Recently, reports surfaced that Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh was a "stealth candidate" for the Buffalo Bills' head coaching vacancy. On Saturday night, CBS analyst and former NFL GM Charley Casserly reported that the Bills offered the job to Harbaugh - the first such offer we've heard about them making to anyone.
Add Harbaugh to the list of coaches that have given the Bills a big, fat "thanks, but no thanks." He'll stay at Stanford, a program he's in the midst of building into a contending program in the Pac-10, temporarily foregoing a shot to lead an NFL team alongside his brother, John.
This report isn't completely surprising from either angle. Bills GM Buddy Nix has gone on public record as saying that he wanted a coach with previous head coach experience, and Buffalo's current list of candidates - which runs just two deep - lack that quality. It's also not surprising that Harbaugh passed on the opportunity, for two reasons - if he keeps up his success at Stanford, he'll have much better opportunities in a year or two, and rejecting the Buffalo Bills is totally fetch at the moment.
Leslie Frazier remains the front-runner for the job, as he's the only coach to formally interview for the job that hasn't taken a different job elsewhere. Russ Grimm, whose Arizona squad was bounced from the playoffs yesterday, may interview sometime next week - if, of course, he doesn't turn the Bills down, too.