Will Muschamp was fired as Florida's head coach, even though he has agreed to coach the Gators' final two games of the year. He currently has a 5-4 record with games against Eastern Kentucky and Florida State remaining, plus a potential bowl game. His overall head coaching record stands at 27-20.
The recruiting impact of coaching changes is often minimal, so Michigan should not expect any of the fallout to affect them. The most interesting thing to watch will be whom Florida targets as the next head coach, because Michigan will also likely be looking for a head coach in the near future. Mississippi State's Dan Mullen and Arizona's Rich Rodriguez seem to be the coaches with the most buzz for the Florida job right now. Mullen could also be an option for Michigan; obviously, Rodriguez would not be.
Anyway, here's a look at Florida's current recruiting class and roster, should this development affect the Wolverines at all:
Offered 2015 commits: C Tyler Jordan
Offered players on roster: LB Alex Anzalone, WR Alvin Bailey, DT Jay-nard Bostwick, DT Khairi Clark, CB Vernon Hargreaves III, OT D.J. Humphries, S Marcus Maye, C Tyler Moore, S Brian Poole, LB Matt Rolin, CB Jalen Tabor, and S Quincy Wilson
Of those players, only Alvin Bailey was ever somewhat serious about coming to Michigan.
On a couple side notes, Cincinnati offensive tackle George Brown is committed to Florida; he was never offered by Michigan, but he did garner a lot of recruiting hype and Michigan's lack of interest was somewhat curious.
Also, former Michigan quarterback commit Kevin Sousa's brother, Ryan, is a freshman wideout for the Gators.
Also also, a couple former Michigan residents are on Florida's squad: Canton offensive linemen Cameron Dillard and Madison Heights Madison wide receiver Valdez Showers.
It's a shame we've already ruled out offering one of the best coaching candidates in the country. Even if we did go after Rodriguez, I think he'd objectively look at his current situation as better than Michigan's. The Pac12 is ripe for the taking with USC struggling to overcome it's NCAA sanctions. Oregon and Stanford have yet to prove they can continue at an elite level without Kelly and Harbaugh. Neither program is as much of hurdle to success as OSU, MSU and Wisconsin are too Michigan.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of speculation out there that Michigan can land this name or that name, but Michigan has 'settled' for far less than their top choices the last few times and has never stolen away an elite coaching candidate from anyone (unless you want to argue Rodriguez was that.) I see Mullen as an even bigger pipe dream than Harbaugh. But hey - I'd love to be wrong.
Oregon is basically the same team as they were when Chip Kelly was there.
DeleteMichigan hasn't had many coaching changes, and they haven't really tried to steal big-time coaching candidates very often. Since Schembechler was hired, they've only had Moeller, Carr, Rodriguez, and Hoke. Moeller and Carr were hired from within for continuity's sake, and Rodriguez was a very hot name at the time. Hoke's hiring in 2011 is really the only one that would count.
Eh, it's a bit early to judge that. We'll see how the Ducks do once Mariota is gone. They also lost their DC to retirement, so it's not just Kelly, but it seems like they've taken a step back in terms of dominance. They certainly seem to struggle a lot more against Arizona than they used to...
DeleteRodriguez was not the first choice or even the third choice. It didn't seem like the search went very far in 2011 other than Stanford's coach turning UM down. But it's hard to imagine Michigan didn't at least feel out some bigger names only to be rebuffed.
RR recruiting Florida wearing orange and blue is going to be loaded with fast talent in no time. They won't be munchkins he's pulling in this time either.
ReplyDeleteIf I was running things in Gainsville, this would be the single quickest search in college football history.