Exit: Mo Linguist
Jim Harbaugh took a big gamble when he hired former Dallas Cowboys, Texas A&M Aggies, Minnesota Gophers, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Iowa State Cyclones, Buffalo Bulls, James Madison Dukes, Valdosta State Blazers, and Baylor Bears defensive backs coach Maurice Linguist, that the young assistant wouldn’t jump again until the cornerbacks room in Ann Arbor was properly restocked.
Alas, Linguist's career at Michigan couldn’t last six months. Kansas head coach Les Miles was fired in early March for sexual misconduct, the Jayhawks replaced him with Buffalo head coach Lance Leipold at the end of April, and Buffalo in turn announced today that the co-defensive coordinator Michigan hired on January 20 will take over the Bulls on May 7.
Introducing our new head coach, @CoachMo15! ?#UBhornsUP pic.twitter.com/9hlpPBfr1r
— UB Football (@UBFootball) May 7, 2021
Shit.
A crack recruiter, Linguist’s hire was the first widely regarded sign of hope that Harbaugh could turn the program around following last year’s 2-4 season. Linguist helped them secure commitments from legacy five-star Will Johnson and TN 4* Kody Jones for the 2022 class, and as of last week the Wolverines appeared to have a strong chance with several more elite athletes in the secondary. Most likely the fallout from today has changed that position significantly, especially with Jones, who committed just days after Linguist's hire. Michigan will also have to start over with top target TN 4* Myles Pollard, and explain to everyone why they go through so much staff turnover.
Not that this one is that hard to explain. There's familiarity, there aren't many head coaching offers that come along, and Buffalo is a solid MAC program that's recently been a springboard for other young coaches.
Linguist returns to the program he helped turn around as “co-“ defensive coordinator with Lou Tepper. If the name rings a bell, Tepper was head coach of Illinois in the early 1990s, after serving for years as former Bo assistant Bill McCartney’s defensive coordinator in Colorado. In their short time together in Buffalo, Tepper and Linguist installed a 3-4/3-3-5 stack defense, played match quarters behind it, and put a small scare into Ohio State in 2013. While Tepper retired not long after, Linguist has had seven different jobs since Harbaugh took his current one.
Harbaugh’s best shot at keeping it would be to find a replacement soon, get the new coach up to speed on their plans before fall camp begins in August, and avoid another program-devastating crater in cornerback recruiting when all their prospects come to visit in June. The new guy will also have to help the current roster improve on last year's abysmal output, and transition to more complicated schemes that pair with new coordinator Mike Macdonald's Ravens-like plans.
While there are coaching options in-house, Michigan’s best hope would be to pilfer some other school’s accomplished cornerback coach, preferably one who can bring a transfer or two along. Kentucky’s Steve Clinkscale, who’s been a recruiting thorn in Michigan for years, would be an obvious choice, although Clinkscale has turned down overtures from this program before. Maybe they’ll even be lucky enough to find Clink’s contract doesn’t have a massive buyout penalty for bailing mid-year. I mean, it’s happened before.
There are only comments after the jump. Do you really want to go there?
Nobody expected Linguist to stick around for a couple of years, but this was a crazy turn of events. They'll have to find a replacement, and I'm not sold Clinkscale is the best option. They'll figure out something. It sucks and my guess is they'll lose some recruits/ground because of it. Won't be the last time.
I will say that complaining about the lack of a buyout on a guy you know is going to jump around is a bit silly. At this point if you want a guy for HC I doubt half a million or whatever was going to stop them.
The buy out could be quite high if the length of time is very short; it can be scaled along a time frame, etc. But why bother to even try when you’ve got a guy with such a stable track record, right?
Then Linguist isn't going to sign the contract originally and he's not a coach at Michigan anyway.
I'll say that this particular turn of fate is not predictable; if he had coached this year and jumped next season that would have been immensely predictable and I doubt anyone freaks out.
You’re right that nobody freaks out if he leaves after a year, but you don’t need to write a contract with a big liquidated damages amount for after one year (and it’s probably not enforceable anyway because of the ease of getting a comparable replacement at that time). You don’t need to know the weird specifics of what leads to the open spot at an unusual time (Les Miles being a perv or whatever) to be worried about him leaving, as he constantly leaves.
Maybe assistant coaches just universally won’t sign such a contract or their agents won’t let them (as has been suggested). But then it’s probably worth looking at how often a guy moves because it does kind of bone you when he does. I get that a coaching opening this late is rare, but it’s not like this dude is gone because he got hit by a meteor or won the lottery or something well neigh impossible like that.
I mean, a coach being fired for repeated sexual harassment leading to a series of dominoes falling and UM losing their coach (and if UM pulls a guy from another program that's yet another unintended consequence) is still pretty unlikely.
And as you noted it's highly unlikely you could place a particularly large penalty on a contract to cover this very particular circumstance. So the complaint here is basically UM should have tried to put in a largely-symbolic provision to cover this highly unlikely situation because that way they'd be able to extract some small bit of flesh from Linguist on his way out? I honestly don't know the argument here beyond hindsight.
I assume in the future UM will make their contracts contemplate this particular set of circumstances. But they'll also likely get pushback and, as others have noted, these guys have agents who aren't going to want to limit their clients' options of moving up.
There are lots of reasons to be mad at the football team and the university; I'm way more bothered by their issues with transfer credits and how they handle FOIA requests, for example. Them not being able to foresee this, again, very unlikely scenario and inflict some marginal penalty on Linguist isn't one of them in my opinion.
You can’t have it both ways. The liquidated damages clause can’t be a symbolic gesture and a provision that would keep a guy from signing the contract. The hope would be that it would have kept Linguist from signing and then you aren’t currently in this situation. Yes, that means not being able to sign your first choice co DC, and that is a cost, but I think the risk given his background and the potentially severe costs (see below) are enough to consider this.
Look, we have a guy who has never been a DC before and now we are either throwing in a completely new coach (as Co-DC?) or promoting an analyst which means essentially the brand new DC loses a coach for the season because the analyst was already there on staff. The defensive side of the ball was in a very bad position to weather even slight turmoil given how relatively inexperienced the staff is (especially wrt to experience working together). Yet we went with a guy with zero stability as the Co coordinator (in name at least) and here we are. The recruiting hit will probably be the most obvious issue, but I worry more about the already confused defense.
"Them not being able to foresee this, again, very unlikely scenario"
The dude has changed jobs like 8 times in 10 years. It isn't a "very unlikely scenario".
In those 8 jobs in 10 years, how many of them occurred after spring ball because a much higher-regarded coaching gig opened up 4 months after the usual cycle?
The "likely scenario" is him leaving in a year or two; no shock there. He's not a UM lifer.
The "very unlikely scenario" is a HC job opening up in March because of sexual harassment committed over years leading to another HC job at a school he once coached at and still has ties needing to find a last-minute replacement.
"Then Linguist isn't going to sign the contract originally and he's not a coach at Michigan anyway."
So exactly what happened, minus paying him for three months and having his leaving screw recruiting?
Seems to me him not signing would have been a win.
The point is, this isn’t a Linguist issue. Anyone we hired that was offered a head coaching job would have taken the head coaching job. It has nothing to do with Linguist or his stability.
If you gave any prospective coach an offer with a buyout that included them not being allowed to take a head coaching job, you’re not getting that coach. Period. Whether that’s Mo, MacDonald, Gattis, doesn’t matter. No coach is signing on to be somewhere that intends to hold back his career arc.
" If you gave any prospective coach an offer with a buyout that included them not being allowed to take a head coaching job "
If there is a buyout - by definition they are "allowed to take a head coaching job"... it just costs some money.
That is the point of a buyout - it allows you to break the contract, but at a cost.
No assistant coach is going to sign a buyout that prevents him from taking a head coaching job...
I think you guys are arguing against each other's straw men. What is common is language that prevents a coach from leaving before the season is over, and certain teams he cannot leave for.
Wow, Harbaugh's team is starting to look a lot like Delaware.
Other than the helmets, how do you figure? Delaware has waaay less toxicity and angst.
Have you perused DEGoBlog on a Friday night recently? It's not a happy place.
....Comrade is right as I heard DD (Delaware Devotee) recently got banned!
These things happen, but people always look for someone to blame.
Good luck to Mo. Can’t turn down a HC position at a solid program. Michigan will get somebody else. It’ll be fine.
I think this is gonna pan out like when Mattison left and it will feel like we kept the wrong guy.
Damn.
Fingers crossed.
I don't blame Mo for taking a HC job. Best of luck to him in his new career. Now it is up to Harbaugh to find an equivalent replacement ASAP. I just have a feeling Harbaugh has a long leash this season and can finish below .500 and he will be back. But I think in 2022, he will have to win 10 games or beat OSU. If not, he is done here.
Charles Woodson, come on down.
Do we really need separate coaches for safeties and corner backs? Just turn the whole thing over to Bellamy so there is one voice for the DBs to listen to, and possibly a coherent scheme. Promote Roundtree to WR coach and let Gattis focus on his OC duties. Recruiting will be a loss, but isn’t that why they brought in Morgan?
It's not crazy, given the situation. I do think we need backfill with some similarly qualified recruiting chops, however.
I don’t know that I’d hand over the entire secondary, a major hole on our team, to a first time college coach. Doesn’t seem like a recipe for success. Seems like you definitely want another guy back there.
I remember when something like this happened it was next man up. I guess like Alabama these days when they lose a coordinator but you guys are pathetic. You whiners stay on mgo and don’t let your toxic remarks out into the real world. Go Blue
There is zero things like Alabama with this program. ZERO
I wish I was a fly on the wall when Harbaugh saw the email invite to a Zoom call from Coach Mo titled "My Career Journey - Next Step". Poor Jim can't catch a break.
Good luck to Mo
It would be cool if this program could catch a break or two in the stability department.
If ever there were a time to leap into the void, this is it.
Call Charles Woodson, and don't hang up until he's hired.
Woodson's made it clear he's interested in his vineyards, not in coaching.
With the country club atmosphere in Ann Arbor, he can do both.
The vibes are not great
I mean, I know coaches tend to jump around to establish themselves, but 11 employers in 15 years is pretty ridiculous
we're getting better.
Didn't Dan Enos bolt after a month or two?
This guy stayed six months.
How long do you have to be employed at Michigan before the 403(b) is fully vested?
Based on recent history of short timer assistants, I would say 30 days.
Mother
Fucker
Is it weird that I have more hope these days for the local team that plays on Sundays than the local team that plays on Saturdays? I would have never ever predicted that say 15 years ago.
you clearly didn't see any Jared Goff games the last two years....
Goff may or may not be garbage and I am not even sure he is in the Lions long term plans but 1 thing I can say is he was the QB of a Super Bowl team. That tells me he at least didn't make any blunders to detour that. He would have a street named after him even if he were to win 1 playoff game in Detroit.
We want Foote-Dogg
Ok I am not reacting to this exit specifically, but in general I feel like this program is in shambles. I barely come back to this site anymore because there is literally nothing good to see here. The reason being nothing to do with the board, but with the program. It makes me utterly sad to my core because as a former student manager who poured his heart and soul into Michigan Football I feel helpless and empty.
There is plenty of good to see during basketball season. Hell, a lot of our other teams are doing exceptionally well also. Now, if you don’t come here much because there isn’t much good going on with the football program then I can understand that.
I’m with you insofar as checking this blog far less frequently than I once did, and I guess it proves that this blog always seemed to be a football-focused blog and this board was at its best when the Wolverines football program was competitive with national powers. Although my connection to Michigan only is through a child who's a "Double Wolverine", I've become interested in ALL Michigan Wolverines teams.
Apart from football and lacrosse, Michigan athletics has been enjoying some meaningful successes lately. The men’s and women’s basketball programs are on the upswing and both played in the NCAA tournament this season. Unfortunately for the ice hockey team, COVID-19 prevented it from playing its scheduled NCAA tournament game, but freshman forward Thomas Bordeleau was NCAA Rookie of the Year and defenseman Cam York was a First Team All-American.
If he weren’t in some galaxy far, far away, we might’ve been reading threads posted by a young Michigan sports fanatic known as “Wolverine Devotee” who used to post here and who probably would’ve been crowing these days about (1) the women’s gymnastics team that recently won a national championship, (2) the field hockey team playing for the national championship tomorrow night, (3) the softball (31-5) and baseball (22-11) teams being in first place in the Big Ten standings, (4) the women’s golf team having tied with Maryland and Nebraska as runners-up in the Big Ten tournament, (5) the women’s tennis team (18-3) having been runners-up in the Big Ten Tournament after tying with Ohio State for the regular-season title at 15-1 and (6) the men’s tennis team (15-5) being in third place in the Big Ten standings.
There was a time when football was Michigan’s marquee sport, but it may be safe to say that those days are gone and that when it comes to the football program these days, MGoBloggers have succumbed to BPONE (the Black Pit of Negative Expectations).
Bad mojo around the program right now. Recruiting will be affected. Should've moved on from Jim after the 2020 debacle... we're only delaying the inevitable.
The program needs new life at the very top.
This sucks, but I can’t exactly blame a guy for bailing after only a few months for a HC gig he apparently really wants, especially when his boss is likely coaching for his job this year and may be gone soon anyway. When opportunities present themselves, you take them and you do what’s best for you—company loyalty does not exist. I hope it works out for him.
Can this program catch a freaking break though?
Many are including "catch a break" in their comments. Good programs, good teams and good players do not rely upon "breaks" for their success.
Have you watched/followed football for longer than five minutes? Of course they sometimes do. Among other things, of course.
Jim took a chance to hire a star recruiter.
Buyout clause is moot as blocking a promotion is bad karma and generally not acceptable. I suppose a one-year clause would work but may be such an anomaly one-of-a-kind need that it is superseded by eye-contact, hand-shakes, and relationship management.
I am amazed that a Les Miles post and then a Lance Leipold post led to this.
Should have kept Zordich.
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