AD Jeff Long

Submitted by BoFan on

I’m not a fan of discussing job candidates for a job that is currently filled and is likely to be filled at least to the end of the year.

But everyone keeps bringing up these tier II and tier III AD candidates, and I can’t believe no one is talking about Jeff Long:

- He dealt with a very difficult PR situation at Arkansas.

- He fired Bobby Petrino.

- He has SEC experience.

- He has Michigan experience.

- His new coach almost beat Alabama last week (Kiffin’s weak offense get’s an assist).

- His wife is from Ann Arbor.

- And…

...He is very well respected and chairman of the new college football playoff committee.

UMCoconut

October 14th, 2014 at 5:05 PM ^

...a lot.  Though Bates seems to be the one that is talked about the most, Long seems to be the name gaining the most steam in the last week or two.

He has deep ties to Michigan, and has support from a lot of different corners of the Michigan heirarchy.  He also left Michigan on kind of bad terms, but there's at least some who believe he will come to Michigan.

He would be a great hire.

Urban Warfare

October 14th, 2014 at 5:08 PM ^

Given that Michigan will probably be going through a coaching search at the same time, do you really want to bring in an AD whose last two hires were John L. Smith and Bert Bielema? 

goblue16

October 14th, 2014 at 5:18 PM ^

John l smith was not a long term hire. He was hired last minute to lead the team for one year. As for the Beileema hire I don't see anything wrong with that. The problem is too many good teams in the sec west

Everyone Murders

October 14th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^

John L. Smith wasn't so much a "hire" as a battlefield promotion.  It's not like Long was pining to put JLS in charge of his football program.

Bret Bielema?  Well, I've got no snappy counterargument for that observation (apart from his obvious success at Wisconsin, which some might say was simply minding the store that Barry Alvarez organized).

meechiganman14

October 14th, 2014 at 5:19 PM ^

Bret Bielema coached Wisconsin to 3 rose bowls since the last time Michigan won the big ten. He has two other non-rose bowl seasons that were 10+ wins. And were too good for him?! I flat don't understand the disrespect for him, personally I'd love it if Long brought him to AA.

A.C. Number 1 …

October 14th, 2014 at 5:20 PM ^

Bielema was great for Wisconsin as we all know. He was an interesting hire for Arkansas. I think its fair to say that its way too early to judge his sucess at Arkansas. Not off to a good start but he seems to be out of place there to say the least.

Brodie

October 14th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^

John L. Smith was a glorified interim coach and by far the best hire possible in April... a highly experienced head coach who had been on staff for three years and who had no expectation of keeping the job. If he worked, Arkansas might have maintained momentum and if he didn't he was an easy sacrifical lamb.

Bielema, whether we accept his actual coaching prowess or not, was a fucking amazing get that shocked everyone. That's the kind of hire that we'd likely NEED to make.