Sam Webb: "I do not believe Les Miles is a prime candidate for this job."

Submitted by Erik_in_Dayton on

Sam didn't offer any reasons for Michigan's lack of interest.  He did say that donors had enouraged Hackett to look at Miles and that he still believes Miles would take the job if offered.  Per Sam, though, Michigan will get a "yes" from another coach on its list before it gets to Miles (this did not seem to be a comment on Harbaugh in particular - it seemed more to be a comment on how low on the list Miles is).   

You can click on the link below and go to the fourth segment of this morning's show to hear for yourself. 

http://www.wtka.com/page.php?page_id=87

EDIT: A few of the posts in this thread are about Les Miles and not JH, which I think is a good sign.  It shows we're not Harbaughing too much about Harbaugh to the point where we're crazy Harbaughs.  That said, brother, can you spare some Harbaugh?

ypsituckyboy

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^

GFunk, the reliable and revered poster over on Rivals referenced by Brian, who disappears for months/years and then materializes during big events like coaching searches, says the Harbaugh deal is 100% done.




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

He just posted that like 10 minutes ago.

GoWings2008

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^

Another point that was brought up (by Ace I believe) was the contract bit, that as of now he's still under contract with the 49ers which precludes him from being under contract with Michigan.  MOU, maybe...but he can still back out of one of those. 

FWIW, I'm just as excited about this as everyone, but trying to keep an even keel about it until the announcement is made.

ypsituckyboy

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^

Who says he hasn't negotiated and signed a severance agreement with the 9ers that's effective after the last game? As an attorney who's helped to fire executives, I can tell you that, for people making the kind of money Harbaugh is, you don't just fire them by saying "you're fired." You have them, among other things, sign a severance agreement so that they keep their mouth shut.

Tater

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^

I have been thinking along the lines that a settlement has been reached, especially the last few days.  Harbaugh's demeanor in his pressers changed last week, as if there was a lot less stress on him.  I am hoping everyone decided to be professional, adhere to "the code" and that the transition from "mutual agreement with the 49ers" to Michigan's new head coach is seamless.

Blue-Chip

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^

I'm certainly no legal expert, but could one hypothetically sign a contract with an effective date to give you time to clear up any outstanding obligations?

I don't mean to say I think that's the case here, I'm just curious about how it would/could work.

el segundo

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^

A contract does not necessarily go into effect when pen touches paper.  It goes into effect when it says it does.  Someone could sign a contract on, say, December 23 that would go into effect at any later date specified in the contract.

Think about it.  If you have a job and agree to take a new one, you can make a contract with your new employer that goes into effect on a future date, so you can give notice to your current employer.

You don't even need a full-fledged contract to create an employment relationship.  Harbaugh and UM could agree on the essential terms -- salary and period of years are the only absolutely essential ones -- in a letter agreement and execute an agreement specifiying all terms later on.  This is why so many coaches don't actually "sign" their agreement until after they've started working for their new team.

JHendo

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:14 PM ^

I'm no lawyer and don't speak all fancy-like, but I've signed a lease while currently under a lease somewhere else.  They were binding to both parties until their end date or after their begin date, and in one case since there was an overlap, I just agreed to terms and penalties to break the lease with the original party since I already had my backup plan in place.  Can't imagine it can't work a similar way here.

LKLIII

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^

EDIT:  Didn't see the two posts just above me, as I was drafting my own post on this topic. 

TL;DR Version;  yes, you're right.  Also ditto on NOT going to law school. 

Detailed answer below:

I am an attorney, and I will say that, while Ace is correct in technical terms that he cannot be under two contracts at once to coach for two different teams, it is entirely possible for him to have signed a legally binding contract at this point.  There are two scenarios in which this could happen, only one of which applies in our situation:

1) He just striahgt-up breaches the first contract and signs the second.  While he'd have a bunch of legal difficulties with the first contract, it does not make the second NON binding necessarily.  Depends on the terms of the first contract.  Obviously he will not do this.

2)  He could sign a contract package (not just a term sheet or memorandum of understanding) with Michigan, making the Michigan contract "Start Date" or some other time-delayed activation mechanism contingent upon the cessation of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers Organization. Basically, just make termination of his relationship with the 49ers a condition precedent for the Michigan contract, at which point the Michigan contract comes into full force and effect instantaneously.  

If he were to sign a contract with a clause akin to scenario #2 above, it's entirely possible the "deal is done" and the only thing that would thwart the deal would be if the condition precedent (in our case, ending employment with the 49ers), never happens.  

Signing such a deal would make it impossible for the NFL to slide in with any Godfather-type offers and for Harbaugh to accept such offers without being instantly in breach of an employment contract with Michigan.

 

Chipper1221

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^

That Twitter Account that Brian has been somewhat promoting tweeted interesting stuff not to long ago.

 

He is saying that JH and his agent are meeting today at 1pm(not sure if its eastern or pacific timing) and that this meeting wasnt supposed to happen until after Xmas, so if your on twitter stay tuned because this account loves to tweet out all his information as it comes in

UMChick77

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^

Yes...didn't he mentioned it a few days ago? I think it was Friday or Saturday the thread about ThoseWhoStay, we were talking about if this meeting was going to happen or not. 

Sounds like he was right....several people with sources said there was a meeting and brought back info from it.

There was an agent present at the meeting but sources refused to name or didn't know the name of agent.

The Baughz

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^

This boggles my mind. Les is a hell of a coach and should be top 3 on any school who is looking for a coach. Obviously this wont be a big deal IF Michigan lands Harbaugh or Stoops, but if that doesnt happen, then I think it'd be a huge mistake. 

gwkrlghl

December 22nd, 2014 at 1:38 PM ^

...my sources have now confirmed to me that he had to do so because NO NFL teams even wanted him. He was widely seen as the absolute worst coach in the league, maybe the worst ever in the NFL. One coach even said to me 'Whats his deal?'. Harbaugh will surely come right back to the NFL as soon as anyone asks" 

Ray

December 22nd, 2014 at 2:22 PM ^

I think it's going to turn out that the NFL reporters were very close to Harbaugh's agent, who saw the Michigan offer as a starting point and had a lot of incentive to create a bidding war amongst NFL owners with deep pockets.  Meanwhile, there have been people close to Harbaugh (ex-teammates, family, local media like Sam, JUB, Brian etc) who were saying something else but never got heard by the elites in the NFL reporting biz. Local reporting, especially, got treated like a bunch of bumpkins and hayseeds.

As an alum, and someone who should be connected to Michigan better, it's disappointing that Schefter has arrived so late to the party.  I've come to have a really low opinion of the media on the basis that much of what they report on that I happen to know a little about turns out to be distorted and wrong.  Still, you'd think he'd have a better sense of this stuff.