Diego, where he went 29-6 and helped develop quarterback Josh Johnson into a future NFL quarterback.
As an NFL player, Harbaugh appeared in 177 games with 140 starts, completing 58.8% of his passes for 26,288 yards and 129 touchdowns with 117 interceptions for the Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, Ravens and San Diego Chargers.
Atlanta had a second interview with former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick on Friday.
The Falcons also completed two first interviews — both virtual, due to NFL league rules — with Buffalo Bills interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris on Saturday. Morris was the former interim head coach of the Falcons in 2020, taking over after Dan Quinn was fired with 11 games left in the season.
Atlanta has interviewed 11 coaches for the position that opened when the club fired Arthur Smith after three seasons on Jan. 8.
NFL Network first reported the scheduling of Harbaugh’s second interview.
Source: www.espn.com