John U. Bacon on ESPN Sportscenter at 9:05pm EST

Submitted by Simps on

Bacon will be on Sportscenter at 9:05pm to discuss the Michigan situation. Thought some people here might be interested.

He posted this on Twitter. (Can't embed tweet on mobile)

Edit: here's the link he posted in the tweet http://espn.go.com/video/sportscenter

So I'm not sure if it's on the ESPN news live showing of Sportscenter at 9pm or if it'll just be a clip at the above link.

Edit 2 Summary: thinks Hoke may be fired tomorrow.

Asked about his legacy and he said Hoke is well liked but with a mediocre record.

Asked about who he wants as the next coach and he said Jim Harbaugh emphatically.

Smugly asked about chances Michigan lands Jim or Les and he responded that Jim was trickier but he quoted Les from one of his books saying "I'll never say no to Michigan"

Asked for percentages of next coach he said 51% Jim Harbaugh, 25% Les Miles and 24% for the rest of the world.

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MGoBender

December 1st, 2014 at 9:13 PM ^

He did a fine job of giving a mile-high view of the situation.

Seems much more optimistic about Harbaugh than the rest of the world, giving M a 51% chance of bringing him here (big FWIW there).

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JamieH

December 1st, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^

John dropped off the potential list quite a while ago according to a lot of the insiders.  I think he was only on the list at all because it looked like the Ravens might go down in flames due to the whole Ray Rice fiasco and he was pissed at how he was hung out to dry with it..  They seem to have righted that ship OK. 

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SAMgO

December 1st, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^

He's always maintained that Miles will come if he's ever offered the job. From all accounts of people who would actually know, the offer has never formally come his way. I'd certainly hope that if Harbaugh falls through, whatever is left of any pre-existing "anti-Miles" faction can stand on the sidelines this tome around. 

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StateSmells

December 1st, 2014 at 9:16 PM ^

Ok, can someone really explain the Miles thing to me?  As Bacon emphatically repeated tonight, quoting quotes in his own books, Miles "would never say no to Michigan." 

So what REALLY happened with the Herbstreit/Martin/Sailboat/SEC champ. game?  Seems like someone who would never say no to Michigan wouldn't let some crossed up cell phone lines get in the way of taking the job. 

Maybe I'm just obtuse, but I have never exactly understood what really went down - and I read the books. 

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bklein09

December 1st, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^

To me, Bacon is implying that Miles was never actually offered the job. Which could be true. Maybe Martin was strongly considering making the final offer and decided otherwise at the final moment. Or maybe Les is lying to Bacon. Who knows.



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Baughlieve

December 1st, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^

On Friday, December 7, and again on Monday, December 10, Bill Martin, Mary Sue Coleman and Les Miles talked on a conference call. Both conversations were simple and pleasant. During the second call, Coleman said she could not hire Miles without meeting him first, and asked Miles to meet her and Martin in Miami, where Miles had already scheduled a recruiting trip. Miles replied that he could not do any face-to-face meeting until after the national title game. Miles let them know both times, however, that, "If you want me, then after the bowl game, I will be your coach. I just can't do anything before that. [But] I would never say no to Michigan." But, incredibly, just a few hours after both calls, word had leaked to the media, then started popping up on the blogs, and quickly traveled down to Baton Rouge. Miles was, understandably, upset -- and effectively boxed in.

The one coach who everyone agrees did not receive an offer from Michigan, again, was Les Miles. He had been handled shabbily during the 2007 search, and it appears he wasn't treated much better in 2010, either. All overtures to him were strictly a show designed to appease his supporters. When Rodriguez asked Brandon in December of 2010 if he already had someone lined up, Brandon denied it but said he would hire Les Miles "over my dead body." The rest was theater.

http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201110/book-excerpt-how-michigan-chose-rich-rodriguez-and-brady-hoke-instead-les-miles-and-

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JamieH

December 1st, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^

Ignoring the sailboat part of it,

 

Miles supposedly wanted to come be our coach, and had a tacit agreement with Martin to come be our coach.  Then his team miraculously made the championship game.  Herbstreit broke the story that Martin and Miles had a backroom deal for him to be the next Michgian coach, and the LSU AD made the genius move of offering Miles a huge contract extension BEFORE the title game and then telling him he essentailly couldn't coach in the title game unless he signed the extension.

Miles would have been nuts to not sign that extension and coach in that game.  And once he did he was off the table because I believe it had a draconian buy out in it for at least a few years. 

I don't remember exactly how the sailboat came into play but I think more has been made of it that should be.  Basically Herbstreit ruined it by breaking the news.  If they could have kept it quiet until after the ttile game it probably would have been fine.  But of course there are also rumors that Carr wanted it scuttled because supposedly Miles did some seriously bad s**** while he was on the staff here.  Like unforgivable stuff. 

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snarling wolverine

December 1st, 2014 at 9:54 PM ^

I believe it all went down before the SEC championship game, actually.  Les was rumored to be on his way here when, on the morning of that game, his AD put the screws to him about an extension.  I don't think LSU was actually going to fire Les if he didn't sign; I think it was just that the extension was going to be pulled if he didn't agree that day.

Les tried to call Martin but Martin was on the sailboat and unreachable.  So, Les decided instead to stay with his "damn strong football team"- which then unexpectedly made the national title game after RichRod and WVU (ironically enough) lost to Pitt.  

Whether Herbstreit really played a role in ruining it, I don't know.  LSU surely knew of Miles's interest in Michigan already.  I can't imagine they suddenly found out from ESPN that day.

BTW, I believe Les's buyout for Michigan was like $1.5M - not a big deal.  It's only for us, though.

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Baughlieve

December 1st, 2014 at 9:57 PM ^

I doubt Herbstreit would come up with the story if he didn't have a reliable source(Desmond or some other former player?). I've always believed it was someone in the Michigan family that didn't want Miles here. The strangest part to me, is when Carr called RR and encouraged him to take the Michigan job. Why would he do that after saying he was not gonna be involved in the coaching search.

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Go Blue in MN

December 1st, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^

Are you kidding?  They seem wildly optimistic to me.  Do we really think there is a 51% chance that JH will, in the next few weeks, become the first successful NFL head coach to head back to college?  I am not, repeat NOT, saying that it won't happen.  I hope it does.  But saying that there is a better than 50-50 chance of it happening seems pollyanna-ish. 

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