Previously: oh noser.

THEY'RE AT LEAST KICKING THE TIRES

An insider who's been on point in the past asserts that Michigan is checking on Jay Wright, Gregg Marshall, and… Billy Donovan, amongst others. Wright and Marshall are likely to be nonstarters for reasons discussed below. Vetting Donovan is a better spot than the last couple days' weird "but Al Horford" roadblock. 

Another name climbing up the At Least It's Not Porter Moser board: Ed Cooley, who drew mentions from both Sam and Brian Snow. Cooley would be a B- hire but he's relatively young and a good recruiter.

OKAY THAT'S FINE

Jeff Goodman:

Two names I am told that are unlikely to leave their current spots even if Michigan were to pursue, sources told @Stadium: Notre Dame’s Mike Brey and Florida’s Mike White.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) May 15, 2019

You're probably thinking "the Chris Collins guy?"  Yes, the Chris Collins guy. He's still a reporter who talks to people and can be relied upon to repeat what they say publicly.

Neither Brey or White moves the needle for me so whatever.

[After THE JUMP: UCLA's search provides a window into Michigan's]

IT'S HARD TO GET A GUY

This article on UCLA's shambolic search is a sobering look at trying to acquire heavy-hitters in good situations, or even moderate hitters in comfortable ones. I've bolded relevant names:

Rebholz told the donors in the message viewed by The Times that the search committee started with a list of more than 60 candidates that included some of the biggest names in coaching: Calipari, Stevens, Tom Izzo, Jay Wright, Billy Donovan, Mark Few and Tony Bennett.

Enlisting Bob Myers, UCLA alumnus and Golden State Warriors general manager, to make calls on the school’s behalf made no difference; only Calipari, Rebholz wrote, showed any interest among the home-run candidates and allowed UCLA officials, including athletic director Dan Guerrero, to meet with him. …

The Bruins’ list of candidates was further winnowed, Rebholz wrote, when other coaches such as Washington’s Mike Hopkins, Purdue’s Matt Painter and Iowa State’s Steve Prohm declined to be interviewed “regardless of our ability to pay more than we ever have, a commitment to charter as a team, and increase to assistant salary pool, etc. Very disheartening to not even have a chance with ‘Tier II’ guys.” …

“We would have loved for Jay Wright to walk out on the floor, but even when we offered to double his salary, he still wasn’t coming."

Michigan has a lot more recent success than UCLA, which has turned into an athletic department full of revolving door fiascoes in its revenue sports, but if people aren't even picking up the phone for UCLA the chances they do for Michigan aren't great.

Two names of particular relevance referenced above are Donovan and Prohm. Maybe UCLA's Donovan approach came before it was clear he would be entering a lame-duck year with zero job security; maybe the overall clown college tenor of the UCLA AD put him off. This article is written off a text from UCLA associate AD John Rebholz to big-time UCLA donors and obviously contains a lot of CYA. It still bodes unwell for Michigan's chances with two of the three guys I put above the Yak line.

The more I see stuff about Prohm the more bummed I am that he doesn't appear to be on the list. You want Beilein 2.0?

Coach Prohm gets his taken with Michael Jacobson’s grandparents in Sioux City today. #CycloneFamily pic.twitter.com/sVPDO8yTSn

— Iowa State Men’s Basketball (@CycloneMBB) May 14, 2019

That's maybe as close as you're gonna get. Seems like a guy who knows some things about basketball as well.

WAIT WHAT

John Beilein's buyout is what?

Following his talks with the Pistons, Beilein and Michigan agreed to a contract extension that would have kept him in Ann Arbor through the 2022-23 season. He was set to make $3.8 million annually through the length of his deal, which ranked No. 10 nationally this past season among men's college basketball coaches.

According to the contract details, if Beilein opted to leave Michigan anytime before April 15, 2023, he was required to provide "reasonable advance written notice of the termination of his employment." He won't be required to pay a buyout.

ZERO DOLLARS? Warde Manuel signed his coach to a contract extension with a 500k raise and an automatic rollover after Beilein flirted with the NBA and got a zero dollar buyout?

Let's go back to that UCLA article and their unsuccessful pursuit of Jamie Dixon:

Dixon deeply wanted to coach the Bruins, according to multiple people familiar with his thinking, and didn’t believe his roughly $9-million buyout at Texas Christian was going to be a hindrance. Why should it be? Pittsburgh had lowered a $10-million buyout to an undisclosed sum, allowing him to take the job at TCU, his alma mater. …

The search committee received assurances from Dixon’s representatives that his buyout could be negotiated to a much smaller sum, but as the days passed it became clear that TCU wasn’t going to budge. The Horned Frogs had all the leverage and felt no need to surrender their highly coveted coach at a discount.

A significant buyout may have put off the Cavs. An insignificant one would still provide some money with which to go after someone else's buyout. Buyouts are standard practice. It is completely reasonable for Michigan to ask for one. It is astoundingly bad that Beilein didn't have one.

YET MORE VAGUE POSSIBILITIES TO DISCUSS

Gregg Marshall, Wichita State. Marshall has had a ton of success, and is still in Wichita. Marshall is a notorious screamer who got ejected from an exhibition game in Canada and refused to leave:

Video: Here's the McGill broadcast of Gregg Marshall's ejection in Canada this evening. pic.twitter.com/slaWKrBMys

— Chase Shannon (@chase_shannon) August 10, 2016

His wife had a similar incident a couple years ago in a game against Kentucky.

It's telling that the UCLA article, which namechecks just about any plausible top-end candidate, does not mention a guy who had seven straight years in the tourney with an MVC/AAC team and has a Final Four, Sweet Sixteen, and separate one-seed to his name. It does mention this:

Rebholz also described the school’s vetting of other candidates through the NCAA and an unnamed firm based in Atlanta. He said those efforts resulted in a list of coaches considered “untouchable” because of major NCAA violations, “infidelity, very low character, etc.”

Rebholz went on to name eight prominent coaches, “many of whom wanted our job, but we couldn’t hire knowing what we know due to properly vetting them out.”

Marshall almost has to be in that group. Whatever's kept him in Wichita is going to continue keeping him in Wichita.

I never knew the Naismith trophy was so goofy

Rick Barnes, Tennessee. Barnes was all set to leave for UCLA until his buyout—cumong Warde—became an issue. Barnes is 64 and that is well past the age range I'd normally consider viable, but, I mean… look around you. Barnes has significantly repaired his image with a four-year run at UT that's seen them go from 103rd in Kenpom to 57th, 13th, and 10th.

Prior to that he'd been at Texas forever, consistently gathering bids and frustrating fans with an inability to turn regular season success into post-season glory. He had one Final Four, in 2003, and a couple of Elite Eights but hadn't been past the second round since 2008 by the time Texas cut him loose in 2015.

Barnes is apparently willing to leave but extremely expensive. Adding consecutive top 15 Kenpom seasons to his existing resume at a different school is a clear indicator he can still get after it, but for how much longer? The downside risk is that Barnes runs out of gas.

I would neither love it or hate it if Michigan ended up with Barnes. So far there's been zero indicator either side is interested.

Jamie Dixon, TCU. Dixon has a resume eerily similar to Barnes's: a hot start with a ton of regular season success, tourney frustrations, a drop off that still usually garners bids, and then a move at which he's done well. And then UCLA almost hired him. 

In Dixon's case his high point was higher: from 2004 to 2011, Dixon had 5 teams rank in the top 12 on Kenpom. The success at the new stop has been more difficult to come by. He managed a six seed last year but got bounced in the first round; incredibly his first year with the Horned Frogs saw his team ranked 29th in Kenpom while finishing 6-12 in the B12. It's rough out there for mid-tier Big Twelve teams.

Dixon's at his alma mater and that made me think he'd be a tough pull. The UCLA flirtation suggests otherwise. The buyout is obviously a big hurdle. If you're going to spend that much money, Donovan should be in play. Dixon is 53, FWIW.

EMOTIONAL DEVASTATION LEVEL

7.9, Moser retreat and some indication they're looking at Donovan.