Dolphins Look Into Harbaugh

By Justin Worsley,

Jim Harbaugh is quickly becoming the hottest commodity in the NFL.

Just a day after the San Francisco 49ers spent over four hours talking to the Stanford head coach about their coaching vacancy, the Miami Dolphins have flown to northern California to also speak to Harbaugh about becoming the Dolphins head coach.

There is one minor problem for Miami. Tony Sporano is yet to be fired as the head coach in Miami.

Regardless, Miami is still doing whatever they can to swoon Harbuagh to south beach. According to reports on ESPN.com, the Dolphins are prepared to make Harbaugh, 47, the highest paid coach in the league with a salary between $7 and $8 million.

The University of Michigan has also tried to hire Harbaugh. Harbaugh was a quarterback at Michigan in the mid-80's.

Harbaugh took over a Stanford program that went 1-11 in 2006 and their team has seen improvement each year under him. This season, the Cardinal won a school-record 12 games and won the Orange Bowl.

If Miami does decide to hire Harbaugh, they will first need to satisfy the league's Rooney Rule, which requires each team to interview a minority candidate for a coaching position.

Miami finished the season 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. Sporano was hired to coach a club that went 1-15 in 2006 and led them to a 11-5 record a year later. The turnaround season led to Sporano winning the NFL Coach of the Year award.

Harbaugh's brother, John, is the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.