November 29th, 2020 at 2:41 AM ^
Fickell isn’t gonna happen. 1. He’s really happy at Cincy and will probably wait out OSU and Day to bolt. 2. Warde pretty much said he won’t hire a Buckeye.
Matt Campbell seems to be tops of the list, especially after beating OU, Texas, and earning a spot in the Big 12 CG.
Personally I think 2 years into the Matt Campbell era the people bitching about Jim Harbaugh will be bitching about the same things with the Matt Campbell regime.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:04 AM ^
There will always be a group of people bitching. This is the problem with the Michigan Arrogance. Every fan thinks they know what is best, usually based on what they read on a coach's Wikipedia page.
You may as well buy up domains firemattcampbell.com, firelukefickell.com, firejeffhafley.com and then be ready to sell them for a markup and consider it an investment because as soon as they lose a single game someone will be out for blood.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:12 AM ^
News flash.....that is true of every fan base.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:40 AM ^
Many fanbases complain. There is no fanbase, or at least very few, that will over analyze every little nuance of a coach, to the extent of being upset that he speaks with a southern accent, has hundreds of phone calls a month to a number that turns out later to be his voice-mail, or because his office assistant shredded a bunch of sensitive files after he left his last coaching job (or he called a recruit to tell him he was taking a job before telling his team.)
People looked at Harbaugh's resume and complained he hadn't "won championships" (which he had).
No matter who is hired people in our pseudointellectual fanbase will be mad that the coach didn't check off every last one of a hundred imaginary boxes, as if any great coaching hire has ever done that in the past.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:01 AM ^
I don't really remember anyone saying we shouldn't have hired Harbaugh even back in 2011 because he hadn't won a conference championship.
That's what makes the criteria from so many on here so strange.
I do remember people in 2014 saying we shouldn't hire Dan Mullen because he "hadn't done that much" at Mississippi State.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:28 AM ^
Let me put it this way. When the news about Bo came out a few months ago, there was a vibe on Twitter that "we should have known that Bo Schembechler was a trash human being because he was a card carrying Republican." And one tweet in particular with almost those exact words verbatim was "liked" by a certain front page writer on this blog. So nowadays, with social media and everything that goes with it, we can expect there to always be ridiculous criticisms of any coach.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
Wow, could never guess which one it was that liked said tweet ?
November 29th, 2020 at 3:06 PM ^
Probably all of the staff.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:45 AM ^
Don't forget criticizing his wife's hair style.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:20 AM ^
Again, this is true of every blue blood fanbase. They’re all nuts.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:25 PM ^
Then why not just keep Harbaugh and everyone stop complaining ...
November 29th, 2020 at 10:06 AM ^
This is the problem with the Michigan Arrogance.
The reality is we look at our biggest rival down south as our measuring stick and UM fans will never be happy until we measure up. We all want what they. have. We have the same, if not more resources, so we don't understand why we can't have it. But, we don't have the same culture. Regardless, until someone can walk in the way Tressel/Meyer/Day have and turn us from whatever we are now to where OSU is now when they moved on from Cooper, UM fans will be up in arms. Fair or not, right or wrong, this is the expectation. It's do-able, but also highly unlikely, for several reasons and built-in advantages that OSU possesses over UM that have become more readily apparent once they started taking advantage of them in modern day football.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:53 AM ^
Other than the higher amount of in-state talent, what advantages does OSU inherently have over UM?
November 29th, 2020 at 11:31 AM ^
I respect your opinion and I don't think you are wrong. But I would like to amend your thought about the true spirit of Michigan Arrogance™. It's not so much that we want what they have down south. But we want those down south to envy what we have. Our expectation is for them to live up to their inferiority tradition of gold pants. The insecurity that we can snipe any athlete from Ohio and make them all americans. That is the true expectation.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:57 PM ^
John Cooper was the winningest B1G coach of the 90s (look it up), won 3 B1G titles, a Rose Bowl, had uber-talented teams, and had two national runners-up (96 & 98)... and although he couldn't often beat *ichigan, at least he won that game twice (plus a tie) in 13 tries. That's a helluva lot better than the shit show that Harbaugh has presided over.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
This is the problem with the Michigan Arrogance.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:10 AM ^
If we keep losing to OSU damn right I'll bitch.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:19 AM ^
Fickell almost went to MSU, but got last minute jitters. If he’s willing to leave UC for them, he’d leave for us.
I have never heard Warde say that he wouldn’t hire a buckeye and obviously, there is a lot of history with coaches going from one school to the next.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:01 AM ^
I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't care for Fickell. He is the only OSU coach to lose to us in the last 17 years and he has the benefit of playing in the AAC. Other AAC coaches that have gotten power 5 jobs haven't done much either. I think Matt Campbell would be a good hire, who has shown the ability to do more with less.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
That was 9 years ago and he was an interim head coach in the middle of a scandal who’s team had multiple starters opt out of the season including their star QB... he was playing with a true freshman QB. You’re really going to hold that against him as evidence of his coaching ability? As for Fickell coaching in the AAC, Meyer’s first two gigs were in the MAC and Mountain West, Saban first HC job was in the MAC, Ohio State hired a guy named Jim Tressel from the FCS, etc...
November 29th, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
Fickell's record is solid, not great. Compare to other coaches that have been at Cincinnati and I can only conclude that Fickell is NOT a big time coach.
Who knows, but coordinators, assistants, and recruiting could all come together in that magic combination. Fickell might be the guy.
I did say that Hoke would be the next Michigan HC in October before he was hired because he was the best coach that would take the job. You can offer anyone, but will they take the position?
November 29th, 2020 at 10:46 AM ^
You are absolutely correct! BTW, $$$ talks, BS walks.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:26 PM ^
Nope. Ohio State doesn't hate MSU. Ohio State DOES hate *ichigan... like poison, and Fickell is as Ohio State as Ohio State gets. There is zero comparison between MSU and *ichigan for OSU... one is Satan, while the other is now a better program, but not worth hating.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:52 AM ^
If Warde would never hire a Buckeye it shows how stupidly arrogant we are.
Bo was a Buckeye before we hired him.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:21 AM ^
It's a stretch to call Bo a Buckeye. He coached for Hayes at OSU, yes, but that doesn't make you a Buckeye. It makes you a former employee. He played for Hayes at Miami (OH).
November 29th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
Hypothetically a couple years ago lets say the Lions hire away Harbaugh and we then hired OSU coordinator Day...he never played at OSU. You don't think the perception is that we hired a Buckeye?
Bo spent 6 seasons at OSU (1952 and 1958-1962 seasons).
November 29th, 2020 at 8:35 AM ^
If he had then ended up with half the career at Michigan that Bo had, nobody would ever call him a 'Buckeye' again.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:39 AM ^
Of course.
But that is looking forward with time. At the time of hiring Bo he was not a "Michigan Man," but rather someone with close connections to OSU's head coach and had spent 6 seasons as a Buckeye.
If hypothetically we had hired Day 2 years ago, we would have hired a Buckeye, that later became a Wolverine.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:52 AM ^
I don't disagree here...
However, there was no such thing as a 'Michigan Man' when Bo was hired. In fact, there was no such thing as a 'Michigan Man' until March 1989 - when Bill Frieder decided to go to coach Arizona basketball the following year. Bo fired him on the spot, and said a 'Michigan Man' would coach Michigan in the tournament. Meaning that coach still employed, and still invested in Michigan's success, would coach the Michigan team. It had nothing - NOTHING, ZERO, ZILCH - to do with anything else.
I'm not saying you're included in the group of dimwits that put other meaning into it. But those dimwits are asshole dimwits.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
You’re correct and also not. Fielding Yost, at his retirement as Michigan’s AD in 1942, is believed to be the first to use the phrase “Michigan men:”
But do let me reiterate the spirit of Michigan. It is based upon a deathless loyalty to Michigan and all her ways; an enthusiasm that makes it second nature for Michigan men to spread the gospel of their university to the world's distant outposts; a conviction that nowhere is there a better university, in any way, than this Michigan of ours.
Bo used it in the context you described above. And to your point, it has taken on this mythical status that was never intended by those to whom it is credited.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
True on Bo. But Gary Moeller was a buckeye.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:37 AM ^
Well, yeah, I guess you could call a 3-year letter winner at linebacker, starter, and team captain for Woody fucking Hayes a Buckeye... That seems fair!
November 29th, 2020 at 9:15 AM ^
You mean except for his OSU master's degree and the gold pants he kept for beating Michigan as a coach, right?
November 29th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
Are we really going to classify every coach with a longstanding or personally significant relationship to OSU a Buckeye?
/s
November 29th, 2020 at 8:20 AM ^
I am not endorsing a Fickell hire, but I don't buy that "he is too happy at Cincinnati to come to Michigan" talk.
Fickell makes $3.4 million a year at Cincinnati. Jim makes $7.8 million a year right now. You are telling me that if we offered to double Fickell's salary he wouldn't jump when he nearly jumped to MSU for a lot less?
November 29th, 2020 at 9:26 AM ^
If we paid Fickell what we pay Harbaugh people would be pissed. When we hired Harbaugh he had a much better resume.
I don’t know why people think that Fickell is a brilliant coach. He has been recruiting pretty well by mostly pulling in the scraps OSU doesn’t want. I’m pretty sure OSU coaches have been steering these guys to him.
Fickell’s recruiting has largely come at the expense of Kentucky, Louisville, and B1G teams ( especially MSU). If he came here, he would not bring in the top athletes in Ohio unless he immediately started beating OSU. He’s having a good season, but unlike Brian Kelly’s time at Cinci, he’s not punching way above his weight with scheme and coaching. He’s doing an okay job with those things, but he’s out-recruiting his opponents using tactics that probably would not translate to Michigan.
Harbaugh didn’t work out, but when he was hired he was clearly worth the money. He could walk into a recruit’s house and say and instantly be recognized as the guy who had just coached a team in the Super Bowl.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
His recruiting is better than Matt Campbell. Furthermore he would be able to recruit better talent to Michigan than he gets at Cincinnati. He has done it for a while now and isn’t a flash in the pan. He already has ties to fertile recruiting ground and an insight to the program that is at the top of the conference. He has 30 wins in the past 3 years(with some games left this season), Brian Kelly had 33 his last 3 seasons with the Bearcats. So he practically is performing at the level Kelly did.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:51 PM ^
Iowa State had historically been one of the worst, if not the worst, P5 school until Campbell arrived. He’s got more wins over playoffs teams than Harbaugh or Fickell or Ryan Day for that matter. OU is the best program in the Big XII and he’s what 2-2 against them?
November 29th, 2020 at 10:17 AM ^
"I’m pretty sure OSU coaches have been steering these guys to him." And you know this how? When you work under Urban Meyer, I firmly believe recruiting becomes priority 1, 2, and 3 to you.
Fickell is 30-5 since his first season at Cincinnati which is right about on the mark with Kelly's record. Kelly played in a down, but tougher Big East than where Cincinnati currently plays (although in theory it would be easier to recruit to) and I agree with those who think it's easier to win at Cincinnati than most Power 5 schools.
That being said, whatever the ceiling at Cincinnati is, he's probably pretty damn close to it right now. He should absolutely be on a short list of potential candidates.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:05 AM ^
Matt Campbell can’t run a two minute offense?
November 29th, 2020 at 9:24 AM ^
Warde said he won't hire a Buckeye ? All 3 have some kind of Buckeye ties. Hafley was DC at OSU a couple of years ago, Fickell is Scarlet and Gray 100%, and Campbell is a Massillon native.
I think our best shot is Hafley.who is from the East coast and doesn't dream and bleed OSU. Campbell is the hottest name out there right now with Fickell just a step behind. It's well known that both salivate thinking of being the next OSU coach.
Hafley could end up being a homerun hire. Maybe not the big name like the other two but I also remember laughing my ass off when OSU hired some unknown from Youngstown State back in 2000. I joked "who is this Tressel clown." You just never know. Just stay away from the "Michigan Man" BS
November 29th, 2020 at 10:58 AM ^
Throw $6 M at Venables! He's only making $2 M + incentives.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:00 AM ^
Not only is it not “well-known,” there is literally zero evidence that you can produce that Matt Campbell “salivates” at the idea of being the OSU coach.
Some people were speculating that OSU might be interested in Campbell when it became clear that Meyer might step fown after 2018, but that’s a far cry from Campbell himself “salivating” over the job.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:46 AM ^
Whoever is hired to replace Harbaugh, if he can get the Michigan recruiting machine humming and actually coach up, develop, and properly utilize (as well as retain) the talent he has, I would expect that we consistently win a minimum of 10 games with 11 games more often than not. This would imply that we rarely lose to a B1G team not named Ohio State and we win more bowl games than we lose.
Considering Harbaugh was already able to out recruit the whole conference sans OSU (95% of the time) than I don’t see why a coach who can actually use and retain said talent couldn’t also do this.
If the only team we’re losing to is OSU 4/5 seasons than the complaints will DRASTICALLY reduce. And to be honest, I could live with that type of a program. OSU is a monster of a challenge and you can’t just walk into a program like Michigan and magically equate to OSU on day 1...but, when your predecessor was already out-recruiting the entire rest of the conference, you don’t have many excuses to lose to teams with less talent than you. THAT, imho, is what sunk the SS Harbaugh. It’s one thing to get whooped by Ohio State, especially in their current status. It’s an entirely different animal to get beat and embarrassed by unbelievably lesser programs and teams, especially ones that are rivals, or to go to a bowl game and (once again) have the team look like unprepared shit.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
I really don't understand why people want to hire Matt Campbell. He did fine at Toledo, and fine at Iowa State, and that's it. It's not as though he had either program preforming well above their historical performance. And watching him coach Toledo, I do not remember thinking to myself "wow, that's a well coached team."
This is like with Hoke, where the record wasn't remotely there, but people talked themselves into it being a good resume.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:28 AM ^
"It's not as though he had either program preforming well above their historical performance." I don't know enough about Toledo. The statement about Iowa State however is blatantly false. Other than Matt Campbell, one coach has left Iowa State with a winning record since the first World War: Earle Bruce. Campbell is the only coach to have 4 straight winning conference records in the history of the school (and the first with 4 straight winning seasons in the last 100 years). ISU will play for its first conference title since 1912. This is pretty clearly the golden age of Cyclone football and to say Iowa State isn't playing well above their historical performance is just ignorant.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:35 AM ^
WTF...don't say things that are blatantly untrue. He's beaten Oklahoma multiple times, has more top ten wins at IOWA STATE than Harbaugh has here, and has already clinched a spot in the Big XII title game.
Apparently that's not above their historical performance...JFC.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:18 AM ^
Facts. Learn to use them.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:18 PM ^
I don't really get the Fickell hype. In his one P5 year he made OSU look as bad as they've looked in decades. Being good at a G5 school is good, but by no means predictive of P5 success. Obviously Cincinnati has a decent history with Dantonio and Brian Kelly coming through there, but you can lots of coaches who were G5 all stars only to get a big gig and flop (Sumlin, Herman, most MAC coaches hired by Big Ten schools, etc) and Cincinnati is one of the easier G5 gigs to be good at because of the lack of a clear #2 school behind OSU in that area
I'd much rather go after Campbell who is clearly performing above historical average in Ames
November 29th, 2020 at 7:37 PM ^
The dude got thrust into a situation at OSU where the best players on his team were kicked off halfway through the offseason...would say that’s a great barometer of what he could do at a Power 5 school