Why can't Ferentz do a Jim Harbaugh? Get some balls and principles and take a pay cut. When Harbaugh cut his base salary from $8 million to $4 million as part of a four-year extension, he said "no big deal." "It's just money." At the time, Harbaugh was on the hot seat for the sorry state of Michigan football. They went 2-4 in 2020 and had not won a Big Ten championship since 2004. So, one thing Harbaugh did was to restructure his defensive staff and he was determined to improve his team.