Michigan officially reached out to Les Miles - Sam Webb

This is good news for anyone who has Les as their #2 or 3.

Honestly I want Harbaugh but any of the coaches being talked about would be equally as good or better coaches, except Greg Schiano.  Cutcliff is at a great school has great credentials and would be great hire same with Les, Mora and so on.  We should be proud to be fans of a team that can and will pull a great coach.

i think we can all agree that this coaching search is 100% better than the previous two.  let's just be patient and close the deal!

Any chance that Hackett is reaching out to Les Miles to see if Les is interested in personally introducing Harbaugh at the press conference?

/s

There is a huge difference between "reaching out" and "offered".

If Harbaugh is our #1, Les #2, who's our realistic number 3?

Les is a great coach!

I heard Michigan has offered Les the job, but it's a non-commitable offer.

This is good. He is one of four guys who can immediately compete against Dantonio, Meyer and SEC coaches. I'd take him in a heart beat.

Les is a great option behind Harbaugh.  Has gone 1-1 in MNC games, wins 70% of his SEC games (in the SEC West, toughest division in the country) and wins 78% overall.

I can't imagine he'd be here longer than 5-7 years but I think he'd provide much needed stability and then he can retire while his successor is groomed.

Les is a cool dude & a long time Mich guy. I like the idea out of respect, if not for anything ...& to keep him as #2 option.

It's happening!!!!!

 San Webb is highly thought of, and respected, and in the past, he has broken a great deal of recruiting news, but, considering the situation now; with Sam having seen his longtime ties to the football program (Fred Jackson) severed, and let us not kid ourselves, Sam has made a good living for quite a few years off of this connection, and from it, he has been given the inside scoop on alot of things, but now, seeing his connection severed, and his business in peril, he has been acting rather strangely, from fighting with, and being hard on the Beaver, freaking out over fans cancelling his website, to acting like Brandon in an e-mail dispute with a subscriber, could it be possible that Sam is just throwing a bunch of shit against the wall, and hoping something will stick to try and save his business ?

This is merely a hypothesis, don't freak out, the contacts may even be true, but this is meaningless, Harbaugh will not decide until the 49ers season is over, or until he is fired. You will hear rumors over the next three weeks, and people will make up crap to advance their own agendas, but unless Harbaugh says himself publicly that he doesn't want the job, he is the number one candidate.

swim lanes.  For it to be swim lanes (plural) you need to be reaching out to more than one candidate.

If we weren't reaching out to more than one coach I'd be worried.

here in Ann Arbor.

He can groom his successor(s) in these 10 years, and we won't have the excitement of "CC" again!

Radio show here in Cali that Mora is a serious consideration for Michigan and there is mutual interest in the job. If Harbaugh is not a option and Stoops/Miles are not interested in the job, then Mora is the guy. With all our resources he could coach up these kids like no other.

It is wise for UM to gather top candidates not only as a back up plan but also to pressure Harbaugh to make a choice sooner rather than later.  UM can tell him truthfully that a delay will cause them to lose out on several of these coaches due to contract extensions as well as mess up their recruiting class.

That time pressure often facilitates negotiations, and it may be needed for many other reasons.  Even if Harbaugh is quite interested in UM, he might want to delay so that he has more negotiating leverage.  This is a complex negotiation which could involve a decision by SF to let him go, seek monetary compensation from him or UM or (with the NFL) even draft picks.

FWIW, there are also supposedly restrictions on his current ability to be contacted by NFL teams, and it may be hard for him to get his questions answered now.  He would need to decide whether he wants to go to a lousy NFL team that is losing draft picks to get him.  He would need to gauge whether to refuse to go to a team if picks are lost and at what point this would drive him to choose UM.   He might need to weigh such factors also with the very real possibility that a team, like Oakland, will move from the Bay Area.  Also, a HC opening must arise in NFL teams (maybe even in Oakland, since the owner maintains that the interim coach is a candidate for HC on this horrible but improving team).  In any case, the longer Harbaugh delays making a decision, the better he can resolve uncertainties, the more teams there are that could come into play and the more time he has to play one against the other--including UM.  To allow him to delay as much as he wants would probably hurt rather than aid UM's chance to get him.

 

Most likely out of respect and in reaction to the recent article that Les has not been contacted. Harbaugh is plan A. He wont comment or commit until after the last game in late Dec. Hackett will respect that because its the right thing for Harbaugh to do. This is also when Hackett says he expects to have a new coach. If Harbaugh declines we dont know plan B. But it will be among proven coaches that have gone through a vetting process with the exec recruiting firm. That is what they do. And the requirements include proven coach AND beyond reproach per Hacketts comments. Many of the coaches will not pass requirement two. The only other coach that wont have to go through that vetting process is John H. He has been contacted. We also will have no idea if he's interested until his season is over. if he is in the playoffs he is not an option.

Did they miss-dial thinking it was Harbaugh?

#Smokescreen