SEARCHBITS XVI: GO TIME
I KNOW IT'S OVER AND OH IT NEVER REALLY BEGAN EXCEPT FOR THREE CONSECUTIVE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME APPEARANCES BUT IN MY HEART IT WAS SO REAL. San Francisco is eliminated from the playoffs. (Thanks, Lions!) This should accelerate everyone's decision-making process. Harbaugh is now going to consider his future in earnest; Michigan will enter with their bag with "$$$" on the side and hope to woo the fair maiden.
I've heard that both Harbaugh and the 49ers will start moving now. While official announcements may wait until after the season, the process of making a decision starts in earnest now.
This time there will be no coy crap, no hedging on the part of the athletic director about how much control Harbaugh will have or how much film he gets to watch. (Academics are the one area in which Harbaugh will have to compromise somewhat, as the AD does not have control over Michigan's willingness to admit JUCOs. The guy made it work at Stanford; Michigan is way less hardcore than Stanford.) Michigan will approach Harbaugh with an offer competitive with the NFL and the promise that at no point will he be forced to apologize for one of his players putting a piece of metal in the ground.
If he doesn't end up coming, at least we'll know that Michigan did everything they could this time.
ON LES MILES. I have to make an about-face here. Just yesterday I said that Miles had seemingly found himself on the shortlist after years in the wilderness. Another day's worth of information and I don't know that's true. Michigan made basic contact with Miles (or, in one version of the story, his agent finally got through to someone after calling repeatedly) and that's as far as anything went.
Depending on who you talk to, he's either a prominent non-Harbaugh viable option or far enough down the list to be irrelevant—ie, behind a guy who would obviously take the job. It sounds like a lot is being made of not much contact. There is a large group of guys close to the program who advocate for him, and I think that's where that's coming from.
Still, the next two bullets mean he's in play.
OFF THE BOARD. OSU OC Tom Herman takes the Houston job. I had just heard the first reliable thing that Michigan was looking at him as a plan B option and now he's (almost certainly) not one of those. I am distressed, because I'm with Bruce Feldman:
If I was a #Houston fan I'd be thrilled. I think Tom Herman is as close to a 'Can't Miss' as you're gonna find in a first-time head coach.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 15, 2014
On the positive side, OSU no longer has the guy.
MEANWHILE, PLAN B. It's not hard to see things falling through to Miles if Harbaugh doesn't take the job. There is no consensus on who secondary options are. Scout keeps pushing Jim Mora; Rivals keeps pushing Bob Stoops. I've heard both. The problem there is that neither is in a bad spot; either could be mentioned largely because agents are trying to get an extension for their clients (Mora) or make their guy look attractive after a crappy season (Stoops). People high up in the university admin think that the reported Stoops interest is indeed an agent play.
If neither of those guys makes a move, the next best idea the paysites seem to have is Sean Payton. As discussed, I will believe that is even a vague possibility if Payton is fired by the Saints and only then. The prominence of a sitting NFL coach with an $8 million contract on the plan B list is a bit alarming. To me that means "we do not have enough reasonable names to fill out a plan B list."
If Michigan refuses to consider Dan Mullen and Herman is off the board, then after they get through their list of debatably available sitting head coaches who's left?
That's some good pointing at least.
ON DAN MULLEN. There has been absolutely nothing about him anywhere, from my inbox to the paysites to randos on twitter who seem to have a connect. Nothing. The only chatter anyone's gotten is that Mullen is off the radar after Michigan called up Jeremy Foley and Foley bombed him.
Broken record time: that's a major mistake. At this point, Jeremy Foley's hired a blindingly obvious Urban Meyer, Ron Zook, and Will Muschamp. He drew every media member within a 500 mile radius to his contract negotiations, like the world's most wizened sixty-foot tall bug zapper. If he has opinions, Michigan should take those into consideration.
It's possible he'll emerge if Michigan gets shot down by the currently mentioned Plan B guys—coaching searches are weird like that—but that's if and only if Miles is truly unpalatable to the key players. Which he might be, for reasons both valid and not.
ON LOU HOLTZ. COULD HE BE PLAN B? Probably not. According to a reader, Holtz doesn't think it's going to happen. He cites the "wife loves the West Coast" issue, so take it FWIW. While wearing a raincoat, in possession of scuba gear. Preferably.
I WOULD CHORTLE. Please please please:
Definite name to watch with 49ers >> RT @MoveTheSticks Brian Kelly RT @houtexmajorin: if any college HC jumps to NFL who is it
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) December 15, 2014
Not only would that be hilarious, it would open up a number of Notre Dame commits to poaching in a situation where Michigan is going to need to make some fast friends.
Etc.: Kawakami on how the 49ers management undermined their season.
December 15th, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^
Don't kill the messenger, but Miami Herald guy saying Philin's days are numbered in Miami. Not sure what numbered means, could be 3000 days or 14 days, who knows. But if Philbin goes, it'll be VERY interesting where Ross decides to go with this. There is probably no better head coach out there than Harbaugh. But does Ross actually think Harbaugh would be better at Michigan or Miami? Time will tell, hopefully we'll have Harbaugh signed before other teams get in the mix.
December 15th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
That Dan Mullen won't be the coach at Michigan.
December 15th, 2014 at 1:46 PM ^
be #2 behind Harbaugh. Anyone else is a disappointment.
/glad that Hackett played with Miles. Maybe they have some good memories together.
EDIT: Also, WTF is JIm Harbaugh doing wearing a RED tie in that picture!?!?!?!
December 15th, 2014 at 2:08 PM ^
December 15th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^
Is anyone else starting to also want this too happen because they desperately want to see the "HE ISN'T COMING TO MICHIGAN I GUARANTEE IT" crowd eat a massive bowl of dick?
December 15th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
"A massive bowl of dick"?
That's pretty intense, but I'll allow it.
December 15th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^
December 15th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
Not as intense as it sounds. It's a massive bowl with a pretty small dick.
December 15th, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
Yes. On my big board of reasons for wanting Harbaugh, this reason has been steadily rising up the list.
December 15th, 2014 at 1:56 PM ^
I hope it is Miles unless Bob Stoops would coach here.
Mullen would be my next choice.
After that it is slim pickins IMO. We may end up with Schenio
December 15th, 2014 at 1:56 PM ^
i would have him near the top of my plan C list.
December 15th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^
Trust me, fairly pleased is a giant fucking step up.
December 15th, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^
Jed York is the one thing that terrifies me about this whole thing on JH. He is a spoiled shithead who could hold this whole thing up out of spite. And it wouldn't surprise me. On top of that he is from Youngstown and went to ND. I am too conditioned for something horrible to happen to this program.
December 15th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^
Opposite George FTW!
December 15th, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^
1 a : firmly fixed "roots fast in the ground" b : tightly shut "the drawers were fast" c : adhering firmly d : not easily freed : stuck
December 15th, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^
Sequence of CC events over holiday break:
1. Michigan hires Harbaugh
2. 49ers hire Brian Kelly
3. Urban retires due to family reasons; Fickel promoted to HC
4. Dantonio and Narduzzi indicted over PED scandal at MSU; Perles named interim
5. ND hires Urban
December 15th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
for "Perles named intrim." He could single-handedly undo decades of progress at that place.
December 15th, 2014 at 2:34 PM ^
But the McIlwain hire doesn't seem fair. He ended up getting that huge buyout knocked down considerably, and the public search was just a ploy to embarrass Colorado State into letting JMac go for much cheaper than his contract allowed. That was pretty damn shrewd, to be honest.
December 15th, 2014 at 6:36 PM ^
This post (OP) makes sense. Miles should be ruled out completely for ethical reasons or be rated WAY higher than guys like Mullen and Herman, in my opinion. Especially Mullen, whose own recruiting tactics are dubious. Neither age nor doesn't develop qb arguments are compelling. Miles is light years more proven as a coach than every reasonable option except for our #1, Harbaugh. (Don't see Stoops as a realistic option.) If Miles is ruled out , it better be for a damn good reason. I want high academic and ethical standards in our program and would understand ruling him out for those reasons. All I see on this board, though, are either rumors and hearsay or behavioral change we will have to demand from other candidates on the B list too ( recruiting). It is worth noting that Hackett shouldn't be vocal about Miles until/if he needs to. No need to create unnecessary controversy if Harbaugh is still in play.
December 15th, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^
and Harbaugh, Miles, Mora, Mullen, and Stoops are off the board, what about Chuck Martin? While he's only had one season—and a not impressive one at 2-10—at Miami OH, he had six great seasons at GVSU and then was OC during ND's improbable run to the NC game in 2012. Or Craig Bohl, who has a similar sort of resume?
December 15th, 2014 at 3:56 PM ^
The 49ers are negotiating with Jim, to see what team he will be traded to so they can get some draft picks. Jim will just have to decide if it will be Michigan or the NFL. Hopefully he will let Michigan know he plans to stay in the NFL ASAP, instead of dragging this out through mid January.
December 15th, 2014 at 5:31 PM ^
If we can't get a Jim Harbaugh why didn't we keep Hoke in the first place?
December 15th, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^
December 15th, 2014 at 7:21 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
December 15th, 2014 at 6:33 PM ^
December 15th, 2014 at 7:17 PM ^
December 15th, 2014 at 7:42 PM ^
December 15th, 2014 at 8:21 PM ^
December 15th, 2014 at 9:48 PM ^
but that is not the strongest denial he could have issued, nor did he say that he is not leaving. He said that he does not want to draw attention away from the LSU program, which is exactly what he ought to say as the current LSU coach.
edit: maybe he did say something off the record. can't verify because its, well, 'off the record'
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