Coaching Insider talks Michigan (and other jobs)
Many of you who follow CFB closely, espicially on Twitter, will be familiar with FootballScoop. The guys who run the website and Twitter feed are coaching insiders who are on close terms with a majority of the D1 football coaching community, as well as much of the lower levels. I believe they were the ones that broke the Nussmeier news last January as well. All this to establish who they are for those that don't know, and their level of credibility... Because what I just heard their editor-in-chief say on ESPN radio was fairly shocking. Here's the relevant tweet:
I went on @1045espn this AM. Have a listen. Topics include SMU/Mack, Orgeron, possibility of Florida & Michigan, etc http://t.co/JSCVQZAZwh
— FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) October 30, 2014
Fast forward to about 10 minutes in to hear about the Florida job, and 13 minutes in to hear about Michigan. The money quote: "I talked to three guys [presumably connected to the Michigan program] and there is complete belief... not just some question, but complete belief that Dave Brandon does not survive this." Great news, right? But not exactly earth-shattering. That part comes next: "I heard a very interesting name for the next AD... Joe Castiglione, the AD at Oklahoma."
Again, this is not some ESPN radio guy just spouting off whatever names that come to mind, this is an actual insider who has heard enough scuttlebutt to think Castiglione may be a guy Michigan looks at. Also, nice to hear further confirmation from an outside source that it appears Brandon is going to be out the door.
Thoughts? Also interesting to note that Rich Rod seems to be the leading candidate for Florida with Spurrier (!?!) as the dark horse.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:07 PM ^
...This is crazy talk.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:09 PM ^
The Old Ball Coach back in Gainesville? Oh, the hilarity.
October 30th, 2014 at 5:04 PM ^
"eeeexxxcellent". One door shuts and another one opens in AA.
October 30th, 2014 at 5:25 PM ^
October 30th, 2014 at 6:31 PM ^
Are they aware Spurrier is 69 years old?
October 30th, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^
in 2 days, and DB needs to be unemployed by the time my truck gets to AA.
all in favor, say aye!
October 30th, 2014 at 4:23 PM ^
+1 for the Christmas Vacation rest.
Well played, sir.
October 31st, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
Who you calling spotty-lipped?
October 31st, 2014 at 7:17 AM ^
"AYE".
I'd suggest you drive real slow, if they haven't canned DB by now, they will likely be dragging this into December/January. I check MLive and this site hourly hoping to see the headline "DB Let Go", but after all thats happened, he still sit snug in his million dollar office.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^
I would take him looking for a coach. The Lon Kruger hire looks to have been hit out of the park.
Rich Rod succeeding at UF would piss me off.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:15 PM ^
I am happy that Rich Rod is succeeding at Arizona and would be quite happy to see him succeed at Florida. It would be hilarious to see Rich Rod coaching the level of talent that he could recruit in Gainesville.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^
Everyone should have good wishes for RR. Whether it worked or not, he was a good guy who brought us Denard, did his level best to make Michigan a good team, has always been a good coach and is a great and creative offensive mind.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
In this particular case, it's not just that. If Florida hires Rodriguez (or Spurrier, for that matter), that removes them from the coaching search group without having them take a guy we'd take. That would leave us as the highest-profile school looking to fill a job... without any of our realistic candidates gone. That would be good.
October 30th, 2014 at 6:13 PM ^
Maybe Spurrier will come here. That would be a hoot.
October 30th, 2014 at 7:51 PM ^
Spurrier at Michigan would be awesome on about a million levels
October 31st, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^
But... what if DB wants to hire Rich Rod back?
/headexplode
October 30th, 2014 at 7:06 PM ^
I agree and I was an early member of the fire Rich fan club. He conducted himself during and after his Michigan demise in a respectful and professional manner, not playing the victim card or trashing our university in attempts to save his own reputation. I don't want him back but I'm not bitter that his hard work is being rewarded with success at Zona.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:40 PM ^
RR always recruited Florida. If he's their coach he longer will be taking the table scraps. He will get the cream of the crop he always wanted.
I'm not saying the players he got all turned out bad, but he rarely got Florida's blue chips.
October 30th, 2014 at 5:39 PM ^
He had the ability to recruit that level of talent at Michigan (and sometimes did). The question with Rich is whether or not he can keep that talent at the school (or, in some cases, get them there).
October 30th, 2014 at 6:34 PM ^
@Tater, i don't know what the OP's intent was, but I took it to mean that he'd be upset if RR succeeded at UF b/c he wasn't given a fair shake at Michigan to run his program his way. At least, that's my biased perspective.
And yes, I'm happy for the guy, but jealous of the support and success he is having now, and would be even moreso if he does well at UF.
October 30th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^
It's pretty obvious that had he gotten a 4th year and the million bucks to hire Casteel that we would have gone to the Sugar Bowl (especially against that schedule and with a junior Denard). It's also pretty apparent that Brandon thought the same and didn't want to risk not having control over the coach, which is why he fired him.
Anyone could have looked at the team and the schedule and said, yeah, they're going to win at least 10 games. Had that happened, it would have been impossible to claim the "Michigan Man" nonsense and fired him.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
LOLwhut?
October 30th, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^
ESPN, Scuttlebutt, Michigan, Les Miles.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^
i agree not as likely, but not too crazy. i recall castiglione being a talked-about candidate for the AD when martin was retiring as well.
oklahoma has a great football team, but michigan has the better overall athletic environment now between excellent teams in basketball, hockey, swimming, gymnastics, etc not to mention emerging teams in soccer and lacrosse.
essentially, michigan is an upgrade over oklahoma from a total athletic department standpoint, so him moving to ann arbor isn't really that far-fetched.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:19 PM ^
Good point. The Michgian athletic season does not end in the Fall.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
And he hired Stoops. Still, I'm thinking dark horse here, but he is qualified.
AA > Norman if your asking me.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:18 PM ^
Not only is AA > Norman, but Michigan's athletic department is much bigger than Oklahoma's so this would not be a lateral move, and I'm sure the pay reflects that.
All I care about is who he hires to be the football coach. If you can hire Harbaugh, you've got the job. Maybe Schlissel should hire Harbaugh and let him pick his boss.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^
"I just hope he doesn't fire me"
October 30th, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^
"I just hope he does hire me"
October 31st, 2014 at 9:12 AM ^
I am stationed in Oklahoma and AA>>>>>>Norman. I've visited there and while the stadium is nice, I wasn't impressed.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:15 PM ^
Now we're talking!
Joe Castiglione is no joke. And he would provide the clean sweep that many have been hankering for: A new path, a new perspective, less emphasis on the currently bastardized concept of "Michigan Man" (which these days means a guy with past Michigan connections, instead of its original connotation as a guy from anywhere who becomes loyal to Michigan above all others--like Bo).
I'd be thrilled to see whom Castiglione could bring to fill Hoke's shoes next year.
And I'm thinking I'd be happy with his selection . . . .
October 30th, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^
Why is he "no joke"? I am just trying to understand. He has been there a long while and football is king at the school - basketball is an afterthought and I have no idea on any other programs. Not saying he is or is not a good hire but basically it looks like he hired Stoops 15 years ago and it's been good days since. But outside of that what is his claim to fame? Or is just stablity and lack of sanctions?
I am not that familiar with Oklahoma outside of football and basketball - do they excel at other things like baseball?
October 30th, 2014 at 4:18 PM ^
I've been wondering what happened to Ed Orgeron. He did well taking over for Kiffin after he got Kiffin'd; I'm just not sure of what else he brings as a head coach.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:21 PM ^
He's been a head coach, just without much success. And at SC he wasn't even a coordinator, just a DL coach. He's definitely known as a great recruiter though. So he's basically Hoke, with less HC experience and a drawl that would drive most of AA absolutely nuts.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:23 PM ^
Tell 'em about it, Jojo.
Honestly, the idea that we could have a human Muppet coaching in Ann Arbor has to be at least surface-level intriguing.
October 30th, 2014 at 7:02 PM ^
I want a human Muppet coach who growls "I need a hummer!"
October 30th, 2014 at 6:16 PM ^
Hoke's manner of speaking drives most of AA absolutely nuts too.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:28 PM ^
Orgeron is basically Hoke hopped up on a case of Red Bull.
October 30th, 2014 at 7:31 PM ^
CLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAPCLAP
October 30th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
WELL WE PRACTICED SO F*CKING GREAT TODAY IT BLEW MY MIND. WE PRACTICED PUNTING, TALKED ABOUT OUR FEELINGS AND MICHIGAN TRADITIONS, AND THEN DRANK MORE RED BULL. IT WAS F*CKING TREMENDOUS
October 30th, 2014 at 6:26 PM ^
ESPN has a story and video coming out on Orgeron tomorrow that details what he's been up to.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^
RichRod to Florida would be hilarious. Unless he lights it on fire there. Then it would not be hilarious.
October 30th, 2014 at 5:09 PM ^
I've got a feeling he'd light it on fire for sure. As much as Arizona has been good to/for him, I'm thinking he'd have a hard time saying no to UF.
October 30th, 2014 at 6:04 PM ^
I would think he would stay at Mich -err Arizona (I truly did that) and hang out in the not-so-defensive minded PAC-12. He's got plenty of players for his system in that area while at Florida he'd have a more difficult battle for conference - and higher - championships.
October 30th, 2014 at 6:16 PM ^
would not do well in the SEC. He like ninja's that can run. In the SEC they will get killed. Very few of RR's recruits go on to the NFL. If he went to Florida, the result would be the same as was his tenure at MIchigan.
Arizona is the perfect place for him. He will not leave.
October 31st, 2014 at 10:22 AM ^
people said the same damn thing about the B1G. The spread can't work. This nonsense needs to die. Meyer did pretty well in the SEC with it...A&M, Auburn...do I need to go on? The reason he failed here had nothing to do with the style of offense he runs.
October 30th, 2014 at 6:29 PM ^
Offensively, he would kill it. But he'd have to be willing to upgrade his defensive staff to actually compete in the SEC. And I'm not sure if he's willing to go that route.
October 30th, 2014 at 6:36 PM ^
"willing to upgrade"....? Haha! That was the Michigan administration that was too cheap to take Casteel before paying 3x the price for Mattison. Goddamn embarassment that AZ has had more success with RR than Michigan. This failure points directly to Mary Sue Coleman and her absolute failure as a university President. All I saw during her tenure was a failining football program, rapidly increasing tuition, and falling academic ratings.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:53 PM ^
What do you mean upgrade his defensive staff? I thought RR + Casteel was supposed to ensure multiple national championships? Or so I was led to believe....
/snark