Jim Harbaugh officially decided to return to the Michigan Wolverines football program in 2023 after rumors of him possibly bolting for an NFL head coaching job. Even as Michigan football fans were overjoyed by the news, many couldn't help but notice that it was University president Santa Ono who had a phone conversation with Harbaugh, and not athletic director Warde Manuel.

In fact, things might not be sunshine and rainbows between Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel. The relationship between the two has become “distant“, multiple sources told Austin Meek of The Athletic.

“The relationship has grown particularly distant in recent months, two sources said, with Harbaugh and Manuel communicating mostly through intermediaries.”

Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football athletic director Warde Manuel have done the bare minimum in terms of their communication with each other recently, even to the point where the only way they communicate is through an “intermediary.”

It's great that Harbaugh, who has led Michigan to two consecutive College Football Playoff appearances, is back.

But he doesn't appear to have a working relationship with his boss, Manuel, at the moment.

Some of the tension could be stemming from a report that surfaced amid the Harbaugh-NFL rumors that stated Harbaugh was poised to sign a contract extension that would have made him one of the Big Ten's highest paid coaches but that the deal fell through.

Meek does note that people believe the relationship can be fixed. Still, it's not exactly the kind of news Michigan football fans were hoping to hear immediately after they learned of Jim Harbaugh's return to the program.