Mike Macdonald is back in the NFL after one season of genius coordination in Ann Arbor. As understandable as that is, it also puts Michigan back in the market. I don’t know whom they’re targeting, but I can produce a list of names of varying plausibility. Note that making this list in no way should be interpreted to mean Michigan is looking at him, or that he would have any interest if they did. I’m compiling this based on names the fans are throwing around.

We know the internal candidates and don’t know whom Michigan’s spoken to yet, so I’ll start with the big names, and then keep moving down the list as they fall off the table. Who knows—last time I did this they went and got the first guy.

I’m more doubtful they will this time, but let’s say his name anyways, because it frightens the children.

LARRY FOOTE, TAMPA BAY(?)

CURRENT JOB: Outside linebackers coach, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

SUMMARY: 42, brilliant up-and-coming NFL position coach and former star player for Michigan. Expected to be the DC pick under Byron Leftwich (currently the Bucs OC) when Leftwich gets an HC job. That could be any day if it’s Jacksonville.

History: Foote is the most Detroit person, a Pershing graduate who named his son Trammell and whose first tattoo was a 313. Throughout his career, Foote has come back to his city, and has been instrumental in keeping the Conant Gardens community going. He was a big part of the reason the entire city was rooting for Steelers over the Seahawks when Detroit hosted Super Bowl XL. Before that of course Foote was part of the legendary Michigan recruiting class of 1998 that included Drew Henson, David Terrell, Seth Fisher, Marquise Walker, and Victor Hobson, to name a few, and was the epitome of the tiny linebacker genre before Devin Bush Jr. took the mantle and Khaleke Hudson broke Foote’s single-game TFL record.

Foote finished his brilliant NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals in 2014, following former Ravens assistant Chuck Pagano with the offer of stepping into a coaching role after the season. Pagano made good on his promise; Foote was the assistant LBs coach in 2015, then was promoted to linebackers coach under James Bettcher, and stayed on through one year of Al Holcomb. He followed Pagano again to Tampa Bay in 2019, now under DC Todd Bowles (they overlapped in Zona in 2014), and there Foote won his first Super Bowl as a coach after two as a player. His next move is expected to be to NFL defensive coordinator, with Leftwich’s rise seeming an obvious route to that.

HISTORICAL DEFENSIVE RANKINGS: Tampa Bay was 6th, 5th, and 9th out of 32 teams in Football Outsiders’ comprehensive fancystat DVOA the last three years. They were 2nd, 2nd, 20th, and 12th in Foote’s four years of coaching in Arizona.

PLAYERS: Probably don’t need to throw all the names at you. Foote’s credited with turning Chandler Jones into a 1st team all-Pro in Arizona, developed Shaquil Barrett into a regular all-pro  and Jason Pierre-Paul into a new one at Tampa Bay, and probably had a hand in developing Lavonte David and Devin White into one of the best ILB pairs in the game.

CONNECTIONS: Played here with Bellamy (who’s a year younger than us). Outside of the Lions—which is such a terrible organization Foote had to stomp out of there in disgust after asking to complete his career at home—Ann Arbor is the closest job to home, and the heart is definitely there.

PROS: Up-and-coming defensive mind, would solidify Michigan’s credibility in Detroit and would be a big draw in recruiting. Brings another Carr guy in-house, though Foote hasn’t always caucused with that faction. Linebacker coach when we need LB coaching.

CONS: Hasn’t been in college since Foote received his degree just a few spots after Fisher in December 2002. Hasn’t been a defensive coordinator. Has never recruited.

SYSTEM FIT? The Bucs’ system is not that far off from the Ravens, in that there and in Arizona Foote was a part of defenses that really leaned on the secondary. They base out of a two-high and bring a lot of pressure from the OLBs or nickels. But very much unlike the Ravens, the Bucs’ defense really shined against the most dangerous offenses, crushing the Chiefs and the Brees-led Saints. Having Ndamukong Suh helps.

WOULD HE TAKE THE JOB? Probably not. Sam says Michigan’s reached out($), and Foote’s name will be pushed by the Carr Revolt, but I think Leftwich is getting the Jacksonville job and pulling Foote up with him. If that doesn’t happen though, yeah, it’s a real possibility.

JON HEACOCK, IOWA STATE

[Iowa State Athletics]

CURRENT JOB: Defensive Coordinator, Iowa State

SUMMARY: Ohio guy, former Michigan graduate assistant under Bo, head coach of YSU after Tressel, half of the reason we like Matt Campbell if the Michigan HC job opens up. Early adopter of the three-high/404 Tite defense that finally slowed down the Big XII.

History: The kid brother of former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Heacock (12 years difference with a brother Jeff in the middle), Jon played at Muskingum, a small liberal arts college in Ohio, in the early 1980s. Michigan found him as the DC of West Liberty in West Virginia in 1987 and Bo brought him on as a graduate assistant, coaching the secondary (Tripp Welborne) and special teams for Schembechler’s final two seasons, both of them Rose Bowl teams. Heacock got his first official job from former Bo DC Jim Young at Army but then spent 1991-’96 under Jim Tressel at Youngstown State. Heacock left to become Cam Cameron’s DC at Indiana for three years but returned to YSU as Tressel’s right hand man, succeeding him as head coach when Tressel went to Ohio State. Heacock continued the success but YSU slowly tailed off, and Heacock left in 2009 on his own terms, declaring he was done with head coaching.

He served for a few years as Doug Martin’s DC at Kent State, and there got to know young Toledo OC Matt Campbell. Heacock spent one year with Purdue, coaching DBs in Darrell Hazell’s first season, but when Campbell took the HC job at Toledo he brought in Heacock as his DC and associate head coach. Heacock followed Campbell to Iowa State in 2016 and adopted the newfangled defense in 2018.

HISTORICAL DEFENSIVE RANKINGS: Iowa State’s 2021 team was 31st in defensive SP+ after finishes of 24th, 24th, and 28th the three years prior. Heacock teams tend to be strong in front seven havoc (good at pressure) but low in defensive back havoc (DBs play soft), which is what you want to see out of a talent-deficient team.

PLAYERS: Iowa State didn’t have a player drafted from 2015 to 2018 and have just three offensive players since. But ISU’s defense has always played above its talent. They found a great LB early on by converting QB Joel Lanning and kept him clean with a squat wrestler at nose tackle named Ray Lima. JaQuan Bailey left as the school’s all-time sack leader from a DE/DT position while edge rusher Will McDonald led the nation in sacks (10.5) in 2020.

CONNECTIONS: Heacock’s two years as a Michigan defensive grad assistant coincide with Warde Manuel’s last two years of playing on that same defense, so I’m sure the two are acquainted.

PROS: Coaching veteran who’s nevertheless been on the cutting edge, and knows how to adapt. Strong Ohio bona fides gets you back into a state that they’ve been locked out of except when Ohio State doesn’t want a guy. Would be a Don Brown-like hire in that you’re getting a dude who’s been in college football forever and is widely respected. His three-high defense has been a pain for throw-down-the-field offenses like Ohio State’s. Very familiar with Michigan’s culture.

CONS: Secondary coach when the staff has two already and just Helow at linebackers. Recruiting seems more like Brown’s where parents will trust him with their 3-star who occasionally becomes a Kwity Paye—I don’t know if it was him who found Mario Eugenio before Michigan but that’s the only recruitment I think we’ve ever gone against him in and Michigan was never really afraid of losing Eugenio to Iowa State. Is already in his 60s so this would be a retirement job with some sunsetting. Tressel stink. If he comes for Bo that’s another guy on staff who might give a reporter his thoughts about Bo’s legacy.

SYSTEM FIT? Different system but similar personnel. The 404 Tite and the Amoeba use a lot of the same personnel but differently. Michael Morris would fit perfectly as the heavy end, and Michael Barrett works as a middle safety/hybrid. I’m sure Heacock would play his cornerbacks up more often if they could handle it, and it’s not like Macdonald had them in your face.

WOULD HE TAKE THE JOB? Probably not since he already turned down Notre Dame this offseason. If Michigan were to get Campbell I’m sure Heacock would come with him, but Iowa State also pays him pretty well so I don’t think Michigan’s money is going to be worth giving up a happy situation to work under Jim Harbaugh. Also if there was a season to hire the Iowa State DC who knows Warde better than he knows Harbaugh it was 2021. Then again, Jon’s a Bo guy, and spent the first half of his career under other Bo guys before Jim Tressel, so Michigan may have a place in his heart that Notre Dame does not.

BRAD WHITE, KENTUCKY

[UK Athletics]

CURRENT JOB: Defensive Coordinator, Kentucky

SUMMARY: To be clear I’m the only one saying his name so far. Making $900k as DC under Stoops, who’s a defensive coach. Coached LBs before that. Recruits Michigan and the Midwest well, has relationships with the current staff, born in Massachusetts.

History: Played (linebacker) with Josh Gattis (safety) at Wake Forest after transferring from Georgia, and is the same age. White left football after college then returned as a grad assistant after a few years of bank work. He coached safeties for a year at Murray State, then ILBs at Air Force, including that 2012 too-tight game in Ann Arbor. Went to the Colts coaching linebackers under Chuck Pagano through 2017, then joined Mark Stoops at Kentucky, first as OLBs coach, but promoted to DC in 2019 (with Steve Clinkscale the passing game coordinator under him). White’s latest co-DC, Jon Sumrall, was just named HC of the Troy Trojans of Troy (We’re from Troy!), in Troy, Alabama.

HISTORICAL DEFENSIVE RANKINGS: Kentucky was 35th in defensive SP+ and #6 in the SEC the last two years, 34th in SP+ in 2019, and 15th in 2018. In 2021 they kept Georgia to 30 points but gave up 31 to Mississippi State and 45 to Tennessee despite recruiting about as well as Cincy (better than MSU) the last four years.

PLAYERS: White mostly recruited around Kentucky while other assistants culled Ohio and Michigan for guys who didn’t want to go to Michigan State. He won 4-star Keaten Wade out of Tennessee last cycle. Jamin Davis (WFT) is the only LB under White currently in the NFL from Kentucky. He developed Darius Leonard at OLB with the Colts.

CONNECTIONS: Gattis teammate at Wake Forest, and I mean that like how Josh Ross was a teammate of Brad Hawkins at Michigan; they didn’t just cross paths. Worked with Clinkscale for years at Kentucky so it wouldn’t be as awkward when Michigan bumps Clinkscale to a co- this year.

PROS: Named “one of the best coordinators around” by an anonymous SEC coach. Young guy who would fit in immediately with the current staff, has recruited the Midwest and in the SEC, and complete synergy with Clinkscale—basically we’d be committing to running a Mark Stoops defense minus Stoops. Promoted to DC above other young guys who’d been there longer, and was “OLB” coach when Sumrall had the LBs, so he might be a Mike Macdonald brainiac sort.

CONS: Oddly for a guy on the Kentucky staff, it doesn’t seem like Brad was pulling off most of their big recruiting wins; usually he’s gobbling up 3-stars across the SEC footprint. Probably no more of a linebackers coach than Macdonald was (Sumrall had the ILBs).

SYSTEM FIT? Well yeah, though it’s not the same thing Macdonald was running. Kentucky has been recruiting giant nose tackles out of Michigan better than the in-state schools, remember. Seems like he’d be a pretty seamless rematch with Clinkscale however.

WOULD HE TAKE THE JOB? Probably? Doesn’t seem particularly tied to Stoops or Kentucky, son of a JAG in the Air Force so he can’t be frightened of Harbaugh’s interpretation of generalship.

SETH WALLACE, IOWA

CURRENT JOB: Linebackers/Assistant DC, Iowa

SUMMARY: 43 (Brian’s grade). This is another name I’m adding myself. Has coached every position on defense, special teams, been an OC, and has been groomed for years to take over for legend Phil Parker, who’s hanging around.

History: Played WR and led D-III in receiving at Coe College (the Kohawks!) in Cedar Rapids, then got his coaching start there. His next stop was Lake Forest (near Chicago) where he took over DBs/special teams, then was the OC and special teams. Kirk Ferentz plucked him as a graduate assistant in 2006, but Wallace left to coach DBs, then DL, then coordinate the defense for D-II Valdosta State, winning the D-II national championship in 2012 and holding Winston-Salem State to just 7 points in the championship.

Iowa brought him back in 2014 as recruiting coordinator(!), and assistant DL coach. Then he handled cornerbacks and nickels in 2015, switched to linebackers in 2016, and was given the assistant defensive coordinator title in 2017. That was five years ago, and Phil Parker isn’t going nowhere.

Parker himself is usually listed as the primary for a when Iowa pulls a guy; he’s an MSU alum and has strong connections in Detroit. So I don’t think we’re getting the guy who keeps absconding with the good Belleville kids and whatnot. But Wallace did recruit Tyler Goodson, and beat Michigan for David Davidkov from the Chicago area.

HISTORICAL DEFENSIVE RANKINGS: Iowa’s consistently built excellent Cover 2 defenses with less talent than anybody of their rankings, a credit to Phil Parker and his staff. How much of that is Wallace I don’t know; sometimes it’s hard to see how much work is being done by the superstar, and how much is the work of the Seth behind him. SP+ rankings by where this Seth was:

1. As Assistant DC, 2017-’21: 21st, 18th, 6th, 3rd, 5th
2. As Position Coach, 2014-’16: 48th (DL), 28th (CBs), 16th (LBs)

PLAYERS: Linebacker has been particularly strong since they moved Wallace there. Jack Campbell wrecked our shit this year, and Kristian Welch and Josey Jewell were excellent in their time. However there’s been a succession of cyan’d OLBs—hybrid Dane Belton earned a star this year to stop the streak.

In recruiting, 247 lists recent 4-stars David Davidkov and Jestin Jacobs, star LB Jack Campbell, RB Tyler Goodson, and now-pros Nate Stanley, Amani Hooker, and Kristian Welch among those Wallace was primary for.

CONNECTIONS: Current interim president Mary Sue Coleman was recently Iowa’s president, and there’s been a lot of mixing between our programs going back to when they hired Forest Evashevski as AD against our better judgment.

PROS: Might be an opportunity to jump the line for a guy who’s played a significant role in a defense that’s been conspicuously in the top ten despite not recruiting anything like the schools around it, save Wisconsin (and we’re not prying Jim Leonard out of here unless it’s for the HC job—though I’d love to make a play for Bob Bostad). Has coordinated a championship defense on his own, coached eight different position groups, and coordinated all three phases. Seems to be a bangin’ LBs coach.

CONS: Iowa’s program culture has been problematic of late, and we don’t know where Wallace sits in that. How much is Phil Parker?

SYSTEM FIT? Iowa’s been a 4-3/Cover 2 since the sun turned yellow, and is excellent at it, but that would be another transition for the secondary and not what the rest of the staff, including co-DC Clinkscale, have been doing. Recruiting the Midwest and dealing with Michigan admissions won’t be foreign to him at all.

WOULD HE TAKE THE JOB? I think so. Parker is just 58, and could easily be there another 10 years after waiting 13 for Norm Parker (no relation) to retire.

Some Things That Are Probably Not Happening

People are bringing them up because they were recently fired from head coaching positions and have coached elite defenses. Don’t look too closely, though.

VIC FANGIO

CURRENT JOB: Unemployed. Was HC of the Denver Broncos last year.

SUMMARY: 63, longtime vagabond NFL defensive coordinator, landed with Harbaugh in Stanford after three years with the Ravens, then was Harbaugh’s DC all three year in San Francisco. Most recently HC of the Broncos after a stint as DC for the Bears.

History: Started as a high school coach in his hometown of Dunmore, PA, around the time I was born. UNC plucked him out of Milford Academy, then he went to the USFL, which was a thing back then, then the NFL as the Saints LBs coach for a long time (1986-1994). After that it was one NFL stint to the next: DC of the Panthers (1995-‘98), DC of the Colts (1999-2001), then the Texans (2002-‘05) and the Ravens as a quasi-associate HC when they got as far as the AFC Championship. Greg Mattison replaced Rex Ryan as DC in 2009 and Fangio was demoted to LBs coach, then landed with Jim Harbaugh at Stanford in 2010. In 2011 they were both back in the NFL with the 49ers, where Fangio was Harbaugh’s DC through 2014. There was some talk of Fangio following Jim to Michigan but it was just that—Fangio got the DC job with the Bears, and in three good seasons earned his first head coaching job with the Broncos. That lasted 3 years; he was fired after the penultimate game of last season, after going 7-10 in 2021, and 19-30 overall.

HISTORICAL DEFENSIVE RANKINGS: That 2010 Stanford defense was 17th in S&P+, a huge leap up from 84th in 2009 and 76th in 2008.

As for his NFL DVOAs, here’s the record, with the season before he arrived in parentheses.

• Carolina, 1995-‘98: (expansion), 7th, 4th, 22nd, 23rd
• Indianapolis, 1999-‘01: (28th), 27th, 22nd, 22nd
• Houston, 2002-‘05: (expansion), 18th, 26th, 19th, 32nd
• San Francisco, 2011-‘14: (17th), 2nd, 7th, 11th, 5th
• Chicago, 2015-‘18: (29th), 31st, 22nd, 14th, 1st
• Denver (as HC): (6th), 13th, 14th, 20th

So it looks like his time with the Ravens taught him something. The Bears were a tire fire when he inherited them in 2015 and monsters when he left, and his San Francisco defenses were excellent. Before that Fangio’s only claim to fame was building a solid defense out of everyone’s spare parts with the expansion Panthers, a feat he could not repeat in Houston.

PLAYERS: Too many pros to count but can go around claiming Ray Lewis. Wasn’t at Stanford long enough to give him full credit for any of them.

CONNECTIONS: Harbaugh’s DC with the 49ers, plus a year at Stanford. Ravens family before that.

PROS: Elite NFL coordinator who’s coached under Harbaugh before, built the current Bears defense himself, turned around Stanford’s woeful defense in one season.

CONS: Is 63, probably wants an NFL job, only spent 1 year in college since 1983, probably not too interested in recruiting, probably wouldn’t stick around long.

SYSTEM FIT? Exact. Fangio might even have developed the kernel of the system that the Ravens still use, though it went through an overhaul under Dean Pees in 2018. Anyway it’s “Multiple” with a lot of zone coverages and zone blitzes, and probably uses a lot of the same terminology.

WOULD HE TAKE THE JOB? Extremely unlikely. He’s interviewing in Jacksonville, possibly for the head job, but with so many DCs moving up this season he’s going to have his pick of NFL defensive coordinator opportunities. If he doesn’t get one, and Michigan is still out looking, maybe? But in that case it would be a 1-year rental a la Bill O’Brien at Alabama.

JIMMY LAKE

[Bryan Fuller]

CURRENT JOB: Unemployed. Was HC of Washington last year.

SUMMARY: A top cornerbacks man, Peters Principled to HC. Was the secondary coach then DC under Chris Peterson at Boise and UW until Petersen abruptly retired and named Lake in charge. Fired after last year.

History: Played safety for Eastern Washington in the late 1990s then got his coaching start there. Washington plucked him in 2004 but he was gone after a season with the rest of that staff, resurfacing after a year at Montana State in the NFL as a DBs coach. He was with the Bucs in 2006-‘07 as an assistant to the DBs coach, coached the secondary of the 0-16 Detroit Lions in 2008, then went back to the Bucs as the DBs coach in 2010-‘11 before hooking up with Petersen. Lake was named DC at Washington in 2018 and HC in 2020, which lasted two years, in large part because he made terrible choices in offensive coordinators.

HISTORICAL DEFENSIVE RANKINGS: I mean, you know Petersen’s defenses right? With Lake at DC or HC since 2016 Washington was 3rd, 13th, 4th, 24th, 17th, and 45th in defensive SP+. Yeah the last one was a bummer—that’s why he’s not the coach there anymore. Still, that’s some high performance at a school with Michigan-like academic demands.

PLAYERS: A gillion bazillion sweet cornerbacks from Washington: Kevin King, Byron Murphy, Sidney Jones, Taylor Rapp, Jordan Miller, Elijah Molden, Keith Taylor, and lately Trent McDuffie et al. His defenses also produced Travis Feeney, Budda Baker, Elija Qualls, Vita Vea, Azeem Victor, Keishawn Bierria, Greg Gaines, Ben Burr-Kirven, Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Levi Onwuzurike, and Edefuan Ulofoshio.

CONNECTIONS: Has the map of Michigan’s running game permanently paved into his face.

PROS: Chris Petersen’s chief protégé coming off being head coach of a school we recruited against often with a similar culture to Michigan. Might be the best in the country at finding and developing cornerbacks.

CONS: Part of the reason he was fired was he was getting into fights with—and even slapping—his players. Lake also allegedly picked up a WR and threw him into a wooden locker at Arizona. Washington was willing to fork over $10 million to get rid of him before the guy had coached an Apple Cup game.

Also remember paving his defense on the ground? That happens to Lake defenses more than sometimes. Dominate in the secondary, get chewed up on the ground. Also what do you do with Clink, who’s also a cornerbacks coach and going to be co-DC? Do you want Lake if it costs you Clink? Would you make the Lake for Courtney Morgan trade? The more you think about it, the worse a fit this is. Analyst for a year? Absolutely.

SYSTEM FIT? The fronts they were running are usually more four-man but they had some big tackles and fast linebackers. More of a Don Brown defense actually.

WOULD HE TAKE THE JOB? Probably. He’s headed for an analyst position at Bama or something if he can’t slum it with Michigan.