If he leaves, who?
I'm prepared for all the downvotes. I've been a top 0.5% Harbaugh backer on this site all along, especially in the dark ages of 2020 when he was being maligned by essentially everyone.
If Coach leaves for the Raiders, the Bears or whomever, who would we accept as our next coach?
Once I get over my crippling sadness and anger towards UM, I suppose I could learn to accept Luke Fickell. I like the idea of having the sole criteria be a focus on beating OSU and think he would provide that.
Here's hoping JH stays because I think he would finish his career as the best coach in Michigan history and an all time legend. But what if he leaves?
January 20th, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
Notre Dame may well be the absolute worst P5 school in terms of hiring head coaches. Following their example is something that should give every Michigan fan pause.
January 20th, 2022 at 11:24 AM ^
I never understood this take. Does no one remember Lloyd Carr? You know, the guy who was never a head coach until taking over after the Moeller incident? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he the only coach who brought a national title to Michigan since 1948? He seemed to work out pretty well.
With all of the potential new coaches for NFL teams, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody tries to grab MacDonald as their DC.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:15 AM ^
I am with you. I think Jay would be the top candidate for an interim HC. It is too late to do a full search and hire. He will keep the seat warm for a year and then Warde will do a full search during the 2022 season. Jay will have an opportunity to prove himself.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:26 AM ^
This is a conversation that people tend to have with very little of the important info available. Running a big institution like a football team is just very different than coaching some piece of playing for one. Maybe some people here have an idea whether a guy like Gattis--for instance--has run big operations, wants to, has shown the kind of skills, but I don't. Handling budgets, hiring, working with 100s of employees, overseeing the scholastic side. . . have any of these guys done that? That's the kind of vision a guy like Warde is supposed to have. . .
It's true that you DO know that other HCs have done it. But the public has very little idea whether they do it well.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
Anyone know how much head coaching experience Kirby Smart has?
January 20th, 2022 at 1:46 PM ^
Only Georgia.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
300+ million people in the country and this is what you come up with?
January 21st, 2022 at 3:56 AM ^
I'd expect him to follow his dad to the pros.
And if you don't promote Gattis you'd probably lose a ton of guys. Way too easy for players to move on these days and for others to start poaching.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:17 AM ^
No, Luke Fickell is not coming here. I'm not sure why people think he would.?
January 20th, 2022 at 9:38 AM ^
Fickell would definitely come here. He nearly went to MSU.
You don't think he is a little annoyed that OSU went with Ryan Day over him once Urban left? I would be. Now he would have a chance to rub it in a bit.
The OSU job isn't going to be open any time soon. The ND job won't either. He doesn't strike me as an NFL-type. Where else would be appealing to him if not M?
January 20th, 2022 at 9:52 AM ^
MSU =\= UM in the eyes of an OSU fan. That job may be in the state of Michigan, but it’s not Michigan. Not the one that OSU hates.
I don’t think he’d ever come here because OSU is where he went to school and it’s where he coached for well over a decade. He’d never be welcome in the state of Ohio again, and I’m sure it would be seen as a personal betrayal to everyone he played and coached with.
Now who knows, maybe Michigan makes him an offer he can’t refuse, but if you asked me the odds of him coming here, I wouldn’t take them as any better than 20%.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
We all would've said the same thing about Gary Moeller. Don't undersell ego. I get that he has OSU ingrained in him but this would give him the opportunity to do a bit of an "I told you so".
January 20th, 2022 at 2:44 PM ^
It is an incredibly stupid take when people here say Fickell would never coach here... after having Bo and Mo.... I mean, it is beyond stupid. Dantonio would have, too, and was awaiting the call while at Cinci, and afterward behaved like some spurned lover.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
I don’t think you can be so sure that Fickell would not come here. 20% if far too low of an estimate of the chances he would come here if offered. Bet they are more like 70-80%. For reference about former OSU coaches/players, please note the coach who followed Bo, and that he was an Ohio State football captain.
January 21st, 2022 at 9:40 AM ^
This--with 10 people in agreement--is a really good example of being swayed by emotional arguments when the truth is that we have no frickin' idea what Luke Fickell thinks. A more important, connected, question might be whether he has any friendships with current staff or can get along with them given his past work history.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
I don't think he nearly went to MSU. It was only a preliminary "soft" interview in his home.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:42 AM ^
To make a lot more money, same as most other people who change jobs.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Because Bo and Moeller even though those aren't fitting comparisons.
Bo never played for OSU. He just coached there.
Moeller played for OSU, but never coached there and was an assistant at Michigan for years under Bo (before and after flaming out at Illinois).
Fickell is the most OSU person alive. He was born in Columbus. Played for OSU. Coached for OSU. Still lives in Ohio.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
And was not hired by OSU as a head coach twice in his career. Think he might want to come to Michigan, and remind them that they made a mistake hiring Day instead of him? His current salary is $3.4 million annually, maybe he would be interested in more than doubling that? Hmmmm?
January 20th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
I don't think he harbors bad enough feelings to take a job to spite OSU. He was the interim without much experience in 2011 and had a bad year (for understandable reasons).
Then when they promoted Day, it came in August a year after Fickell went 4-8 at Cincinnati. They didn't look past him in 2018. No one hires an outside coach in August who's HC record is below .500 at a G5.
That being said, offer and make him say no. But I doubt he takes it or stays at Michigan if the OSU job ever opens up.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
I don't want someone here whose job description at any point in his career included a hatred of Michigan. I don't think money and ambition overcomes something like that. It's always there.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
based on your logic, Bo and Gary Moeller would’ve never coached here
January 20th, 2022 at 9:18 AM ^
Next man up, step up Mr. Gattis
January 20th, 2022 at 9:42 AM ^
I agree.
1) What big "name" can you pull at this point?
2) You pull someone from outside the program you're basically starting a flat out rebuild. You'll lose staff which means you lose the players (since its basically free agency with no salary cap in college football) and recruits that those staff members have connections with. Its not like we came off a losing season. You hire from outside you're basically rebooting the program.
3) Its not like Gattis is completely unqualified. The guy was calling the plays (Harbaugh is basically a figurehead) and won the Broyles award last year.
I don't want Luke Fickell. I think he's a very good to excellent coach but he's clearly waiting for the Ohio State job. I don't need us to train their next coach.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
You can pull any name you would have pulled in December. Why would it being the end of January prevent Michigan from hiring Fickell, or Aranda, or Campbell?
They might say no but its not because of timing.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:15 AM ^
Truthfully when I say "Big Name" I meant something more than the people you mentioned (Think Lincoln Riley). Already said why I'm not comfortable with Fickell. I'm not sold on the notion that Aranda or Campbell are so much better than keeping Gattis considering the complete reboot on staff and likely attrition with players and recruits that bringing in either of them will carry with it. I'm also concerned with Aranda and Campbell that the recruits that have brought them their success may not be the kind of people Michigan will let them take.
Further, on the subject of Lincoln Riley...with any of the three names you mentioned its not like they can pull a Lincoln Riley and bring the existing star players from their programs and recruits and signees with them. Who do any of those three coaches have that are really any better than what we already have.
I guess my idea of "Big Name" is much "Bigger" than those three.
January 20th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
I would agree, especially at this point in time, it’s Gattis with an INTERIM tag slapped on it.
Gattis has a year tryout while the admin kick the tires on all the big names out there. Stoops, Belicheck, Curly Lambeau, etc.
In all seriousness, it would be a tough spot and they would have to back the brinks truck up to a splash hire if not retaining the current staff and Haurbaugh infrastructure.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:18 AM ^
If it is Mike Hart, that will be a huge disappointment.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:51 AM ^
I love Mike Hart as much as the next guy, but the folks who want him promoted over Gattis are nuts. One of them is a promising position coach whose biggest attribute is having played here. The other is a fucking Broyles Award winner who's been recruiting and running our offense for 3 years while fielding legit interest in HC vacancies.
You go with the promising coordinator every time (MacDonald is promising, but hella inexperience in comparison to even Gattis)
January 20th, 2022 at 10:16 AM ^
Hire someone who has never been a head coach anywhere? No thanks.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:30 AM ^
Half the coaches to make the CFP since its inception have were hired as first time HCs by that program. It is a viable option.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:43 AM ^
You do know that Hart was a Broyles nominee in 2018. Hart was an Associate as well as an Assistant Head Coach at IU. Hart has been a top 25 recruiter. Your nuts if you would promote Gattis, a guy most people wanted to run out town prior to this season over Hart.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:47 AM ^
If the hire is Josh Gattis, it will be a huge disappointment. He has been an OC for 3 years and 2 of them were.....not great. Huge risk.
January 20th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
I'll just go on record saying that I was 100% certain that a former UM assistant coach Broyles winner (Jim Hermann) was going to be the coach-in-waiting to succeed Lloyd Carr at some point.
January 20th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
The only reason anybody on this blog or anywhere else are pushing for him as a viable HC option is because his name is Mike Hart. I love the guy and everything he's accomplished so far and with our RB's this season, but he's just not ready. He may very well be one day, but for now, it's a no from me. Experience-wise between him and Gattis--it's not even fucking close.
January 20th, 2022 at 11:48 AM ^
A guy who isn’t even a coordinator?
January 20th, 2022 at 9:19 AM ^
For better or worse I always thought Mark Stoops would be fun.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:33 AM ^
Mark Stoops would be a great hire. Much better than any internal candidates. Gattis and especially Hart would be disappointing if one of them were to replace Harbaugh.
I am hoping Warde does a national search and at least calls Fickell, Aranda, Stoops etc.
Make them say no first before moving on to the internal candidates.
Unfortunately, it is believed by insiders that it will be Hart or Gattis that will get promoted.
January 20th, 2022 at 11:48 AM ^
Stoops is a really good choice. Already recruits Ohio hard, does more with less in the SEC
I think he could do very well if given the keys to Schembechler Hall
January 20th, 2022 at 9:19 AM ^
You crushed it! I already told them yesterday of my plug. Trust me he will do one or the other. Raback it!!!
January 20th, 2022 at 9:21 AM ^
Who, you say? I am He Who Walks Behind the Rows, obviously. How would any one compete? We could just keep popping out 300lb linemen.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:18 AM ^
Is this some kind of veiled reference to "He Who Rows the Boat?"
January 20th, 2022 at 10:38 AM ^
nah, Children of the Corn.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:21 AM ^
Best coach in history? We got a live one this morning.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:24 AM ^
Make fickell say no. Then try Matt Cambell. Then promote gattis
January 20th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Are you so sure about Campbell after the way ISU played this year. Very disappointing and you would think with his reputation and momentum if he had holes in his roster he could have filled with the transfer portal but it didn't happen.
January 20th, 2022 at 9:55 AM ^
I very much wanted Matt Campbell last year, but yeah, the luster has worn off that one. I wouldn't hate if he was the guy, but I feel there's several better candidates now, since it's clear that Campbell is a good but probably not great HC. If we're looking at guys in Campbell's range, I would prefer Jeff Hafley out of BC (they had a not great year thanks to their QB getting wrecked early, but Ohio State fans have had him tagged at their number 2 coach prospect behind Fickell for a reason...)
That said, how do you not promote Gattis? He's been running the offensive side of the team for 3 years, has experience learning under Franklin (uh well, maybe learning what not to do from Franklin), Saban and now Harbaugh.
January 20th, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
We seriously have people on this board who think Gattis is a better hire than Matt Campbell? You people are losing your minds. Can’t just go by 1 year. 75% of this board wanted Gattis fired prior to last year. Crazy how a few good games change peoples perspective.
Gattis - Not getting P5 offers
Campbell - Turned down Washington Huskies
Both of these are from this year. Not going back a year or two ago with Campbell’s name mentioned with lots of NFL and college elite programs. Maybe he learned from this and it’s had made him hungrier? Not saying he’s a home run hire, but to say Fickell, Campbell, Aranda, or even Bill O’Brien is not better than any option on current staff is crazy.
January 20th, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
If one year does not matter why are the Harbaugh haters from a year ago not rejoicing at his potential departure? I would imagine that most of the people who claim Gattis would be a huge mistake were saying anyone but Harbaugh a year ago. The fact is we are not qualified to make definitive statements as to who will be the best option at HC.
January 20th, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
Harbaugh had a history. Been fair at Michigan (10+ win seasons) handful of times. Clearly his Stanford/SF days. Covid 20 season was only one that was really brutal. Gattis doesn’t have that benefit of doubt history, hasn’t been a successful OC before doing some things this year. Also, Harbaugh is O guy, so we all know lots of this year had Harbaugh’s fingerprints all over it.