Would you be interested in Joe Moorhead as a future head coach?

Submitted by Gentleman Squirrels on January 4th, 2021 at 6:21 PM

Complete hypothetical scenario:

I'm currently running under the presumption that Harbaugh is coming back and that the rumors of Joe Moorhead to Michigan as a Co-OC with Gattis have some legs under them. Say Harbaugh comes back, makes some right coaching hires, and Michigan is back to a consistent top 10 team as they were early in Harbaugh's tenure. Harbaugh then tries a return to the pros. Would you be interested in elevating Moorhead to head coach and possibly allowing him to maintain the entire staff to maintain consistency in the program?

Basically, I was thinking about how seamlessly OSU transitioned from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day (he essentially kept the entire staff and added some key pieces over the last 2 years) and it made me think of how Michigan hasn't been able to do that since Bo --> Moeller --> Carr. Of course, for that you need a winning identity which Michigan didn't have under Rich Rod and Hoke, but having a consistent program identity over multiple coaches would go a long way in maintaining a winning culture without too much dysfunction during coaching changes.

FWIW, Moorhead was excellent as PSU's OC and did well in his first year at Miss St., but ultimately had some discipline issues with his teams along with a poor culture fit which caused him to be fired after only 2 seasons in Starkville. He's a Pennsylvania native so I imagine if PSU ever moves on from Franklin and Moorhead is still available, he's likely going to be first person they call.

Gentleman Squirrels

January 4th, 2021 at 6:23 PM ^

I didn't want to title this as "CC: Joe Moorhead" because I don't want him to replace Harbaugh now. More of a question regarding maintaining program consistency over long periods of time. Moorhead is just the name that has popped up recently and he has prior HC experience so it just made sense but any other coach with similar circumstances would work too.

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Goldenrod Mandude

January 4th, 2021 at 6:30 PM ^

Don’t care. Just know at this point Jimbo doesn’t seem interested in UM. So I hope Warde has a deep pool to choose from. On another note I hope Urbs goes to Jville and gets his nuts handed to him.  His coaching won’t translate to the NFL. He was a great college coach because he recruited better than anyone and almost always had the most talent on the field. That won’t happen in the NFL where teams are evenly matched.  

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michengin87

January 4th, 2021 at 8:47 PM ^

Agree.  Urban has a deep knowledge of the game, knows how to recruit assistants, recruit good players (will translate to drafting) and lead winning organizations in general.  He has been consistently successful for 20 years.  He was MAC coach of the year in his first season at Bowling Green in 2001.  I doubt someone left it loaded at BGSU for him.  Since then, he has consistently led winning organizations.

I hate OSU, but there is no denying this guy's abilities.

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Goldenrod Mandude

January 4th, 2021 at 6:59 PM ^

Yes he can coach.  He’s not incompetent by any means, but BG & Utah were during the time of the Rich Rodriguez inspired spread option.  Plus he recruited better than anyone in the MAC or whatever the hell Utahs conference was then. The spread option was a new thing at that time and harder to defend.  Rodriguez had some great records during that timeframe as well. After that Urbs won because he recruited better than anyone.  Whether he succeeds or not will be a tossup. Saban was average in Miami, and he is a better coach than Urbs IMO.

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corundum

January 4th, 2021 at 7:29 PM ^

He was only at BGSU for 2 seasons and dominated everyone except for Northern Illinois. Josh Harris was a great QB for the power QB run game, but all of that talent was inherited and developed, not recruited. 

He also knows how to put a staff together. His assistant coaches at BGSU:

OC  Gregg Brandon

QB  Dan Mullen

RB  Stan Drayton

DC  Tim Beckman

CBs  Tim Banks

 

 

 

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bronxblue

January 4th, 2021 at 8:56 PM ^

It's honestly because he seems like a good recruiter and OSU coaches have turned out to be very good recently.  

I would like to remind everyone that this very site, and many of these same fans, were adamant that Tom Herman was the next create college coach and UM should have picked him instead of Harbaugh. We are all, in the end, usually pretty wrong.

 

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befuggled

January 4th, 2021 at 7:38 PM ^

Clearly because Boston College improved dramatically from last year's 6-7.

I guess they did play a close game against Clemson, even if they also had nail-biting three-point wins against 2-10 Texas State and 1-10 Syracuse.

It looks he can recruit, at least. In two or three years I could see Hafley being the next hot coach, but seriously he's not there yet.

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michengin87

January 4th, 2021 at 9:38 PM ^

He got his start under Wannstedt at Pitt, so that's a good place to start.  Then, coached under Schiano for a year before a couple of good seasons at the Bucs successfully coaching the defense.  Coached DBs for Chip Kelly at San Fran and then finally one year at OSU and was rated a top 10 recruiter in his only season.

He's learned from some good coaches.  He's definitely interesting.  I'd put him on the interview list if I was Jim, but is he available or interested?

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rice4114

January 4th, 2021 at 6:26 PM ^

If Harbaugh is going to the NFL now is the time. A patchwork staff with a patchwork Dline, secondary, and linebackers isn't going to make him change his current trajectory. Yeah I like Moorhead as an offensive mind, without anyone in his way that is.

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RandallFlagg

January 4th, 2021 at 6:29 PM ^

It’s all or nothing for Harbaugh with the Chargers opening up.    Urban Meyer is the only coach who is going to turn Michigan around.  UM needs a high profile coach who can recruit elite talent.  Hire Meyer and get Ewers to flip to Michigan.   

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Newton Gimmick

January 4th, 2021 at 8:07 PM ^

"I like Moorhead as an offensive mind, without anyone in his way that is."

Was thinking, hell yeah, would have loved to see Moorhead as OC while we still had Nico Collins.  

Then again, given the top-down oversight it likely would have just been more of Shea getting spooked after 1.5 seconds and heaving the ball into the second row

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LSAClassOf2000

January 4th, 2021 at 7:09 PM ^

Nope. 

OT season is typically defined as the space between Michigan's elimination from the NCAA Tournament and the week before football season begins, which is generally the last week of August. 

Now, in some years past, when Michigan's basketball performance was wildly erratic, or indeed simply not good, OT season was declared when it became clear that a freak outbreak of something - long before anyone had heard of COVID-19, mind you - was the only way we would get into the Tournament. 

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chunkums

January 4th, 2021 at 6:39 PM ^

Sure, why not? Mississippi State firing Moorhead was an outrageously stupid move at the time. They gave him two years and he was better than average there. They fired him for going 6-7 in year two with one of the least experienced teams in the country. It must have been a culture thing.

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bronxblue

January 5th, 2021 at 10:26 AM ^

Sure, but coming off Dan Mullen that felt like a downgrade and there were concerns about player development (I was following Miss St for fantasy purposes that year and the fans were absolutely disappointed in both the results on the field and the overall coaching).  For example, Nick Fitzgerald was seen as being misused by Moorhead, pushed into a role as a passer that he wasn't all that equipped for.  

Anyway, he'd be a fine OC.  Not sold he'd be a good HC, especially if that's mostly based on the type of speculation and dismissal of evidence we currently have about him as a former HC.

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Snake Oil Steve

January 4th, 2021 at 6:45 PM ^

I have been pretty vocal on here since the MSU game that I personally think Moorehead would be a good hire here.  Go back to 2017, and Moorehead was the #1 OC and HC candidate on the market.  He took a roll of the dice going to Miss St. and I don't think that was a good fit for him. He went 8-4 in his first season at Miss St. and his second year was a mess because Willie Gay punched a teammate and Willie Gay and 9 other players cheated in glass and were suspended multiple games.

Moorehead is pretty clearly a better playcaller than Josh Gattis at this moment in time - maybe Gattis still has upside as a playcaller, but that remains to be seen (Gattis is, however, a damn near elite recruiter).  

Moorehead is from the NE and a large part of the reason why I think he'd do well here is precisely because a degree of staff continuity could be maintained - Gattis would retain OC duties but Moorehead (not JH) is the most natural mentor and supervisor of Gattis' offense. 

Offense wins championships in modern CFB. With the right defensive hires (and I think Warde Manuel could help ensure the pocketbooks are opened up for those hire), I do think Moorehead should be on the Tier-1 list of candidates with Matt Campbell and Jeff Hafley (IMO, behind Campbell, in front of Hafley and Tony Elliot, who i am skeptical about because he has been in the Clemson cocoon for so long and worry he would be able to rely on enough personal relationships to develop an A+ staff since it would be difficult to pull coaches from Clemson).

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