Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby has no illusions about the Jim Harbaugh coaching derby—even after making a long-awaited announcement Sunday that a three-year extension has been completed.

“When you have somebody of his talent, there will be other suitors,” Bowlsby said. “That happened over the weekend, it’s going to happen again. It will happen frequently.”
Harbaugh, who helped revive Stanford by leading the Cardinal to its first bowl game in eight seasons, was linked to openings at Notre Dame and Kansas in the past week. Last year, his name surfaced in openings with the New York Jets and the Raiders.
“The better we do, the hotter he is going to be,” Bowlsby said. “That’s just the long and short of it.”
All those celebrating Harbaugh’s agreement to a contract keeping him at Stanford through 2014 might want to hold off on popping the champagne.
Harbaugh, 45, wouldn’t even say unequivocally whether he will coach the Cardinal next season when asked about NFL possibilities.
“Nobody has promised that,” he said Sunday. “I’m not going to write anything in blood on a stone tablet.”
Harbaugh acknowledged he had talked to Kansas officials but declined to say whether he had been offered the job to replace Mark Mangino, who resigned last week.
The coach and Bowlsby also offered few details about the contract extension, which was all but agreed upon a year ago. Bowlsby said they had agreed to final terms in September, but Harbaugh had personal reasons not to announce it until Sunday.
“They are the kind of reasons you share with your wife and family,” the coach said, declining to say what caused the delay.
Harbaugh appeared at a news conference to announce the deal after taking an early morning flight Sunday from New York, where he had attended the Heisman Trophy presentation with Toby Gerhart.
Bowlsby said the contract does not have a buyout clause but includes incentives to keep Harbaugh at Stanford for the next five years. At other schools, those conditions often are called “continuation incentives”—the longer a coach stays at a school, the more he earns.
Although coaching contracts often include multiple years, they usually contain terms that allow either side to invalidate the deal at any time.
Bowlsby hopes such a situation doesn’t happen soon. But with NFL jobs likely to open next month, Stanford and Harbaugh could find themselves on the coaching carousel again.
Harbaugh, 17-19 in his three seasons at Stanford, won’t alter the way he handles publicity surrounding future job openings.
“I will not comment on every single rumor,” he said.
But Harbaugh acknowledged if it spins out of control as it did with Kansas on Saturday, he might be forced to say something.
—Injured quarterback Andrew Luck could start practicing a week before the Sun Bowl game Dec. 31 against Oklahoma. Luck, who started all 12 regular-season games, broke a finger last month against Notre Dame.
“We’ll figure out if there is a role he could play in the game,” Harbaugh said. “He’s not been ruled out, but we’re not counting on it.”