Grantland: Michigan, Florida, Nebraska Searchbits

Submitted by ChiCityWolverine on

Grantland's Matt Hinton, who has written many good college football pieces this year including a couple about Michigan, opined on the three biggest college football coaching searches at the moment. Hinton has mentioned MGoBlog before and has a pretty solid read on the fan base and situation in Ann Arbor for a national guy as you can see here:

Interim athletic director Jim Hackett, the man leading the search for Hoke’s successor, openly pined Wednesday for a swift death to the notion that the Wolverines must be overseen by a “Michigan Man” with long-standing ties to the program — if not directly to Bo Schembechler, the iconic coach who coined the term, then at least to Gary Moeller or Lloyd Carr, Michigan lifers who carried the Schembechler line into the new millennium. Rodriguez was an outsider who inherited a depleted roster, failed to win over the holdovers from the Carr administration, and found himself undermined at every turn; Hoke was an insider who won initially with a much stronger lineup and was later undermined by his own incompetence.

For the record (HOT TAKE ALERT), Hinton considers Jim Harbaugh to be the perfect fit hire for Michigan. Pretty good read here: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/florida-michigan-nebraska-college-football-coaching-searches/

worldeatjimmy

December 3rd, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^

I am still skeptical 1) Harbaugh is actually considering and 2) that he wont have a mix of the problems RR and Hoke had, as described above by Hinton. So, I have concluded that the only logical choice for HC is Spike, naturally. 

Tater

December 3rd, 2014 at 2:53 PM ^

Jim Harbaugh will rub a few people the wrong way.  However, unlike in the Rich Rod debacle, it will be the malcontents and whiners who are seen as "not a good fit" instead of Harbaugh.  

Besides, where Rich Rod was nice to his detractors, Harbaugh would show a much more Machivellian approach to them.

Moe

December 3rd, 2014 at 1:34 PM ^

Spike would get the same complaints of a lack of headset as Hoke and would get fired.  You can't keep that head of hair restrained by a headset.

 

Edit: Meant as a reply to worldeatjimmy

Gitback

December 3rd, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^

I wish more of the national media would pick up on the fact that, as Hackett explained, the whole "Michigan Man" reference Bo made was simply to indicate that Bill Frieder had basically announced that he was now an "Arizona State" man, and, therefore, someone who worked for, and was dedicated to Michigan would be the basketball team's coach in the tournament.  

The meme that followed (as an undercurrent through the 90's but becoming a full fledged "concept" with Rich Rod's tenure) that a "Michigan Man" somehow had all of these "virtues"(virtues that EVERY school claims they represent; loyalty, integrity, honesty, a sense of fair play, etc...) as well as some level of "connection" to the school, was an invention that took on a life of its own.  Believe it or not, Ohio State alums (who include individuals such as Bo Schembechler and Gary Moeller) believe that OSU also stands for all of the things that are good and decent in the world.  

When the first "process" of hiring a new coach was getting underway, the whole "Michigan Man" thing was being bandied about in the media a lot, but it had a positive context that made me feel pretty good.  After the way the term was used (and over referenced) to undermine Rodriguez, it took on a rediculousness quality that we now have to separate ourselves from; OFFICIALLY even.  It's too bad.  

For a while there, the whole "Michigan Man" thing was pretty cool... then it became a parody.  The national media, as is par for the course, doesn't grasp these nuances and tries to paint everything with too broad a brush.  

Brodie

December 3rd, 2014 at 3:33 PM ^

never forget that the term was originally used to justify the immediate termination of a Michigan alum (Frieder) and his replacement by an Illinois State guy (Fisher).

but then context is hard and people never like to consider it

jmblue

December 3rd, 2014 at 4:32 PM ^

While they're at it, the media needs to stop claiming that Bo coined the term "Michigan Man" at all.  It's much, much older than that.  Fielding Yost regularly used it.  

In fact, the "[name of university] Man" trope is pretty widespread overall.

 

Brodie

December 3rd, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

what he's saying, and you may disagree, is that people throw John Harbaugh's name out there in a perfunctory manor simply because he's Jim's brother. There's little reason to believe he'd come here, he has little in the way of college track record, etc. People's interest in him is motivated largely by a desire for Jim

jmdblue

December 3rd, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^

sometimes jsut throw shit out there that seems obvious even though it's wrong.  Case in point: Hinton's suggestion that there's no way Miles would come.  Hell, he'd walk from Baton Rouge.

LSAClassOf2000

December 3rd, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^

"The Wolverines are able and willing to pay top dollar, which means they could wind up buying themselves a pleasant, expensive surprise. But it’s hard to come up with another plausible name beyond Mullen or one of the Harbaugh brothers who’d be worth the sticker shock."

This is one of the questions I was asking myself earlier actually - I don't know exactly how far Michigan opens the vault, of course, but what would these particular names be worth? I would have to think, for example, that they might very well offer Harbaugh - either of them - Saban-type money if indeed that was the only thing standing in the way. Anyone else have thoughts on this one?

Brodie

December 3rd, 2014 at 3:50 PM ^

you'd have to severely overpay for Mullen because MSU will match you step for step so you'd like get to Urban territory in the $4.5m range

you'd have to pay a huge premium for either Harbro, I think you're talking a low end of $5.5m if they're feeling generous and a high end of $7m if they want to be paid their worth. And then there'd be escalators and performance bonuses to make them the highest compensated guys in college.

steve sharik

December 4th, 2014 at 2:36 PM ^

...why some people (ahem, staff of The Wolverine) are writing Mullen off, or simply don't want him.

All the objective opinions out there see him as the next big thing in college coaching, he has coached in the midwest, and if he's going to land a big-time job, the opportunity is greatest right now.

M-Dog

December 3rd, 2014 at 5:31 PM ^

I saw all his home games and some of his away games.

Yes, it's true, his O Line cleared an RV sized hole for him on every single play.  

Sometimes he would run, sometimes he would throw, and sometimes he would just stand there and wave to the cheerleaders and make that "call me" sign with his thumb and pinkie finger.

Used to drive Bo nuts.