CC: Brett McMurphy says Mullen, RR not being considered for FL job

Submitted by LJ on

Link here

Surprised this hasn't made the board yet.  Just based on one guy's "sources," but this has been picked up by the major media, and obviously could have implications on our ability to get Mullen should we go after him.

Badkitty

November 17th, 2014 at 8:53 PM ^

Sooo,,,

 

There's a coach with a winning college record, a proven NFL record, is a "quarterback whisperer", and plays Manbawl....  

 

Florida ditched their head coach decisively and can now earnestly look for a replacement while we seem to be dithering around about Hoke,  

 

Who fits what the Florida AD purportedly wants?  Jim MF Harbaugh.  

 

How do you know if they aren't getting a 2 week jump on us in loading up the Brinks trucks with the cash and loot that it'll take to hire him?  Remember, he went to San Francisco instead of expressing his desire to walk to Ann Arbor for his new job.

The Baughz

November 17th, 2014 at 3:19 PM ^

I think it's been stated numerous times on the board recently that Mullen and Foley are not exactly the best of friends. Also, I saw on twitter earlier today that Foley is looking for a proven head coach who is offensive minded. Josh McDaniels was the first name listed. Not sure how credible that source was, but I would expect guys like Art Briles and Mike Gundy who have great offenses will be heavily considered.

Ive been saying that Michigan's list should be Harbaugh, Stoops and Miles, in that order. Other than Stoops, I dont think Florida and Michigan will be contacting the same guys.

FatGuyLittleCoat

November 17th, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^

Rich Rodriguez and Mullen are proven commodities that would be fantastic at Florida. Either coach would be a good fit. So...they aren't considering these two? Doesn't add up to me. I have to believe that Mullen would be at the very top of Florida's list.

Mpfnfu Ford

November 17th, 2014 at 3:29 PM ^

Has decided NFL experience is paramount for Florida's next coach. I don't know why, but hey, he's the guy who hired Ron Zook and Will Muschamp. And reportedly was ordered to hire Urban Meyer against his wishes, and who turned down Spurrier for a return from Washington. It's possible Jeremy Foley has no idea what a good football coach looks like.

So yaaaaaaay, Florida has voluntarily decided not to pursue the most qualified college coaches. This is what it must have felt like for non-Michigan fans watching Michigan make their hire after RR.

Steve in PA

November 17th, 2014 at 3:41 PM ^

I don't know when his punishment is up but someone will be hiring The Vest when his time is done.  He's got a proven win/loss record (character issues aside) and there's enough pressure to win that a school willing to sell it as "redemption" will give him a second chance.

123blue

November 17th, 2014 at 3:38 PM ^

Ah, I see RR beat giant-killer Washington by 1 and the "Bring Back RR" possee in in re-effect.  Let's see how loud those voices are when he falls back to beat-utsa-by-1 territory over the next couple weeks.  Overall though, AZ is a good fit for him as they've got low expectations and don't mind Special K spinning during plays.  I bet UF would be a disaster just as was Michigan.  Let the dude have some peace in the southwest.

cp4three2

November 17th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^

and will be higher when the official rankings come out tonight. Rich was obviously not a good fit for Michigan, but Florida doesn't rigidly cling to the past the way we do, so I think he'd be fine. Ironically, Michigan is probably one of the few places he wouldn't succeed, which is fine and makes us unique, but there's no need to bash him anymore. 

JFW

November 17th, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^

Can we please stop re-hashing RR's tenure? The past is the past. Whatever you think of his tenure here ripping off the scab and pouring salt in the wound does none of us any good; and can only help to fracture us.

He's not coming back. He's doing well at Arizona and for every game except when he plays Michigan I wish him well. 

The best we can do now is hope that UM's administration can cut through this Gordian knot, as daunting a hope as that might be. 

cp4three2

November 17th, 2014 at 4:10 PM ^

Rich's problem was that he wasn't used to the kind of culture at Michigan that basically clings to the past as sacred AND believes that we should have coaches that win like Alabama does while still being viewed as a team that promotes scholarly work ahead of football. WVU is a far different world than Michigan, and he wasn't given the right preparation by Martin to deal with it. 

Hoke failed because he's simply inept (as his career record showed).

 

There are plenty of guys who'd work for Michigan: Harbaugh, Stoops, Miles, etc. Basically guys who grew up in Michigan and Ohio obsessing over the OSU rivalry and Bo Schembechler and who are good coaches, which is a pretty large number, but didn't include Rich Rod.  

MGoJen

November 17th, 2014 at 4:12 PM ^

Why are you presuming that only someone who "grew up in Michigan" and  has a history of obessing over the OSU rivalry/knew Bo would be successful here? I think that's a damaging lens from which to view anything, most certainly a coaching search.

clarkiefromcanada

November 17th, 2014 at 4:50 PM ^

The Rodriguez problem wasn't a Michigan Man issue...at least not initially. Rod's problems were that he didn't field a god damned defense which offended anyone with an inkling of knowledge of Michigan history and the fact that defense and special teams are the other two facets of the game besides offense.

Rod didn't really figure out that last part. Would he have done better if he'd have understood the defense part and the priority of it to the Michigan culture? Short answer: yes.

SalvatoreQuattro

November 17th, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^

Hoke has failed because he is Rod Marinelli.

RR failed for two reasons:The lack of support/backstabbing and his own incompetence. To say that a want of support/backstabbing is the ONLY reason is to ignore his questionable recruiting(Demar Dorsey, Justin Feagin, lack of OL recruits), his selection of defensive coordinators,  and his awful special teams.

What makes this complex is that both feed off each other. The lack of support made worse RR's deficiencies as a coach and his deficiencies only emboldened the schemers to continue to chop away at RR's feet. It was the combination of these factors that caused the calamitious era of Rich Rodriguez.

People point to his success at WVU as proof of his coaching acumen. But did not Tyrone Willingham have success at Stanford? Did not Gary Barnett have success at NU before going to Colorado? Dan Hawkins was excellent at Boise before blowing up at CU.

Just because a coach is good at a lower tier school that does not mean he will succeed at a higher tier school. It's different in fan expectations, competition, and types of recruits needed to sustain the insitutiton's previous level of success.

WolvinLA2

November 17th, 2014 at 7:37 PM ^

But he's not doing that well at Arizona.  He's not doing awful like he did at Michigan, but he has exactly two solid wins while at Arizona.  They're quite good, but that's it.  It's not like he's going out and beating a handful of good teams every year.  He has only played 3 teams that are in the "solid or above" category this year, and he's 1-2, one dumb penalty away from being 0-3.  Outside of Oregan (which I admit is a great win) the teams he has beated in the Pac-12 are 3-5, 2-5, 2-5 and 0-7 in conference.  

Last year was a lot of the same - played nobody OOC and went 4-5 in conference, but had that Oregon win so everyone thought he was great.

BigBlue02

November 18th, 2014 at 1:26 AM ^

He's just as close to 2-1 as he is to 0-3. And everyone thinks he's great because he has made Arizona consistently good and he's only been there for 3 years and is starting a freshman at QB and RB. A great season at Arizona can happen, but it's much tougher to be consistently good. There's a reason RichRod is doing something at Arizona that hasn't been done in 40 years, and it isn't because it's easy to win games there.

123blue

November 17th, 2014 at 4:06 PM ^

I think what goes on here is the opposite of "bashing".

Let's see how his season plays out before annointing him...anything.  He's done very well against Oregon and that's pretty much been his calling card at UA.  I don't know that we've seen anything so impressive otherwise, but the next couple games will be telling for Rich.  It wouldn't be a shock to see him with 4 losses heading into the bowl game (and that's with a weak schedule).

...and that's why he's in a perfect spot.  Even if he lost 4, that's still great for Arizona.

123blue

November 17th, 2014 at 4:27 PM ^

I'm confused; what's angry?  Rich gets credit for what he's doing in AZ and panned for what he did in A2.  And he's a good fit in AZ where he doesn't have to live with the pressure of a Michigan or Florida.

I personally don't think what he's doing in AZ is so amazing.  He's a couple plays away from (at this point) a 5 loss season (UTSA, Oregon and Washington...all nearly losses).  But hey, it's the final scores that count.  Let's just be a little realistic and see how the guy does over time and not just judge him by games against Oregon (or ND).

1974

November 17th, 2014 at 5:50 PM ^

He was also a missed field goal away from a win with USC. I'd agree, though, that he's had a fortunate season.

Keep in mind that he's working mostly with 3-star runoff from the SW quadrant of the country. There's no question that he has improved Arizona's team. Whether he can raise it to a conference champion is another question, but I think it would be difficult to call him a bad coach. (Obviously no consolation to those who will never forgive him for ending the bowl streak .....)

WolvinLA2

November 17th, 2014 at 7:45 PM ^

I'm not sure Arizona will ever have a whole lot better than the recruits they have right now unless they really start winning.  ASU is still doing better and the top recruits from that area will still prefer USC, UCLA, Oregon, etc.  

Even with this solid season, their 2015 class has more NR recruits (2) than 4 star recruits (1).  And they only have one 5.7 3-star.  All the rest are middling 2- or 3-stars.

WolvinLA2

November 17th, 2014 at 7:41 PM ^

What he has done is good for Arizona, but certainly not amazing.  We'll see if he hits a ceiling where he is or if he can ever beat the actual good teams in the league like USC, UCLA, ASU, etc.  He's not going to beat Oregon every year, and he got lucky against Washington this year with a first year coach.  We'll see though.