Head coach John Harbaugh shuts down USC rumor

Like we discussed when we originally broke the story that Ravens head coach John Harbaugh was rumored to be at the "top of a short list" for the USC head coach job, it turns out that there is no truth to it. Harbaugh was asked about the rumor that originated on Dan Patrick's show.

Harbaugh quipped that he's "been on a lot of short lists in my life," but then came in with a hard denial.

No, no. Obviously, no. This is what I’m doing. I love the Ravens, love being here, and it’s not a consideration

It would make sense that USC linked themselves to John Harbaugh as he has been one of the most winningest coaches in NFL history. With a career record as a head coach of 82-46 with a Super Bowl win under his belt, Harbaugh still has more than enough challenge here in Baltimore with a squad that currently sits at 1-4 and is chasing Super Bowl aspirations that it had at the beginning of the season.

Like we saw last season, these rumors tend to surround coaches like Harbaugh because of it being a dream for the college to pull a head coach with that pedigree into their organization. Harbaugh's name attached to the search helps negotiations with other candidates, and it helps pull in additional donor dollars. Last season Harbaugh was linked with the University of Michigan, who eventually went after and got John's brother Jim Harbaugh, but there was other affiliation with John Harbaugh.

Not only does the tagging of John Harbaugh with USC not make sense from a professional perspective, Harbaugh has no real link to USC. He has never coached there and didn't go there himself. The last college coaching gig that Harbaugh had was the Special teams coordinatory and Defensive backs coach for Indiana University.

This should be the last that we hear about USC and John Harbaugh in the same sentence, but somehow I feel like another few more losses under the Ravens' belts and we'll see it as a headline yet again.