CC: Michigan guaging Duke's David Cutcliffe

he is a hell of a coach. The problem is his age.

DO NOT WANT. NOT NAMED JAMES JOSEPH HARBAUGH.

depending on what you want Cutcliffe to do.

 

If you want a coach to have a 20-year tenure as a way to bring stability to the program, than pass on Cutcliffe.

 

If you want someone to stay around, say, 7-10 years, rebuild the program back to what its' supposed to be, and then hand it off to whomever (a la Jimbo Fisher) than Cutcliffe isn't a bad choice...remember, Cutcliffe was almost given that option under (as loath as I am to say this name) Philip Fulmer after Fulmer retired from Tennessee.

FUCK THAT

Honestly, I'd prefer him over Les Miles. He's been at two lower end Power 5 programs (Ole Miss is middle-tier at best and Duke is Duke), and been successful at both. Sure, he got fired from Ole Miss, but those fans have irrational expectations. Aside from the age, an okay Plan B-ish hire. 

this age thing is a bit over blown in my opinion. just get a great coach is all I care about.

Sounds like another case where the agent leaks these reports in the hopes their client (Cutliffe) gets an extension and raise.

I'm going to guess his interest level is zero. Cutcliffe's a southerner. Has spent one year in his entire life coaching anywhere north of Knoxville.

I think he'd be a good we struck out on everybody option so we're going after him. Much better than Addazio. I'm just worried that we're limiting ourselves to only coaches at excellent academic schools with smaller football programs BC, Duke, and not looking at other schools as well.

0.0 is my interest level.

is what happens (when people for reasons mind blowing to the rest of country) due to some hesitation of Les Miles.  Incredible we don't just wrap up Miles if Harbaugh doesn't come.

in the bowl game, Duke will have it's second 10-win season in a row.

60 years old? Dude looks 160. Thanks but no thanks. At some point, the leaking of info that we are gauging Interest in other coaches is going to come off contrived and piss Jim H. off. He obviously knows we want him, and any word that we are looking at other coaches just comes off as a veiled threat to Jim H. Which operates almost like an unsaid deadline for him to respond. Hackett is playing games with Jim by "releasing" the news that we are "interested" in other coaches. Jim knows we want him, and we should trust in the process and allow him to finish his work and then give us an answer. Hackett should simply have a face to face with Jim and tell him "Jim, we want you at Michigan. You and only you. We understand your current commitments, and respect your position. Michigan values you, and we will wait for you." If Jim Hackett were to shoot straight from the hip like this, and the money is right, I find it very unlikely that Haubaugh turns us down. Harbaugh is a man of character and if Hackett were to approach him like this, I think he would respect that and sign with us.

HARBAUGH

Few people have a more impressive coaching tree than these QBs.

Super sick at one point? Maybe I am mixing him up with another guy but I thought he was at death's doorstep and that made his job at duke even more amazing.

Cutcliffe is extremely underrated as a HC. Ole Miss was stupid for canning him after one bad season and he supposedly turned down Tennessee.

Not a fan of this option personally. Just don't feel he is correct option. I need more in his resume.

A week ago, one of the guest commentators - a Michigan alum (not Marcus Ray) - on the BTN show that followed Hackett's press conference said that if Harbaugh didn't come, then Cutcliffe might be the fallback, since he had been successful at Duke.

I think Cutclife would be a fantastic hire.  I really don't care about his age as long as he wins football games, which he has done everywhere he has been.  He's younger than Saban, and I doubt anyone would have a problem with age if we were talking to him.

The title should be "Michigan Guaged Cutcliffe" not gauging. They Guaged the whole country, while Hackett only had 14 names in mind as priority and Cutcliffe wasn't one. Grain of salt, moving on.

We are obviously still in the divergent phase, and I have ZERO problem with U-M reaching out to a candidate like Cutcliffe.  There is nothing wrong with checking to see if he's even a possibility.

FWIW, I seriously doubt he gets the job, or even interviews.  We will have an elite coach in A2 next year, I am certain of it.