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STOOPS IS NOT HAVING IT. Can't say I blame him for this response:
Bob Stoops asked about #Florida today, his answer: "I’m not a candidate anywhere else. I’m finished with that question.”
— Dari Nowkhah (@ESPNDari) November 17, 2014
WOULD JIM HARBAUGH GO TO THE ONE PLACE DEFINITIVELY LESS WELL-RUN THAN MICHIGAN? I hope you're all rolling your eyes super-hard at any suggestion that Jim Harbaugh's stuck on the West Coast for the rest of his life because his wife likes it there. Ian Rapoport:
…according to Rapoport, the Miami Dolphins, long rumored as a potential landing spot for Harbaugh, are no longer an option. Miami's recent success apparently has convinced ownership to keep head coach Joe Philbin around and, in any case, Harbaugh is "not on the Dolphins' radar." Moreover, Harbaugh's wife does not want to leave the Bay Area, limiting the number of locations he can consider.
Accordingly, Rapoport listed the Oakland Raiders as a "real possibility" for Harbaugh.
That's not very nice to his wife in the event that Harbaugh and the 49ers part ways.
"Honey, I lost my lucrative job."
"I CONDEMN THEE TO THE DEPTHS OF THE OAKLAND RAIDERS."
"But I thought I might return to home and restore the legacy of the place I grew up and played quarterback."
"Nope. Raiders."
"D'awwww."
Neither end of that conversation seems particularly likely, and neither is it likely that San Francisco would let Harbaugh out of his contract so he could move across town. There are a ton of pieces that would have to fall into place for that to happen.
Also there is this:
There is almost no chance a top HC candidate with choices would sign up with the Raiders to work under Reggie McKenzie.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) November 17, 2014
(Not that Reggie McKenzie, this one.)
McKenzie is in his fourth year as the Raiders GM and has drafted well. As of a few weeks ago he wasn't thought to be under threat. Now maybe not so much with the Raiders riding a 15-game losing streak. The Raiders are kind of in the same situation as Michigan is with an interim AD, except an AD is only your boss in the technical sense that you can fire him—in college you are otherwise king of the mountain. Oakland would probably have to offer that level of control to get Harbaugh, and those arrangements have rarely worked out in the NFL.
THE THING ABOUT THE DOLPHINS ABOVE. That is some relief as Stephen Ross had previously been thought to be interested, for obvious reasons. Hearing that is no longer the case.
NO MULLEN FOR FLORIDA? Florida got the drop on Michigan but apparently they're not interested in the guy who's kind of a big deal right now:
Sources told me Dan Mullen & Rich Rod will not be among those considered to replace Muschamp
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) November 17, 2014
Okay by me. If Michigan does not get Harbaugh he would be my first choice.
SLIGHTLY INSIDER STUFF. A source inside the department relates that Hackett was explicitly brought in as a short term guy and there is no inside track to the permanent spot for him even if he decides he wants the job. FWIW, this person thinks that Hackett doesn't intend on pursuing the job long term.
Also, the search committee is on the verge of being formed. As in: it has not been formed yet, some weeks after Brandon was axed. They'll act as the primary point of contact with the search firm that does these things; still, any and all comments from Schlissel about taking a long time and getting the hire right should be taken seriously. Hackett's going to do the firing and almost certainly the hiring.
This is not likely to dissuade Harbaugh, who has a ton of reasons to want to come back to Ann Arbor and an unshakeable faith in his ability to kick ass. That makes the AD virtually irrelevant to him. Relevant to us, of course. To Harbaugh he's just the guy who clears out the underbrush so he can coach.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
It would put the new AD in a bad position if his first official act was axing Hoke, and it would be hard for the new AD to get up to speed in time to make the new hire. Hackett was brought in specifically to make the firing/hiring decision. If the intent was a quick transition to a permanent AD, they would have just promoted somebody from within in the AD to the interim spot for a month or two. Expect Hackett to stick around through the spring, at least.
November 18th, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^
I agree. Hackett gets to basically take the fall for firing Hoke so the new AD doesn't get immediately demonized by the remaining Old Michigan Guard / Hoke supporters. Hackett fires Hoke, new AD comes in with clean slate and dirty work done
November 18th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 4:27 PM ^
Or "I really did walk here, because my wife is keeping the car in California". :)
November 18th, 2014 at 7:47 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^
It's a list of long shots.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:09 PM ^
coach. If Hoke beats Maryland (which is likely) and has a good showing against OSU they may give him another of couple of years.
Losing s few season ticket holders will not matter to them if they are convinced in a couple of years Hoke will turn the program around.
THe though of Hike coaching Michigan next year makes me sick but I seriously fear this result.
Regarding Harbaugh, if he wanted to coach Michigan his wife will not stand in his way.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^
"Losing a few season ticket holders"
That's seriously understating the ramifications of Michigan retaining Hoke. Only shot he has is if he wins out, which has as close to a 0% chance as you can get.
November 19th, 2014 at 3:27 AM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^
The problem is, Hoke has not indicated that there will be a turnaround. In fact, remarkably, the team has gotten worse each season.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:25 PM ^
If Hoke beats Maryland (which is likely) and has a good showing against OSU they may give him another of couple of years.
I'm not sure even Hoke's most ardent supporters would argue that going 6-6 in his fourth year would warrant him getting "another couple of years."
November 18th, 2014 at 5:24 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 7:02 PM ^
I too am afraid that keeping Hoke could actually do lasting damage to the program.
As it is now, many are getting season tickets whether we're expected to be great or not. It's just their team. I fear that keeping Hoke will drive many away who won't return until the program actually is good again. Might be a few years of spotty attendance until we actually hire a decent coach
November 19th, 2014 at 10:28 AM ^
"...if they are convinced in a couple of years Hoke will turn the program around..."
How would beating Maryland and having a good showing against Ohio State "convince" anyone that Hoke would turn the program around?
November 18th, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^
"If Michigan does not get Harbaugh he would be my first choice."
I agree. Rich Rod is my first choice too.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:32 PM ^
Dantonio loved himself some RichRod.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
Harbaugh's wife needs to be around water. It doesn't have to be San Francisco, she could survive in the Great Lakes.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^
She's not as pretty as I thought she'd be...
November 19th, 2014 at 1:45 AM ^
Wow... Jim's wife...has an awesome set of whiskers.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:18 PM ^
I still say if all of this Harbaugh stuff doesnt happen, we hire Tom Hermann and he grabs Muschamp as DC. I think that'll do in the long term (see 5 yr minimum rebuild).
You can't just change coaches and expect to win 10 games year after year. It's not realistic. Hell, if Harbaugh does come I still wouldn't EXPECT more than 7-8 wins in year one.
We seriously have to readjust our expectations for this program in the short run. Instibility is the killer of programs. It's a rebuild. Accept it and plan accordingly.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:20 PM ^
While I agree with you, it's frustrating that we've been a "rebuild" for 7+ years now.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:30 PM ^
Agreed but those are all self infilicted.
IMO we dumped a good coach too soon and hired a bad coach. Hell we should really be in a 10 year rebuild phase based on those missteps.
I just hope we have an actual AD who hires a legit coach of football and our fans rally around him and support him for 5 years minimum. That's the best we have right now going forward.
We fudged up, guys.
November 19th, 2014 at 1:53 AM ^
The unfortunate reality is that if the replacement for Hoke isn't Harbaugh, a significant part of the fanbase will hate whoever the new guy is before he's even moved to Ann Arbor. It'll make the reception RR got look like a ticker-tape parade by comparison.
November 19th, 2014 at 7:59 AM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 4:47 PM ^
The main thing in the way of a 9 win season next year is basically QB play. If they can get Big 10 average QB play, they can win 9 games. My view is, Harbaugh's strength is getting superb performance out of quarterbacks.
I've come to a revolutionary and bold decision: We should hire Jim Harbaugh.
No, really, it's not necessary to thank me.
Rob
November 18th, 2014 at 4:56 PM ^
That was Nuss' strength when he came here.
All I'm saying is adjust your expectations in the beginning of a coaching tenure.
Look for small gains and judge based on those. I mean we don't do the things the SEC does so we cant expect the results the SEC gets.
By year 5 we should be expecting 9-10 win seasons for the most part and playing for B1G championships most years.
That's where I'm at.
November 19th, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
Herman, in all likelihood, will be gone by the time that we get a final answer on Harbaugh. I suspect that he will be announced as the new HC somewhere in December.
November 18th, 2014 at 4:26 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 4:39 PM ^
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November 18th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 8:37 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 4:29 PM ^
Just for fun, and because this post by Brian has moved me from highly skeptical to true believer, I hereby post a detail of Jim Harbaugh's 1979 Ann Arbor Pioneer JV football team photo. I will put the overall of the page in a reply to this. From my wife's 1980 yearbook. She was in his class -- that was their sophomore year -- he went to the prom with one of her friends, but she didn't really know him. He moved to California (i.e., Stanford) the next year. That was John Harbaugh's senior year -- he is number 22 in the Varsity photo below the JV photo.
November 18th, 2014 at 5:04 PM ^
Anytime I read "insiders" pertaining to the Michigan athletic department, I insert "thinks it's the case that" in front of whatever is coming next. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that these "insiders" have a spotty record. Now, maybe this insider is the one getting all the hits, but my mental state is better if I just interpret everything as "Here's a scenario:".
November 18th, 2014 at 5:46 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 6:06 PM ^
Why don't we hire Mrs. Harbaugh as AD? Problem solved.
November 18th, 2014 at 6:54 PM ^
Also, it's hard to imagine that Harbaugh, a guy with an extremely intense persona who always wants to be in total control, would succumb to being that whipped by his wife. But...there do seem to exist some women that can get any dude wrapped around their finger.
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November 18th, 2014 at 7:14 PM ^
You know the funny thing about the "Harbaugh's wife wants to stay in the Bay" theory is that it doesn't take into account the fact that folks can own more than one house. Sometimes, people even have more than two.
November 18th, 2014 at 8:42 PM ^
They have enough money that travel is not ruled out. Or second homes.
November 19th, 2014 at 11:12 AM ^
Yup.
I work in Ohio and my boss's boss's wife lives in Texas. I think that my boss's boss makes about a couple mil per year, which is less than half of what Harbaugh would make.
November 18th, 2014 at 8:16 PM ^
November 18th, 2014 at 8:50 PM ^
Why did you tempt the Angry Michigan Coach Search Fates like that? You just condemned Jimmy the freakin' Raiders!
Seriously, it just makes so much sense that there can't be any way JH to Michigan doesn't happen. Of course, cellphones and sailboats.
November 18th, 2014 at 9:54 PM ^
Also, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this was the plan all along. That a coach - maybe one that likes being in control and having a say in everything - could have some sort of input on the type of AD that comes in. Everyone was asking "Who would be the best AD to have in place to maximize our shot at Harbaugh?" I agree w Hacketts answer: none. Let Harbaugh get a say in who will be over him.
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November 19th, 2014 at 2:17 AM ^
is part of a plan to lure Harbaugh to Michigan and give him a decision on who he would like as AD. Or one of the top 2 or 3 coaches.
November 19th, 2014 at 2:14 AM ^
In August I thought we had a slim to no chance of getting Harbaugh. Now I think it is a 50/50 chance. I think Jim is thinking long and hard if he is having fun coaching in the NFL. He is high energy and high strung coach and some NFL players are not fond of being treated like their back in college. So, Jim may be getting fed up with the attitudes of NFL players. He may be happier coaching in college and that college job would be Michigan! However, he may want another go with a different NFL team. Plus, I'm worried our university may be unwilling to pay the coaching salary to get Harbaugh to play here.
I like Miles over Mullen. I really don't see Mullen wanting to coach at Michigan but Miles would in a heart beat. I just wish Michigan would have offered Miles late in '07.
November 19th, 2014 at 2:53 AM ^
Pete Carroll is coach and GM of the Seahawks, and I'd say that arrangement has worked out well for them.
It's actually quite worrisome that the Raiders may have an opening for a GM AND a head coach, because Harbaugh probably has the leverage to negotiate a Carroll-like deal that gives him control over personnel decisions. That would nullify the only advantage Michigan might hold over the NFL in competing for Harbaugh's services, i.e., the opportunity to run his own program. And the Raiders is where Harbaugh began his coaching career. If the Raiders are Michigan's main competitor for landing Harbaugh, I don't like our chances.
November 19th, 2014 at 8:48 AM ^
Do it the Raider way and make the crazy decision.
"The Oakland Raider introduce JoeJoe the Clown as GM/HC.
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