Footballscoop: Don't Bother Reading This
[Edit] Brian has addressed this post on the main page as well as on Twitter, sounds like most of this report is bunk. I posted it because Scott Roussel is typically pretty reliable, I'm glad it looks like he's at least partly wrong in this instance.
Viva Harbaugh!
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Don't shoot the messenger.
Sources: Michigan “struggling” to find their next head coach http://t.co/nFGYtk4rfF
— FootballScoop Staff (@FootballScoop) December 2, 2014December 2nd, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
Hello: Hat
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
No use in waiting.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
But...he killed twenty three babies, albeit in self-defense.
December 2nd, 2014 at 12:03 PM ^
Captain Hindsight,
I can't vote on comments yet. But if I could, I would up vote as many times as possible.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
John just told Jim that he was leaving Baltimore to come to AA. That is why Jim said he is not a candidate. Right? Right? Say I'm right.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
DING DING DING.... You are right!
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:46 AM ^
Well, I'm not saying you're wrong...
December 2nd, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
let me try and articulate this from someone who is on your side:
because we're scared. All of us are scared. We all know there's one home run and if we don't connect on it, we might strike out. That is a terrifying thought. But then there's Les... look, even the people who say they think he's a better coach than Harbaugh are probably trying to convince themselves more than anything. But if you're scared about the direction things are going... isn't it comforting to think that there's still one guy, one guy with that shiny national championship ring (sure it's coming up on being 8 years old but still!), one guy with that .800 SEC winning percentage (sure he's been surpassed in his own division by Alabama and Auburn on the field, but still!), a coach with those big recruiting stats (sure almost all of them come from Louisiana and adjacent states, but still!), one coach out there who still thinks Michigan is a prize and who we would actually be lauded for hiring?
The problem with that thinking is that it blinds you to a number of legitimate questions about Les: why don't LSU fans want him anymore? Why are we hiring a guy who is nearing reitrement age? Why are we so eager to overlook his truly despicable actions re: oversigning (and no, don't tell me Meyer adjusted because Meyer never oversigned)?
I think many here are in love with the idea of Les more than Les himself and that if he were to come they'd be stunned by both the reaction from other fanbases and the reality of the man.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:31 AM ^
I'm always a bit taken aback when a guy says before receiving an offer that he is not a candidate for a job. If UM decides to pony-up $25 million per year for a coach, I have a hard time believing that even Bill Belichik wouldn't be interested. My point being that everyone has a price. That's not to say that we will make a big enough offer to pry Harbaugh from the NFL, but I don't think there is anyone who is "not a candidate."
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
There comes a point where money isn't really a deciding factor... when you're already a millionaire, taking a job you don't want to go from rich to slightly more rich isn't appealing. If he wants to coach in the NFL, he's not going to consider coaching in college regardless of how much money we throw at him.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^
I'll ask the obvious: does FootballScoop have any credibility?
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
Sadly in this case, yes. Unless this is an elaborate and well-executed smokescreen (which, what about our AD would make you think they could pull that off?), this is probably the most solid intel about the CC released thus far.
I'll be very happy if this turns out to be wrong, obviously.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
No smokescreen theory here. I just wasn't that aware of them. I appreciate some context for this, although it's definitely a downer.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^
Is your view based upon the previous track record from Football Scoop or something else? I've never heard of this site before.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
I've been following this guy for a year or two now, and he nails just about every coaching search. He's very plugged in to the coaching community.
With that being said, we're privleged to have several well-paced voices in the Michigan community... Webb, Bacon, and Brian to name just three usually have a very good idea of what's going on. So since these reports seem to be contradictory it's hard to tell whose sources are correct at this point...
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
I've heard that it's a pretty credible site, but they were also the same people that were saying Oklahoma's AD was coming to Michigan as well.
They may still be right about that, but it doesn't appear to be happening.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^
And the website sure doesn't inspire confidence
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^
Read linked (very long and detailed) Bruce Feldman article and judge for yourself. I must warn and concede, anyone who responds to my post with "TL;DR" would be justified.
I don't think I'm going out on a limb by stating you're generally a questionable character if your own brother has sued you in the past 4 years.
From the article:
Neither brother wants to go into exactly how things got so nasty. It didn't help that they never had an operating agreement in place, Pete says. He filed a lawsuit against his brother for a percentage of the business, and is still pursuing the suit. "We've had some differences to say the least," says the younger Roussel. "I'll never talk to this guy again in my life."
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
Butch Jones? He's never been a viable candidate. Why would he leave in the middle of his reclamation project for another one?
He's got Tennessee pointed in the right direction - I think they'd make it worth his while to stay in Knoxville, if any other suitors came calling.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:16 AM ^
If he was offered the job, Butch Jones would come here in an instant.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
If you read that article, you'll see that Butch Jones has also said he's not a candidate.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
That's why I said the article is BS.
A lot of former Carr players have been pushing for Jones recently and he would definitely take the job. I really hope Hackett doesn't end up hiring a coach on the recommendation of the Lloyd Loyalists. That's how we ended up with Hoke.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:20 AM ^
If you read that article, you'll see that Butch Jones has also said he's not a candidate.
December 2nd, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^
Butch Jones makes nearly $5 million a year at a school that has all of the same resources we do and where the fans are being surprisingly patient with his rebuild. I don't think he's that much of a lock at all, if we offered him the job we'd probably have to severely overpay.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:26 AM ^
I'm not sure they have any "scoop" on anything. They were the place that was reporting that Michigan wanted the AD hired by the OSU game, and that Oklahoma's AD would be a prime candidate, that most of the obvious choices had been contacted, etc. So far, none of that information has proven to be correct or confirmed by anyone else.
I check their site for tidbits on all of this stuff (not just M-related) and I'm starting to be down on their "expertise". They didn't scoop anything about Muschamp, Pelini, or any of the new hires. I'm not sure they have a whole lot of inside information, and I doubt they have access to anyone inside Michigan or Harbaugh's inner trust.
Besides, the Butch Jones "nugget" in this piece is just him trying to confirm his earlier report that Michigan would be very interested in Butch Jones, but that his feeling was that Jones would stay at Tennessee if approached. Seems convenient that no one else has mentioned Jones at all, and now FS reports that he was contacted and declined?
December 2nd, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
everything in this report strikes me as highly logical and likely:
A. lack of interest from Harbaugh, or maybe Harbaugh having recently cooled on the idea
B. Butch Jones as plan B, confirming both a Rivals story from some time ago and my own suspicion that his prior relationship with DeBord would make him a top candidate
C. Hackett, the outsider, pushing his ex-teammate Les
D. DeBord being hostile toward the idea
E. the fear among insiders that Les is more interested in using Michigan than actually working here, which is oft expressed by many even here
all of this rings extremely true to me
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^
Do we know how credible Scott Roussell is?
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
From what I have seen, he seems pretty much on top of the game. However, in this circumstance, I feel his sources are contradicted what has been said from our sources even closer to the program. This will be a crazy few weeks in the Michigan world. Look forward to getting no work done and numerous hours refreshing this page.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:23 AM ^
Consider also that Roussel also had a source that was pretty sure we would have an AD lined up by the end of last month, but then a short time later, another "source" was telling him that Hackett told the Regents he was prepared to stay long term if it came to that. That latter one is something I don't think has been independently confirmed either. Either the Michigan athletic department is literally lost in a fog of its own making or the sources really don't know much more than we do.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:03 AM ^
Very questionable source with information that conflicts with everything we've heard so far...hmmm color me skeptical
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
what exactly have we heard so far? sure, this is speculation but so has everything else up to this point
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:09 AM ^
They've all heard from people who know Harbaugh that he'd be interested. Sam even said "strongly, strongly" interested.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
No this is exactly like the last time around. Michigan insiders were saying harbaugh was a chance and every national reporter was saying lol no Harbaugh wants to be in the NFL. The same thing is happening this time around. JUB Sam Webb and Brian have connections with people inside of Michigan but no connections to Harbuagh and it's not like the conversations with Harbaugh are going to work their way around.
Harbaugh is not coming here. I would love to be wrong but literally everything outside of a few reporters pandering to a deluded michigan fanbase says there is no chance.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
...it's almost certainly incorrect to say those three have no connections to Harbaugh. They all three presumably know people who know Harbaugh. We know that JUB knows Jaime Morris, for example.
December 2nd, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
Sam Web has talked to a source closed to Harbaugh, sounds like his friend or agnent. He mentioned that a few times in the past.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:35 AM ^
We have yet to hear recently from Brian at all about this coaching search...I take that to mean that there is nothing coming out of Fort Schembechler or he will have a post up soon. Sure hope it is the later.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
of a questionable source.
You can take what Roussell says to the bank
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:13 AM ^
it jives on everything that I've heard. NFL and Michigan sources have conflicting information, but I feel that Michigan sources are hopeful that he'll come to Michigan.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
What have we heard that IS credible to this point? The only thing we know for sure is there is a meeting between Hackett and Hoke in 45 minutes. Other than that we don't have a single fact from the last few days. I like it a lot better this way honestly than the mess we followed with Brandon's search.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
damn messenger
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
This may have more to do with ice cream than journalism.
Nevertheless, putting all your eggs in the Harbaugh basket is likely to lead to inevitable disappointment (although I'm hoping for shocked surprise).
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
Also - Butch Jones is the 2nd call by Hackett after Harbaugh?
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
Because the alternative is too dismal for me to contemplate today.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
It is our understanding from sources at Michigan that there is significant disagreement within the building in Ann Arbor regarding the potential candidacy of Les Miles. Hackett very much considers Les a friend and a candidate he would like to pursue. Others in the department do not believe this is in the best interests of Michigan
Three guesses as to the identity of the ringleader of these "others." Instead of dying a hero, Lloyd Carr appears to have lived long enough to see himself become the villain.
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:08 AM ^
Damn. Les really must have done "that" thing. Why else would some people hate him so much?
lolololol
December 2nd, 2014 at 11:11 AM ^