Posted by: Pete Roussel on February 1, 2013

Imagine where Tulane football would be today if Jim Harbaugh had taken over as head coach in 2006 instead of Bob Toledo.

On Thursday, Tulane AD Rick Dickson told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, "It came within an eyelash of occurring."

At the time, Harbaugh was in his third year as the University of San Diego head coach.

Dickson interviewed Harbaugh, but one day after the interview, Stanford dismissed Walt Harris as head coach, so Harbaugh cautioned Dickson that he owed it to himself to see which route Stanford would go.

"I truly believe he was interested," Dickson said. "We were poised to offer him the job and probably would have done it while he was here if not for him telling me about Stanford in that last conversation. He was telling me there was no way it will happen, then right at the 11th hour it did."

According to Times-Picayune writer Jeff Duncan, Harbaugh came very close that year to landing at Iowa State, Rice, and San Diego State jobs.

Iowa State chose Gene Chizik instead.  Rice hired Todd Graham and San Diego State chose Chuck Long.

Chizik went 5-19 in Ames.  Graham went 7-6 at Rice, and then bolted for Tulsa.  Chuck Long went 9-27 as the head coach San Diego State before losing his job.

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