Interesting Yahoo Sports article on college coaching carousel dropping this year or next
Pete Thamel article essentially saying the big changes in coaching could be postponed due to huge buyouts, notable Texas and Michigan, until 2021 at the earliest due to limited revenues in 2020. Coach Harbaugh discussed prominently.
https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football-hot-seat-where-things-stand-a…
December 3rd, 2020 at 2:21 PM ^
Yes, I believe this gets glossed over when it comes to Campbell. There are a lot of things I like about Matt. Being and Akron/Canton OH man myself, I'm very familiar with his background. He played at Perry High School under a solid coach in Keith Wakefield. Campbell had a cup of coffee at Pitt before he ended up at Mt Union playing under legendary coach Larry Kehres. Campbell would definitely have plenty of contacts in Ohio to get an in state recruiting bump, not sure he would have the appeal Harbaugh does to recruit nationally. Most h.s. players/coaches are taking a call from Jim Harbaugh, even with the current struggles.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
When Campbell went to ISU i thought it was a horrible career decision. The place was a graveyard. Almost any P5 job would be better. So, he goes out and, against all odds, makes Iowa State relevant. Appreciably above 500. Beaten conference heavyweight Oklahoma twice IIRC. What Campbell has accomplished is just shy of a miracle. You can nitpick some of his losses but you're failing to see the forest for the trees.
But thinking Campbell, or anyone else, is coming to Ann Arbor is just mental masterbation. Harbaugh isn't going anywhere. This whole season has been such a clusterfuck that Warde will give him a pass. Undeserved in my opinion but Warde isn't asking me.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:21 PM ^
The problem with your argument is that it's only half an argument. Yes, Harbaugh has proven he can't win the Big 10, and he's actually been a major flop in that respect. He's 6-12 against his major competition. But, that by no means implies that Matt Campbell, by dint of beating OK twice, is going to polish any trophies in Ann Arbor. Campbell's resume is good, but Harbaugh's was certainly better coming in.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
Well, Campbell has become the first Iowa State coach to have beaten every other team in the Big 12.
Harbaugh has yet to beat every team in the Big 10.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
Still hasn’t won anything. He never won a MAC title despite helming one of the strongest MAC programs.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
Explain to me how your reasoning could have been applied to Rich Rodriguez in 2007 so that we could have seen what a train wreck he would have been. 8 conference championships previously at two different programs (including a fucking BCS team that he had to rebuild from scratch). Turned every team he coached into a winner.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
makes you wonder if the coach is the problem
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:14 PM ^
Rich Rod is the only coach of the last three to improve as he built his program. Not giving him a 4th year because we assumed we'd get Harbaugh was probably the biggest mistake we've made in the last decade.
He got closer to a Rose Bowl at Arizona, which has never been to one, than either of his successors.
December 3rd, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
The important lesson here is that the next Michigan coach, whoever he is, has to go 1-23 his first two years. It's lifetime job security: improve to 4-8 by years 5 and 6 and a certain segment of the fanbase will be mightily pleased by the upward trajectory in the program.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
Well, to his credit, he won a division title twice and won Big12 coach of the year twice.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
If you think that result could have possibly happened in the Big Ten East, you're irredeemably stupid. Good lord it's painful to see so many people fail at basic logic on such a scale. This fanbase is reaching a point of being totally disconnected from reality. Face it: no matter who we hire, it's not going bring us any closer to your delusional fantasies.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:49 PM ^
So you're happy with middle of the road finishes every year, with blowout losses to OSU and a 50/50 chance at beating MSU?
I'm not sure what you consider to be "delusional fantasies". That Michigan can still win B1G championships?
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:13 PM ^
That was a very sensationalist and rudely phrased response to a single factual statement.
You know nothing about me.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
Harbaugh was expected to revive our tradition, which was being competitive with Ohio State, beating MSU much more often than not, and winning conference championships.
Campbell came into a program that had been playing football for 123 years and had only 47 winning seasons as of his hiring, with not a single conference championship to its name.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:12 PM ^
You're right. Let's only go after coaches who have national championships and dozens of Power 5 conference championships on their resumes. There are plenty of those guys ready to knock down our door for the coaching job.
After all, no coach has ever won anything significant without winning something significant at his previous job first.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:23 PM ^
He didn’t win anything at Toledo either.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
Are you a bot? Your responses are so nonsensical and irrational I'm beginning to wonder.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:42 PM ^
I've said this twice previously. SalvatoreQuattro is actually Jim Harbaugh.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:55 PM ^
Salvatore Quattro means "Savior Four" in Spanish. You may be on to something
December 3rd, 2020 at 3:09 PM ^
I'm glad somebody else caught on
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:16 PM ^
Only guy out there for that would be Les Miles. And I don’t think anyone wants him.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:16 PM ^
Yup. He drops 3-5 games/year. About the same as Rhoads at Iowa State. He does admittedly have a couple of good upsets... but so did Harbaugh. It's frustration and blind hope.
Brian and the boards would be right back to BPONE by year two.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:52 PM ^
Huh? Rhoads's records at ISU:
7-6
5-7
6-7
6-7
3-9
2-10
3-9
Rhoads literally always dropped 6+ games per year.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:39 PM ^
I stand corrected and retract the statement. I misread the numbers.
I still feel its not like Campbell is a world beater. He's got two 8 win seasons and a couple of big upsets. He also has losses to Iowa. I don't see him coming in here and blowing the doors off of OSU. At all.
If people want a change, and he's the best guy out there, fine. But don't expect us to turn into a B1G winning program.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:52 PM ^
This is perplexing to me as well. Not to mention some of those parroting Campbell’s accomplishments are also often the same that pine for spread offense.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
I am not convinced that Michigan should fire Harbaugh, but Campbell has done an excellent job at ISU. That program was an absolute non-entity before he arrived.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
The first call will be to Bob Stoops, who was rumored to have inquired about the job when we hired Harbaugh. The second *should* be to Petersen, who may have retired in order to recharge the batteries. Then you go to Campbell, who will likely have won a Big12 Title by the end of the season.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:34 PM ^
Seriously, SalvatoreQuattro has to be Harbaugh's account.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:05 PM ^
I like how you don't have a problem spending other people's money. Harbaughs buyout is $10 million, add to that his assistant coaches and I read that total is now almost $15 million. So now you want them to pay the buyout for the next coach they will hire, and then pay a whole new staff for a guaranteed 3 - 4 years at roughly $8 million a year (basing this on what MSU is currently paying, so it would probably be more) so that's a 3 yr commitment of 32 - 40 million. All of this from an athletic budget that's 30 - 40 million below budget. Yeah, that ain't gonna happen.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^
There is no option to let Harbaugh finish out his contract though unless the athletic department is fine tanking recruiting for multiple years.
The only reasonable options are extend Harbaugh saying other coaching changes need to happen, extend Harbaugh and leave coaching changes up to him, or fire/parting of ways and bring in new coach.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
100%.
I'd prefer keep Harbaugh with new coordinators hoping for recruiting continuity and an improvement with current guys. Best I can hope for is maybe a return to '15/'16 Harbaugh. We're massively in the hole and I don't know if we can find a great new coach and land him while paying off Harbaugh's contract. Maybe they can give him an incentive laden contract for a couple years. I don't know.
But if those who actually know what the hell is going on, and what they are talking about WRT the inner workings of the program say that it's time to move on, then move on. Pull the trigger.
D*cking around while Rome burns and pretending it doesn't have an effect on recruiting is just a bad idea; particularly with the risk that the transfer portal, and the one time free transfer rule that might come up, may well gut the program with a coaching change. We need continuity. We don't have that with a Harbaugh with one year left, and assistants who have contracts running out in two months.
I'm worried though, that since our athletic department hasn't exactly covered itself in glory in the past 15 years (outside of Hackett; who was arguably an outsider), and since Warde's contract is up in March, this is *exactly* what is going to happen.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:59 PM ^
I agree with most of what you're saying, though I do prefer that Harbugh also exit. The other point centers on this:
"D*cking around while Rome burns and pretending it doesn't have an effect on recruiting is just a bad idea; particularly with the risk that the transfer portal, and the one time free transfer rule that might come up, may well gut the program with a coaching change."
It may well gut the program without a coaching change, also. Any coaching decision needs to be made based on whether the AD believes the head coach can right the ship next year. If not, he's got to go. If so, he has to be extended. Either way, make a fucking decision and say something publicly!
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:28 PM ^
If so, he has to be extended. Either way, make a fucking decision and say something publicly!
100% agree. I can live with a decision I might not agree with it if it's made with reason and some decisiveness. This dithering doesn't help at all.
December 3rd, 2020 at 8:05 PM ^
You do realize that the job of the AD is not to respond publicly, right? AD's don't work for the fans, and while they nominally work for the university, really they work for the people who can fire them (Schissel, in our case) and the big donors who can make or break them. I'll bet that the $30-$40M shortfall looms very large in our AD's thinking, and the thought of buying out the coaches on top of that likely trumps unspecified-recruiting-is-doomed screeds from fans who believe that a single hire could save our Titanic of a program, and who won't be satisfied with any hire we could reasonably make.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:00 PM ^
I don't see a path to change with Harbaugh. And that is the ultimate problem.
1) I think we are already seeing the recruiting impact. Michigan will likely lose Worthy to Alabama and they already lost a back up plan WR because they thought they had Worthy. So that will impact two slots in a thin area already. It looks like Michigan may very well miss out on their top 2 DT targets and we have not heard of back up plans there. We all know how thin Michigan is at that position. There is a good possibility Michigan misses on Donovan Edwards due to the season performance. The situation may already be bleeding into next year as the great CB class which is sorely needed, may already be falling apart.
2) It's been 6 years, and only one of them has seen a functional offense which has not hindered team performance. That was in year 1. There has been a lot of turnover on the offensive staff, and yet consistent questions on why it is not working. That leads me to believe, no matter who we get, Harbaugh will have a strong influence on the offensive performance.
3) On defense there might be more hope, but it will require a wholesale change. Don Brown has not been effective against certain schemes for at least two years now. The assistants hired in the past few years do not seem to be measuring up in recruiting or development. Starting from scratch on defense will most likely be a multi-year project and there isn't time for that.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:10 PM ^
If Harbaugh stays it will require a full Brian Kelly like change. I am not sure who you keep outside of Warriner, Moore, and maybe Jay Harbaugh (don't see him firing his son). Recruiting chops matter and it's why I left Zordich off the list but obviously, he coaches up his guys, so can keep him too.
Find a way to convince some people to take the risk to coach at what could be a doomed head coach. Make sure it's known that high-level recruiting is a MUST! In fact maybe even hire Partridge back and say he's the DC...
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
The “Harbaugh with new Coordinators” bit
What confidence is there that his new coordinators would be better than his previous coordinators?
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:22 PM ^
About the same maybe a bit more than confidence Matt Campbell would be better, and it would be alot cheaper.
Fisch and Durkin (dick) were very effective.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:52 PM ^
Durkin's defense gave up 42, while Fisch's offense only scored 13. You can thank Don Brown for the 2016 game being as close as it was. Speight had a bum shoulder, sure, but the offense didn't do much to help out.
December 3rd, 2020 at 7:57 PM ^
Actually, they weren’t. Harbaugh has been a disaster when hiring assistants so why would you think another try is going to produce different results? On top of scheme deficiencies, he hires guys who can’t and won’t recruit.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:53 PM ^
Won't be fooled again
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
I get your point but this is the financial model that almost all athletic departments work on. That is why some of the coaches positions have a name attached to them. The head coach and coordinator positions are partially funded through endowments so the money is already there for those. Given what some of the large donors have provided in the past. $500M from Ross, the money provided to fund the foreign trips, $15+M in one time buy outs probably is doable.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:00 PM ^
Your point's well taken, and I know this is a complicated situation. But I think the economic impact of the football team being terrible (and sort of hopeless) far exceeds 30-40 million for the university.
December 3rd, 2020 at 8:08 PM ^
One of those things is quantifiable, and the other is not. That kind of sucks for us as fans, because the unspecified impact of a terrible football team falls mainly on fans, while the hard-numbers-budget-issue is what the AD is being judged on.
December 3rd, 2020 at 1:49 PM ^
Tom Allen baby!
December 3rd, 2020 at 8:41 PM ^
No... when his contract expires is as cheaply as one can make a coaching change. #math
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:01 PM ^
Interesting take from the article: "There’s virtually no NFL market for Harbaugh, even with seven or eight jobs open." Not sure that I necessarily agree with that. I'm sure there's a couple teams that would take a chance and hire him.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
Yea I don't buy that either. Some NFL team will make the leap. Maybe Harbaugh needs to take a year off first (which he probably needs in any event) but he will get another chance.
December 3rd, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
Yeah, I doubt Thamel is particularly linked into NFL deliberations but based on the guys currently being hired for jobs I'm fairly certain a successful college and pro head coach who took a team to the SB in the past decade would get a couple NFL looks if he's available.