Coaching Candidate Rumors

Jim Harbaugh

Brady Hoke's firing was publicly announced on December 2, so it has been 17 days since Michigan has had a head coach. Obviously, athletic director Jim Hackett is waiting on Jim Harbaugh, who declined comment about the Michigan job when asked on Thursday afternoon. News leaked - from one side or the other - that Harbaugh had been offered a 6-year, $48 million contract but Bruce Feldman says that figure is inaccurate (LINK).

Rumors persist that Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops would be Michigan's #2 option, but he might be off the table because someone of his coaching stature would not want to play second fiddle to Harbaugh. I say there's no shame in being the backup to an NFL head coach who would potentially be coming back to his alma mater. That's not an insult to Stoops, but hey, the guy has won more championships than Harbaugh.

LSU head coach Les Miles told reporters off the record that he would not be coming to Michigan.

A lot of people have been saying that Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen is not even being considered, but he has yet to sign a rumored contract extension with MSU. He may not be on Michigan's radar, but he seems like a guy who might be waiting for some dominoes to fall in the coaching world before he marries himself to the Bulldogs for too long (or for too big of a buyout).

Meanwhile, potential Plan C option Steve Addazio signed an extension with Boston College through 2020 (LINK). Another potential coach, Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman, has been hired as Houston's head coach for five years and $6.75 million (LINK).

With Pitt head coach Paul Chryst taking the job at Wisconsin, the Panthers are now looking for a head coach. While they probably wouldn't be able to poach an established head coach, they may be able to snag an up-and-coming coordinator or head coach. Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck just signed a contract extension through 2020, but there are still guys like Greg Schiano, Tom Bradley (former Penn State defensive coordinator, current WVU assistant head coach) and Pat Narduzzi hanging around. I could see Schiano or Bradley taking the job, but Narduzzi seems to be holding out for something better than Pitt since he rebuffed UConn last year.

Poll results: Who will be the next head coach at Michigan?

Jim Harbaugh

Michigan fans are buying the hype - almost 50% of them think Jim Harbaugh will be the next Michigan head coach. Greg Schiano is ranked too high at 2%, though, people.

Jim Harbaugh: 47%

Other: 41%

Les Miles: 8%

Greg Schiano: 2%

Coaching Candidate: Les Miles

Les Miles
Age: 61
Current position: Louisiana State University head coach
Head coaching experience: 103-28 at LSU (2005-present), 28-21 at Oklahoma State (2001-2004), 131-49 overall
Current salary: $4,300,000 per year
History: Miles grew up in Ohio and was an offensive lineman at Michigan under Bo Schembechler in the mid-1970's. After being a graduate assistant at Michigan, he went to Colorado and then came back to Ann Arbor to be the offensive line coach for four seasons. He took a promotion to be Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator, spent a few seasons coaching tight ends for the Cowboys (Dallas, that is), and was rehired at Oklahoma State as their head coach. A high-powered offense propelled him to the head coaching job at LSU, where he has mostly been known for suffocating defenses, particularly on his way to winning the 2007 national championship.
My thoughts: I have reservations about Miles because of some stories about how he has rubbed people the wrong way at Michigan with his actions in the past. The athletic department was fractured when Lloyd Carr retired and was replaced by Rich Rodriguez, and Michigan got past that right around the time when the student body and journalists turned on athletic director David Brandon, essentially forcing him out. There would certainly be some ruffled feathers if Miles were hired, so that would be a guaranteed bump in the road. They say "winning cures everything" so that might smooth things over a little bit. Miles has a history of running the ball a lot, getting athletic wideouts, having mediocre quarterbacks, and producing big-time players at all levels on the defense. Miles would be good on the recruiting trail with his accolades and midwest connections, and his style of play would be well received, too. The drawbacks would appear to be money and whatever shenanigans he pulled to make some long-time Wolverines angry. Miles also has a history of oversigning and then cutting "unworthy" players, which is a rampant issue in the SEC. That would not go over well at Michigan, but that is something that might be institutional and fairly easily fixed.

My wish list:
1. Bob Stoops
2. Les Miles
3. Mike Shanahan

The Postgame: Les Miles - Heart and Heartbreak

Emily Scott

Here's an in-depth look at Les Miles from The Postgame.  He's LSU's coach and a lot of Michigan people despise him or at least are wary of him, but he's a Michigan alum . . . whether we like it or not.

Don't click through if you don't have about 45 minutes to read it, because it's long.

Mailbag: Will Rich Rodriguez return in 2011?

Frustrated.

Dear Magnus,

I'm a long time reader, first time writer.

I'd like to know if a) you think Rodriguez will be fired and b) you think he should be fired.  Please keep your response to 10,000 words or less.

Thanks,

Matt

Thanks for the e-mail, Matt.

These are difficult questions to answer, but I'm just a blogger, so my opinion really doesn't matter.  So what the hell, let's go for it.

Do I think that Rodriguez will be fired?  To put it bluntly, yes.  I think the din of disapproval has grown too loud.  People expected more when he was hired, and they expected it faster.  To the vast majority, THIS IS MICHIGAN, and Lloyd Carr couldn't possibly have left the cupboard this bare.  And to an extent, they're right.  I have a hard time believing that a Lloyd Carr-coached team would have wandered through a season with as little of a clue about how to play defense as this 2010 squad has, and the mind boggling amount of attrition over the past few years probably could have been stemmed in some way.  How?  I don't know.  But other programs have gone through coaching changes without losing 17 players in their first three recruiting classes (2008-2010) like Rodriguez has, and that's not counting the droves who were already in Ann Arbor and were subsequently driven off by Rodriguez's rules, conditioning, or attitude.

Athletic director David Brandon has been publicly supportive for the most part, and I think he's done a good job of standing by Rodriguez.  I don't think Brandon had his mind made up when he was hired that Rodriguez would be gone after 2010, but he has probably reached that conclusion over the past few months.  The 0-9 record against Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State might have been the nail in the coffin for Rodriguez, who lost all of those games handily in 2010.  As I said in my post the other day, the 7-5 record this season was what I expected.  But just because Michigan people expected that season doesn't mean that they'll accept it.

Do I think Rodriguez should be fired?  The answer to that is a little murkier.  With even a halfway decent defense, this team could have been 9-3 or 10-2.  Wisconsin and Ohio State were tanks this year; Penn State, Iowa, and Michigan State were all fairly beatable, in my opinion.  If David Brandon sat down Rodriguez and said, "Look, we're going to hire this particular guy to run a 4-3 (or 3-4 or 4-2-5 or even 3-3-5) defense, and you will leave him alone to do his own thing," then that might be the difference.  But should an athletic director really have to do that?  If Brandon has to tell Rodriguez what defense to run, then Brandon might as well trade in his suit and tie for a whistle and a headset.  The defense was bound to be bad because of all the youth, but you can't tell me that it had to be this bad.  Not 109th in total defense and 102nd in scoring defense.

As far as I'm concerned, it's Harbaugh or bust.  I don't want Brady Hoke just because "He's a Michigan man."  Les Miles' road to Ann Arbor has essentially been blocked.  I don't want a first-time head coach like Gus Malzahn, the offensive coordinator from Auburn (who would likely face some of the same resistance Rodriguez has).  Michigan shouldn't hire some guy just because that guy's name happens to not be Rich Rodriguez.

If Harbaugh balks, I think Michigan ought to keep Rodriguez and go after a proven defensive coordinator.  I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of bringing in West Virginia's Jeff Casteel, who might be out of a job if WVU head coach Bill Stewart's rumored retirement comes to fruition.  But whoever the new coordinator would be, he would have to be given some autonomy over the defense.

I know that's not an extremely definitive answer, but without knowing Harbaugh's intentions or the future of Casteel (among other moving parts), it's difficult to make a decision right this moment.