Clinkscale to Chargers, per Freep (don’t murder me due to source)
February 10th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^
This was supposed to be the "Continue-The-Culture" transition.
We have zero staff coming back on our culture-defining unit.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:53 PM ^
For a first time HC, the hiring of an NFL DC who everyone thinks is a short-timer and, in your scenario, wants "his guys" (dealing a likely blow to 1-2 recruiting cycles and potentially help NIL-based poaching of the roster) sure seems like a big risk to me.
If this was just with one coach, I could understand, but this has now happened with a couple of critical coaches (Elston, Clinkscale, Herbert) and I think it's totally fair to question at a minimum the process.
If Moore pulls this out and the team continues to roll then great, and I will be happy to be eat whatever crow I am due. But I don't think its an overreaction to be concerned at this point.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^
Im not trying to be flippant, but how much time have you spent at round leaders of $130M+ businesses? I can tell you they are just as flawed as any other humans, perhaps a bit less incompetent, but you would be surprised at the reasoning behind some of these choices and the performance tied to the individuals / teams.
February 10th, 2024 at 2:18 PM ^
Um, there’s no way to control this BEFORE the HC bolts for the NFL and starts poaching with huge contracts. You can’t prevent coaches from leaving and wouldn’t want to. And you can’t interview replacements when you don’t known who’s leaving. Use critical thinking.
February 10th, 2024 at 2:53 PM ^
When did Harbaugh announce his departure? When was Moore promoted to HC? In the few days in between those events, how could you have had the situation "sorted out weeks ago before Sherrone is even named coach?" UM could have waited weeks to sort out the situation before naming Moore as HC, and everyone here would have been wailing about players entering the transfer portal while the University dithered about who would lead the team next year. Is that really what you preferred?
February 10th, 2024 at 5:59 PM ^
Huh? This is just nuts. Who, but the head coach, is supposed to choose the assistant coaches... the idiots who blame Warde Manuel for everything they don't like?
February 10th, 2024 at 11:22 AM ^
I think this says a lot about what Moore thinks of Clink as a defensive coordinator- that despite being here for 3 years under 2 mentors, Clink is not ready for the DC job.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:32 PM ^
He's been coaching for 22 years. Moore isn't the only person who didn't want to give him the DC job.
February 10th, 2024 at 3:27 PM ^
The Freep thing was 15 years ago. There is nothing wrong whatsoever with the Freep, and everyone stop apologizing for it,
February 10th, 2024 at 10:08 AM ^
This is gonna be a rough transition
Not too optimistic about the sherrone era if the only staff left for the transition is Campbell, Newsom and a dietician
February 10th, 2024 at 10:09 AM ^
But the dietician is world-class
February 10th, 2024 at 10:10 AM ^
Username checks out, amirite?
February 10th, 2024 at 10:27 AM ^
What about Hart? Any word on him?
February 10th, 2024 at 10:57 AM ^
Only thing I had seen was something about negotiations being underway which means he's due for LA anyyyy minute now
February 10th, 2024 at 10:32 AM ^
Hopefully, the reports are true that players were part of the wink hire, and approved of him. I can understand Clink leaving, as he probably felt he should be the DC. In my opinion, this was the last of the bigger names left that could leave. I don't see Hart or Bellamy joining the Chargers. Wink has to fill out his whole staff essentially now, and hopefully, there's already some internal progress there.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:56 AM ^
Losing Clink hurts a lot. One of the Best recruiter we had on roster. Now we better hope Wink brings in people who can recruit and not a bunch of guys who are good at the X and Os but can't recruit worth shit. Then we could be in trouble.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:07 AM ^
Was he? cb position he whiffed on both Ohio guys. Safety he did well but seems we settled for plan b guys at cb. Will was coming regardless.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:39 PM ^
These days every school has the same recruiter, Ben Franklin and he is kicking ass.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:54 PM ^
Coaching at the University of Michigan, for a coach like Sherrone, with talent and facilities is one of the best possible jobs in the business.
Has this been perfect? Of course not. It’s just remarkable to me how many people go doom and gloom the second adversity hits.
Thats not how Championship programs are built.
I am optimistic about the Sherrone era.
February 10th, 2024 at 3:37 PM ^
“It’s just remarkable to me how many people go doom and gloom the second adversity hits.”
I guess you’ve never read a game thread.
February 10th, 2024 at 1:06 PM ^
Fuck, Harbaugh is literally taking everyone. Thanks Jim, fucking PLEASE take Warde instead.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:09 AM ^
Again, I don’t see how anybody is defending Harbaugh for absolutely gutting the program at this point.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:12 AM ^
If UM wants good coaching they (and every other college team) are gonna have to pay up because anyone worth it is gonna have NFL options and that's obviously a better gig. Only reasons the DC is here is a lack of options.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:55 AM ^
Our head coach was just working at CMU a few years ago. Good coaches are out there. Don't panic.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
What in the fuck does that have to do with Jim Harbaugh, who professes to "love" UofM, absolutely destroying any chance of maintaining continuity? Nothing, that's what.
Stop making excuses, that's all it is.
Harbaugh is fucking us, period.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:10 AM ^
Harbaugh doesn't love Michigan.
Harbaugh loves Harbaugh.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:44 PM ^
Michigan loved Harbaugh so much they forced him to take a pay cut to keep his job.
February 10th, 2024 at 1:20 PM ^
For the first 5 years he was doing a mediocre / fair job, have you forgotten some basic facts of his first 6 years:
- 0-5 vs OSU
- 3-3 vs MSU
- 11-16 vs ranked teams
- 2-12 vs top 10 teams
- 0 B1G Championships or appearances in title game
That pay cut was necessary, and completely glad he turned it around.
February 10th, 2024 at 2:20 PM ^
People around here complain that Warde does nothing. He did something with Harbaugh, and there were observable results. But now people complain about that. 🙄
February 10th, 2024 at 3:14 PM ^
The turnaround had nothing to do with the pay cut. Harbaugh is a proven winner, and if anyone was going to get it done it was Harbaugh, not any of the lesser coaches they were almost dumb enough to replace him with. What he accomplished at Michigan took a long time and was miraculous. Then odds are very much against that level of success being repeated at the school with another coach.
February 10th, 2024 at 9:58 PM ^
Oh geez, thanks for letting me know that we will suck forever!
February 10th, 2024 at 11:18 AM ^
Anybody who has paid any attention to Jim Harbaugh knew this was how it was going to end. The connections that he makes outside of nuclear family are superficial at best, essentially transactional. He loves Michigan to the extent he is capable, but it isn’t how we love it.
We saw Michigan reach the pinnacle. For that, I thank him eternally to him. Now we have to get on with the business of cleaning it up, which was never going to be easy.
February 10th, 2024 at 1:01 PM ^
"He loves Michigan to the extent he is capable, but it isn’t how we love it."
Says a fan, whom -- I'm guessing here -- neither played for team as a starter or coached it for 9 years.
Come on people, think about how silly this all sounds.
February 10th, 2024 at 2:23 PM ^
I think what he said is accurate and not all that controversial. He's not a fan. It's his profession. He sees things differently than we do because of that. And that's why it was easy for him to take coaches with him. His sentimentality stops where his ambitions start.
February 10th, 2024 at 3:46 PM ^
Most fans care only about their own feelings. When their team wins, it makes them feel great. When it loses, or doesn’t win as much as they would like, they get angry. Fans should be grateful to Harbaugh for what he brought to Michigan and wish him well as he chases his ultimate dream. They should also appreciative of the contributions of the assistants who are improving their positions and wish them well, too. Instead, many apparently believe Harbaugh should’ve denied the assistants the opportunity to advance their careers so they, the fans, would have a better chance of seeing their favorite team win next year. Is that loyalty?
February 10th, 2024 at 11:35 AM ^
Jim Harbaugh is a professional (in the literal sense of that word). His job is to do what he thinks gives him and his employer the best chance to succeed in his current job. He loves his previous employer, but his job is to do what he thinks is right for his current employer.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:18 PM ^
this makes me sad.
February 10th, 2024 at 12:35 PM ^
Theres nothing untrue in there, but a college coach taking a head job and filling out his staff with his college assistants seems like an odd choice.
Afaik, nobody else in the NFL was lining up to hire any of these people other than Minter.
February 10th, 2024 at 2:52 PM ^
He doesn't love his previous employer.
He doesn't even care about his previous employer.
If U of M ceasing to exist got Jim Harbaugh a Super Bowl win, he'd take that trade in a second.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:17 AM ^
Apparently their pay was fine until Harbaugh went to the NFL. I haven't heard of any other NFL teams coming after these guys...
February 10th, 2024 at 10:13 AM ^
Clinkscale has agency here. We can’t lock him in a closet and stop him from leaving. By all accounts we were offering plenty of money.
And this has more to do with him wanting to be defensive coordinator than it does with Harbaugh. Same with Elston.
February 10th, 2024 at 10:31 AM ^
They’d have a quicker path to DC by staying since we just hired a short term stopgap guy by all appearances
February 10th, 2024 at 10:37 AM ^
I think that’s probably true, but it can be hard sometimes to get over being passed over for a job that you think you deserve.
Elston also left Notre Dame for Michigan for the same job once he didn’t get promoted to DC there also.
February 10th, 2024 at 4:15 PM ^
The impression I get of Elston is that he wasn't regarded as a good DC candidate by Notre Dame, or maybe by Michigan either. Some guys probably should just stay as position coaches. That's what they're best at. No better example than Brady Hoke.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:06 AM ^
Being an NFL position coach makes you a candidate for NFL DC positions, other college DC positions, and he’d still have every opportunity to be offered the Michigan DC job when the stopgap guy leaves. Whereas staying at Michigan really only makes him a candidate for the Michigan DC job, which he has already been passed over for, and lower level DC jobs. Moving to the NFL creates way more upward mobility in the coaching profession than sticking it out as a college position coach.
February 10th, 2024 at 11:58 AM ^
Technically, Clink could have been hired at a MAC or MAC equivalent as a DC or even HC, but he appears from a fan perspective to want an easier route to big time jobs. What is better—HC or University of Buffalo or CB coach for any NFL team?