If 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh is losing his locker room, perhaps he can return to his old one.

After leading San Francisco to three straight appearances in the NFC Championship game in his first three seasons as coach, Harbaugh’s team has opened the season 1-2, losing two straight games filled with discipline issues. The coach and 49ers CEO Jed York have agreed to table contract extension talks until after the season, and by then, Harbaugh’s future could be sealed, with the team not wanting to bring him back and/or Harbaugh unwilling to coach a lame-duck season.

Enter the Michigan Wolverines, a team in even greater trouble. At 2-2 following a blowout loss to Notre Dame and an embarrassing home defeat by Utah, coach Brady Hoke’s fourth season appears as if it may be his last. Since arriving at Ann Arbor, Hoke has barely kept the storied program above .500, compiling a 28-15 record (17-13 since 2012). This season’s disappointment has spurred desperate giveaways: Someone can buy bottles of Coke to earn free tickets to Saturday’s game.

If the 49ers continue to slide, Harbaugh would be a logical replacement, having starred with the Wolverines as quarterback (1983-86) and having had tremendous success as a college coach at Stanford, where he went 12-1 with an Orange Bowl victory in 2010. Harbaugh also spent several years of his childhood in Ann Arbor, where his father, Jack, was an assistant coach.

The openings in Ann Arbor are rare, with only nine head coaches since 1929. If Hoke is finished, Harbaugh may have one shot to go home again.