Updated 3:15 p.m.

Jim Harbaugh is choosing between remaining the coach at Stanford and jumping to the San Francisco 49ers, according to multiple reports.

This never-ending saga (so lengthy, there's an animated "Bachelor" parody) is getting a little weird. Harbaugh, according to a CSN Bay Area report, is using different agents, who are unconnected, to negotiate with each institution.

At this point, to paraphrase Rich Eisen, it wouldn't be surprising to learn that Brett Favre is advising Harbaugh.

Updated at 10:42 a.m.

The ongoing mystery of just where Stanford Coach Jim Harbaugh will work next year gained a bit of clarity when Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross' dalliance with him ended Thursday night.

Ross flew back to South Florida to make nice today with the coach he hadn't fired, Tony Sparano. (According to one report, he'll meet with Dolphins officials today and still hasn't been told he's being retained.)

That puts Harbaugh's coaching future closer to a resolution and he may just wind up where he started. His quarterback, Andrew Luck, is returning to Stanford, interestingly enough, and Harbaugh met with the school's president Thursday. Might he return to the Cardinal? Stanford now is offering a deal in the very posh vicinity of the San Francisco 49ers' initial offer of $4.5 million, according to ESPN.com.

Miami's departure, perhaps hastened by the unseemliness with which the team went about trying to get a new coach, puts the Niners back in the picture. They're eager and have complied with the Rooney Rule by interviewing Oakland Raiders assistant Hue Jackson.

The Denver Broncos' interest in Harbaugh reportedly has cooled after Harbaugh displayed tepid interest in interviewing with John Elway, who runs the team's football operations and is a Stanford alum, and officials.

In the NFL, Harbaugh reportedly wants the same money ($6.5 million a year) Seattle paid former USC coach Pete Carroll, according to sfgate.com. The Niners, though, have offered around $5 million, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea. At this point, Tim Kawakami writes, the Niners had better land him.

Peter King offers a smart hypothesis, via Twitter: "My guess is Stan richies said to him: We'll give u $5m to coach 1 yr, go for natl title, coach Luck, then go 2 NFL w/better openings in '12."

Now, that makes sense.

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By the time this is over Jim Harbaugh will be 49ers coach, GM, VP, QB a multi-millionaire & dating a Kardashian. #Leverage -- "Late Show with David Letterman" head writer/executive producer Eric Stangel