Harbaugh pushing for Clink and Elston per Sam Webb
https://x.com/samwebb77/status/1754613068133191948?s=61
I have thoughts on this, but I am going to calm myself down before I give them.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:14 PM ^
The idea of Brian Kelly as Michigan coach is laughable. And Lane Kiffin very clearly would definitely not be a fit at Michigan.
if the alternative had been someone like DeBoer or Lanning it’s a different conversation. But there were no home run or obvious alternatives out there.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:23 PM ^
Jedd Fisch wouldve left Washington if called upon. I am almost sure of it. I wanted Moore and the bulk of the coaching staff and that D returning. I didnt want Moore and some NFL guys weve never heard of with the old "they dont care much for recruiting" bullshit. I put this on Warde because you know he is going to fucking cheap out as always and some on Harbaugh for gutting Moore's staff (if this actually happens).
February 5th, 2024 at 6:26 PM ^
Leipold is a fantastic coach. Fisch seems to be cooking, too. I can name many more with much more proven backgrounds than Moore. It was not Deboer/Lanning or bust. That thinking is very wrong.
You hired Moore mainly for stability and I totally understood that. Who doesn't want to keep the train rolling as near to identically as possible off of a National Championship team? He retains as much of the players and staff as possible, unlike a new hire. The trade off you'd make for getting a more proven coach was high numbered and/or highly damaging turnover. Moore was hired to mitigate that and early returns are not great.
There has already been quite a bit of smoke around 4 guys that Michigan cannot afford to lose and remain competitive at the position. All 4 of those guys would be directly impacted by Elston and Clink leaving, making a potential move much more likely for all of them.
So, if you were going to suffer massive change anyway...why not hire a proven coach? That's the issue. I agreed with Moore so it would be a quick and easy transition. I would not have agreed if I knew he'd have to hire an entirely new staff and possibly lose the a few of the best players on defense. If that was gonna happen, go hire a proven HC.
February 5th, 2024 at 7:56 PM ^
I actually agree with pretty much all that, Way Off. I don't think you're way off at all...
If we were gonna suffer transition costs anyway, I'd have advocated for actually making a transition. I'd have been 100% on board with Jedd.
Quite honestly, Leipold is my age, and that's too old for this new wacked out NIL/portal era!
February 5th, 2024 at 11:16 PM ^
Fisch was never going to turn around and immediately leave Washington. And we’re basing this off one year of success at Arizona. That’s not a track record.
Meanwhile someone like Leopold has never coached at an elite program or demonstrated that he could recruit at the level you need to at a place like Michigan.
February 5th, 2024 at 8:27 PM ^
Dude it’s gonna happen
February 5th, 2024 at 4:47 PM ^
Jim, thank you for the past three years! Now fuck right off.
February 5th, 2024 at 4:49 PM ^
if true, that would be very disappointing behavior
February 5th, 2024 at 4:50 PM ^
It's JH job to improve the Chargers. If you think he was just gonna leave all the good coaches he personally hired at UM for everyone else to benefit from your nuts.
Question is can UM make a compelling enough case to keep these guys with other options
February 5th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
He doesn’t have to go back to Michigan for most of his staff. There are plenty of high quality guys at the next level to chose from.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:05 PM ^
Yeah, honestly, this is not what he did when he left Stanford? If I were a Chargers fan, I would be a little bit concerned about my team, hiring a bunch of college assistants while the pro talent starts getting away
February 5th, 2024 at 6:00 PM ^
I mean, he did take Greg Roman, Vic Fangio, and Tim Drevno from his Stanford staff to the 49ers
February 5th, 2024 at 5:07 PM ^
Unless of course he disagrees with you and happens to think Clink or Elston are in fact the best guys available which certainly seems plausible. Also he's a hyper competitive maniac who likes having people he trust so yeah... This seems like exactly what should be expected.
UM can either compete for the very best ($$$) or they're gonna get raided. Just like in the Serengeti
February 5th, 2024 at 5:10 PM ^
There are many places to find capable coaches. Raiding your previous stop for a majority of your cosches this late in the hiring is unscrupulous, Gordon Gekko shit.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:21 PM ^
Jim doesn't seem like a guy who wants "capable".
February 5th, 2024 at 5:35 PM ^
Which is why he going after guys who have never coached in the NFL.🤨
February 5th, 2024 at 5:44 PM ^
Same reason he paid an insane amount of $ for a strength coach when no one in the NFL does that.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:16 PM ^
Why do you assume the issue is that we aren’t paying them when Sam is suggesting the problem is but they both feel they deserve to be DC?
Like if Sherrone wants to fuck around talking to the worst NFL DC with a two-year showcause instead of considering an internal promotion on defense, maybe that’s not on Warde?
February 5th, 2024 at 5:21 PM ^
Seems pretty clear that all things considered you'd rather be in the NFL than NCAAF given the nightmare that is NIL, transfers, etc. So you're gonna have to pay when a guy has options and given Wardes stance on NIL, reluctance to pay Herbert and slow playing Jim's final offer I don't think Wardes caught on to the new reality.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:18 PM ^
... for everyone else to benefit from your nuts.
Actually, at my age, I'm not sure how much benefit there would be.
February 5th, 2024 at 4:51 PM ^
Screwing over your handpicked successor -- who will be facing immense pressure to win quickly to prove he's ready for a blueblood HC job -- is a hell of a decision.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:13 PM ^
I've been as supportive of Jim as one could be but it's starting to come off as a vendetta more than building the best staff he can for his new team. If Webb is saying they're being heavily pursued and "gone unless something changes quick", they're gone.
It's The NFL, Jim. Call any DB coach or DL coach in CFB and they'll take the job. Call many NFL position coaches and they'll take the job if you offer just a bit more money.
Frankly, if the point of the Moore hire was continuity and stability of the good thing you have going...and you still got none of that after hiring him...what was the point of avoiding a national HC search? I liked the Moore hire for continuity purposes and never pretended he was the best HC Michigan could hire even that late in the schedule/process. It was a young guy who maybe could be very good but we'd almost certainly have to accept some growing pains alleviated a bit by a team that retained most coaches and key players from a NC winning squad. If everything changes anyway, what was the point?
And Warde being a fucking stooge goes without saying. Absolutely punked by Jim and maybe deservedly so based on word of their relationship.
February 5th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
We should let Jim Stapleton make all the coaching hires.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:13 PM ^
I'm sure Ron English is waiting by the phone.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:56 PM ^
Beat me to it. Stapleton's guy:
https://gocards.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/ron-english/2441
If nothing else, he'll bring some style:
Picture story: https://www.si.com/college/florida/recruiting/florida-gators-football-ron-english-2021-recruiting-class-photo
Ron and Jim will push for this guy:
https://bgsufalcons.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/steve-morrison/2164
Maybe this guy, too:
https://bgsufalcons.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/erik-campbell/2160
There are some dots that need connecting.
No more U(M)anon posts for this evening. :)
February 5th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
It is not the job of the departed coach to retain the staff on behalf of his former employer.
That would be Warde's job, and so far he has shit the bed.
February 5th, 2024 at 4:56 PM ^
He doesn’t need to go after them. He is willfully making Moore’s job that much more difficult.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:25 PM ^
What if they want to go? Maybe Moore doesn't want a first time play caller as DC which is probably the right decision. I mean, we don't know shit and should probably stop acting like JH is making people go to the NFL with him.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:37 PM ^
Clink has as much experience calling a defense as Joe Cullen does.
I’d much rather have Clink than the Cullen based on recruiting alone.
February 5th, 2024 at 7:36 PM ^
Bingo!
February 5th, 2024 at 8:28 PM ^
Clinks a good recruiter?
February 5th, 2024 at 5:01 PM ^
Sorry everyone, but this is how life works. He knows their work better than other potential candidates because he worked alongside them. Thus, he is going to offer jobs to anyone who he believes can deliver whether they are from UM or not. Period. If we expected different because of Harbaugh's loyalty to UM, then that is on us--not him.
Yes, it could impact player retention during the next transfer portal period. But how likely were those players to stay anyhow?
It is Moore's job to be just as good at talent identification when hiring. We just got to work our way through it. Sky is not falling.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:04 PM ^
They were likely to stay if their position coaches stayed.
Harbaugh does not need to take these two. Most coaches who leave for new jobs don’t. Harbaugh is a backstabbing dick.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:36 PM ^
I've always respected you as a poster Sal, but it seems like you're into your feelings too much on this one. You have to step out of your allegiance to U of M for second and not take this so personally. Harbaugh is trying to win a SB and he owes it to his current employer to assemble the best staff possible. He's not personally trying to tank the Michigan program. He's simply trying to hire coaches that have worked in concert with Minter to achieve the best possible results. Moore can attempt to retain these guys. Michigan hired Moore with full confidence he can handle all HC responsibilities that come with the territory. It would already be admitting that the Moore hire was a mistake if you don't have trust in him to make his own way.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:49 PM ^
I think we should look beyond whether Jim is being "fair" or "vindictive" or "just trying to put together the best staff he can" takes.
If Jim honestly thinks the absolute best staff he can put together for his new nfl team to try to win a super bowl is just pilfer his old job for that staff, then he's actually being lazy & totally arrogant.
Totally arrogant would probably fit most all of our opinions of him, even those that love him. But lazy?! That's kinda shocking to me.
But honestly, it's pretty lazy to try to just keep your college staff together as you move back to the league. Especially taking guys with little to no experience working in the NFL. Name any other coach ever who did this. Anyone?
February 5th, 2024 at 5:56 PM ^
Harbaugh hired a former NFL guy in Minter for his DC. He then is trying to lure a DL coach and Secondary coach who spent 2 years repping Minter's scheme. Nothing lazy about it and makes perfect sense. He has other competitors for this scheme in Seattle and Baltimore. Minter, Clink and Elston obviously work well together and we've seen the results.
February 5th, 2024 at 8:07 PM ^
2121, Minter, Clink & Elston worked well together in college! Guys who've been strictly college coaches have no idea about the difference in coaching Mikeys vs coaching Mack's!
Pros have wives, children, mortgages, usually girlfriends too - serious adult shit to deal with outside of work.
I'm not saying they can't excel in the NFL - just saying I wouldn't just assume I can transport the entire Michigan experience to the 3rd most popular team in LA & recreate the old Maize & Blue magic (sorry UCLA).
EDIT: I WILL say I had already predicted JH will draft Corum & Sainristil to try to bring some of his Most Trusted Agents with him. Maybe he'll draft even more of our guys than that? Maybe he will try to transport the entire package to LA?! 🤔🤷♂️
February 5th, 2024 at 6:18 PM ^
Urban Meyer?
February 5th, 2024 at 5:54 PM ^
seems like you're into your feelings too much on this one
That is putting it way too kindly. This post less so but Sal’s OP and especially subsequent posts about Clint Hurtt was next level type shit!
February 5th, 2024 at 5:42 PM ^
When did you start channeling Warde Manuel?
Harbaugh hired these guys. He knows their work. It's not surprising at all that he's interested in them. It's up to us to give them a reason to stay.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:09 PM ^
The whole “pffft those who stay” line doesn’t really work in the age of penalty, free transfers and NIL dawg
February 5th, 2024 at 7:02 PM ^
Exactly. We are not talking about STUDENT-athletes anymore. It appears that the football players will soon be employees. I might be a bigger fan then ever in a few years but I am suspicious that my interest in college football will wane.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:05 PM ^
It seems funny that we heard nothing about Harbaugh's interest in Clink and Elston and now suddenly we do.
Harbaugh has so many people to pick from. Why suddenly the interest?
February 5th, 2024 at 5:20 PM ^
Maybe they weren't his first choice but then again given how little has been reported about those 2 coaches there's probably a lot of jockeying going on. Everyone should be expected to cash in coming off the best season in a generation.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:41 PM ^
I mean his interest in Elston in particular has been nothing new. It’s been out there this whole time.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:09 PM ^
It's not new -- especially Elston. The insider talk from the start was that he wanted Minter, Herbert, Elston, and Abigail. Campbell, Newsome, and Clink were mentioned, but not as strongly as the rest. It makes sense that he'd go after Herbert/Minter/Abigail first, and wouldn't be able to go after defensive staff until Minter was officially hired. Now it's happening.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:08 PM ^
The guy who knows his time is running short to win a Super Bowl wants the coaches who helped him win a National Championship? This should not be shocking to anyone.
February 5th, 2024 at 5:55 PM ^
Wait - Jim's "time is running short to win a SB" after signing a ~10-year contract for over $100mil and hasn't even held his 1st practice yet?!
Wow! You would one tough owner to work for in the NFL there, drunk!
February 5th, 2024 at 6:21 PM ^
He signed for 5/$80M
February 5th, 2024 at 8:16 PM ^
Oh ok, 5 years only? I guess he better just take Michigan's whole staff then!
Times a tickin...