November 29th, 2020 at 2:48 AM ^
Yes, all three.
This is Michigan fergodsakes!
November 29th, 2020 at 2:50 AM ^
Is Tom Allen not an option? Success in the division and proven player development. The issue is I think his ceiling might be even lower than Harbaugh's due to lack of recruiting and scheme
Highest ceiling:
1. Hafley
2. Campbell
3. Fickell
4. Allen
Highest Floor:
1. Allen
2. Campbell
3. Fickell
4. Halfey
I guess Campbell is the winner by those metrics?
November 29th, 2020 at 4:07 AM ^
I'm on board with Tom Allen. The problem with Campbell is the same problem with RichRod. He's winning in probably the weakest P5 conference, so you have no way of knowing if that will translate in the Big Ten East. Tom Allen knows the Big Ten East, he will bring Mike Hart with him, which will create stability, and he has strong connections to FL for recruiting.
People want a homerun, but we need to be realistic. This program hasn't been elite for 20 years. It needs stability and gradual improvement, kind of like what Kelly has done at ND on the field (except for the academic integrity / character issues).
November 29th, 2020 at 4:15 AM ^
Seems like the options are to have Allen take over, provide some stability, and then have an heir take the program over the top with a stable program and good recruiting, or hope that Campbell is a home run that won't bolt to the NFL
I guess I like Allen's scenario better, but that is legitimately a 5+ year plan and I doubt the fanbase will have the patience for that
November 29th, 2020 at 4:26 AM ^
Reading Tom Allen's bio and am liking what I see. He has links with Hugh Freeze (Lambuth, Ark. State, Ole Miss) and Chris Creighton (Wabash and Drake). Setting aside the ethical issues with Freeze, you can't deny what he did at Ole Miss and the upsets against Bama, nor can you deny what he's doing now at Liberty. Creighton has made three bowl games at E. Michigan, arguably the hardest job in D1. Although he has a defensive background, I like what his offenses are doing because they can score points. UM would not need a Harbaugh budget to get him, and coupled with a good recruiting coordinator (like bringing Partridge back), could have the makings for much needed stability.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:08 AM ^
Why in gods name would Tom Allen come here? There’s absolutely no way in hell he’d do that. He start laughing before we even offered. Urban Meyer has a better chance of saying yes before him, and that has a zero chance too!
November 29th, 2020 at 8:23 AM ^
there are eight million, minus two million, for a net gain of six million reasons why he would consider coming to Michigan.
Not saying it's a foregone conclusion he would come, but most people would at least take a meeting regarding a 300% raise
November 29th, 2020 at 9:19 AM ^
Why would he want this headache? He can stay at IU and win 8-9 games and be a legend there. They can and will up his pay. If you don’t think coaches aren’t paying attention to our program and the way coaches come here and die, I think we are overrating Michigan’s ability to attract big coaches at this point. Tom Allen would be nice, I admit, I just don’t there is a dollar amount that would convince him to come here. No interest from him imo.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:23 AM ^
Totally wrong. Much harder for Allen at IU (or Campbell at ISU) to keep performing two standard deviations above the mean at IU (or ISU) than you are imagining.
Any HC that significantly over-performs at a place where it is among the hardest to win/recruit in their conference (IU or ISU) MUST accept a blue blood offer when they are a hot name and the offer comes. They cannot wait around for a few years.
If they don't, the difficulty of recruiting at IU and ISU type places will bring them back down to earth and they will not be on short lists for the better jobs anymore.
Way too hard to keep over-performing by two standard deviations above the mean every year at places like IU and ISU. Coaches that get that kind of over-performance have to move to better jobs immediately. No matter how good the coach, that kind of over-performance is impossible to maintain over longer periods.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:15 AM ^
Allen currently makes $3.9M.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
Allen would not get $8M a year. ???
November 29th, 2020 at 1:21 PM ^
I don't know. His teams play too dirty for me. They seem cleaner lately but what they did a few years back (leaping on players while they were on the ground) won't soon leave my memory.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:05 AM ^
What stability does Mike Hart bring??? If anything, he would be a continuance of the Michigan Arrogance. We need to break away from Michigan ties and go in another direction.
Tom Allen is solid choice because of his passion, player development and how his players respond to him. NOT because he has a former Michigan player or two on his staff.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:26 AM ^
1000% on this point. I am happy for Mike Hart that he is clearly establishing a successful coaching career for himself and will continue to root for him.
His presence within the college coaching ranks should have exactly zero impact on who the next Michigan football coach should be.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
Allen is a bad cultural fit for M. He belongs to a religious organization, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, that is actively homophobic, for one thing. He’ll never fly.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
Because if you don't have a little bit of Michigan Arrogance, you have RichRod, and then you're going to complain about not having Michigan Arrogance...
November 29th, 2020 at 4:28 AM ^
Every year or so there is the coach du jour - it's a guy that turns around a smaller schools program, has a pretty good year or 2 and then parleys that into a lucrative power 5 gig.
- PJ Fleck
- James Franklin
- Brian Kelly
- Chad Morris
- Mike Norvell
Are all Coach du Jours. Sometimes they workout like Brian Kelly did eventually, Sometimes, like Norvell and Morris they are disasters.
Each time you go up a rung the competitions gets tougher. There is just no guarantees that a guy can migrate his success from a small school to a big school.
November 29th, 2020 at 7:31 AM ^
How can you can Norvell a disaster after half a season in these circumstances?
November 29th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
True. The hottest name in any given year almost always fails to live up to expectations at the next place. You could add Tom Herman, RRod, Kevin Sumlin, etc., etc., to that list.
Why?
1. They are pretty good coaches, but not as elite as their huge over-performance at [fill in the blank terrible program] suggests. Example: James Franklin hired by PSU from Vanderbilt. Warning: Is this Matt Campbell????
2. They are pretty good coaches, but expectations at the hiring school are exceedingly high, so 9-3 seasons leave fans grumbling, and don't even mention the 7-5 years! Example: Brian Kelly at ND and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan (judged on results pre-2020 disaster season).
3. They were OCs or DCs that looked elite, but a lot of that greatness came from the HC, other staff, recruiting, rival programs being down, etc., not the coordinator alone. Example: Will Muschamp. Warning: Is this Hafley ????
The guys that really end up being the +++ elite HCs are guys that few (except maybe those who are active CFB coaches) would have predicted to be among the truly elite.
Two exceptions: Urban Meyer hired by Florida from of Utah was the hot pick that year and it did work out for Florida. When the 49ers hired Harbaugh from Stanford, JH was a very hot name. It did work out very well for the 49ers.
So Harbaugh ends up being both the rule (Michigan) and the exception (49ers).
November 29th, 2020 at 5:52 AM ^
The division is trash...NO to Allen, at least at this point. Where's Chris Petersen?
November 29th, 2020 at 8:27 AM ^
Retired and long a West Coast guy. He's not looking to leave the West Coast for flyover country closer to the East Coast, nor is he looking to come out of retirement.
Bob Stoops isn't coming out of retirement, either.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:18 AM ^
I really, really don’t understand why people keep saying Fickell...take this year’s Cincy team out, and he is such a mediocre coach.
November 29th, 2020 at 2:57 AM ^
New and fascinating ideas
November 29th, 2020 at 3:01 AM ^
Can someone explain the Hafley love? Looking at his resume and he doesn’t seem that great, though he’s having a solid first season at BC this year.
Not knocking him, but really just wanting to know what I’m missing that everyone else is getting.
November 29th, 2020 at 3:08 AM ^
Good recruiter, OSU ties, NFL experience, young
A lot of people are in agreement that youth and recruiting need to be a priority for the next coach, and Hafley probably fits those specific needs more than any other coach on the market
November 29th, 2020 at 3:45 AM ^
I’d be cool with any of them. Anybody but Harbaugh.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
...until he loses his first game
November 29th, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
Good recruiter undersells him a ton. How about the best recruiter on staff if Michigan hired him right now. Gattis and Moore would be close, but Hafley was one of the best recruiters at OSU and is long thought to be one of the best in the country year in and out.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:59 AM ^
Anybody who can recruit decent players to Ames, Iowa (ever been there?) has proven their recruiting chops.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:17 AM ^
I've lived within 2 hours of there all my life and I've been there maybe 6-7 times.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:33 AM ^
I've been there. It's a college town like many others in this country. There are better ones. I've lived in worse ones. The real problem is getting people outside Iowa to see the state as something other than one big cornfield.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:32 AM ^
I've driven through Iowa. It is one big cornfield!
November 29th, 2020 at 7:10 AM ^
November 29th, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
Young, great recruiter, was considered a really good defensive assistant in the NFL. There’s just as much to like about Hafley as there is any other candidate available right now.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:28 AM ^
Exactly. I had an OSU friend talk to me right after the MSU game saying Michigan should go hire Hafley. Talked about how insane of a recruiter he is, the energy, young, and knows modern football. My friend then went on to say "actually I hope Michigan doesn't hire him because he'd fix it.
I think he's the one you take the gamble on. He has the record of high level recruiting and knows how an elite program is run.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:49 AM ^
Insane a recruiter? He was at OSU for 11 months. He was in the NFL before that for 6 years and before that a secondary coach at Rutgers and Pitt. Here are his recruits:
https://247sports.com/Coach/Jeff-Hafley-563/Recruits/?Recruitment.Year=2020
I just don't get this - I think these OSU guys are blowing smoke - every year one of their recruiters are ranked as one of the best recruiters in the country. Not hard convincing 4 stars to come to OSU.
November 29th, 2020 at 4:31 AM ^
Matt Campbell
November 29th, 2020 at 4:31 AM ^
Matt Campbell
November 29th, 2020 at 6:53 AM ^
I see what you did there...
November 29th, 2020 at 5:34 AM ^
What about Gene Chizik? He’s a proven winner and can recruit the south.
November 29th, 2020 at 6:28 AM ^
Gene Chizik as a "proven winner"
lulz
Minus the 14-0 dream season in 2010 (thanks to Gus Malzahn and Cam Newton), his career record is 24-38.
November 29th, 2020 at 6:27 AM ^
Matt Entz at NDSU should be added to the candidate pool
November 29th, 2020 at 6:31 AM ^
Based on what?
His predecessor Chris Klieman was 69-6 at NDSU and won 4 FCS National Championships in 5 seasons.
Klieman is 12-10 (8-5, 4-5) at Kansas State so far.
So what leads you to believe Klieman's successor Entz will fare any better?
November 29th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
Give Klieman a chance, fer godsakes! Kansas St can charitably be called a lifetime football backwater. It's actually been worse than that for decades. He has them playing decent football. Give the guy chance...
November 29th, 2020 at 9:21 AM ^
Not saying we should or shouldn’t hire Klieman or Entz but comparing us to Kansas State??? Tells you how far we’ve fallen! Under Jim the last 3 years I’ve seen high school teams coached way better!
November 29th, 2020 at 11:04 AM ^
Who compared Michigan to Kansas St? The KSU coach, Chris Klieman, was mentioned as a possible candidate for Michigan's job.
That is not comparing Michigan to Kansas St.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
"Kansas St can charitably be called a lifetime football backwater."
KSU was a legit dumpster fire up until Bill Snyder started coaching there in 1989. He coached a total of 27 seasons in two separate stints, with a total record of 215-117-1.
That includes 14 seasons of 9 victories or more, 8 seasons of double-digit wins, three division titles and two conference titles, and 9 bowl victories, including the one over Michigan.
It's not enough to put KSU among the top echelon of college football programs, but neither was it a backwater during his tenure.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:08 AM ^
Entz ran the defense under Klieman, he went undefeated and won the Championship his first year as head coach .
November 29th, 2020 at 8:31 AM ^
shit he looks like adam sandler too