Ok. It’s time to discuss/confirm some rumors
Ok. So I have some good sources inside of the AD and I get some good tidbits of info when I can. For example, these sources were way ahead of everyone else when they told me that Jim Harbaugh was going to be out next football coach many years ago. They also told me that Daxton Hill was going to recommit to Michigan after committing to Alabama. They are good and reliable when I can get information from them.
So I just text them “so?” The reply “wheels are in motion already. He’s not expected to last past this season. Only issue is several influential people like Harbaugh and want him to stay”
I’m not trying to spread rumors, just thought that this would give piece of mind really. I’m still trading some texts so I’ll let you know if anything else.
Anybody else hearing anything credible in the inside?
November 28th, 2020 at 4:08 PM ^
Even if he likes Harbaugh and his off the field accomplishments, he can’t be ignorant to what a cash cow the football team is and how quickly those sweet athletic dept donations will dry up if we continue trotting out this mediocrity
November 28th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^
Michigan is a thousand miles past “mediocrity”. Harbaugh is trotting out an abysmal product.
November 28th, 2020 at 3:57 PM ^
I just want to know that our AD has started to contact potential candidates. There's a plethora of attainable HC's and it would absolutely suck if we let Jim go but didn't have a candidate already tee'd up. We have time to talk and negociate if we start now. Just can't afford to let Jim's situation play out long into the offseason and then be forced to pick among the scraps like Sparty did this last offseason
November 28th, 2020 at 4:02 PM ^
Unfortunately those scraps were better than Harbaugh. MSU up 10-0 on Northwestern right now.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:15 PM ^
Negociating... It's like negotiating, but with a Spanish vibe.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:37 PM ^
I’d love this approach but Harbaugh getting fired is already a long shot as we all know. To think the AD is already contacting coaches without yet firing Harbaugh? It ain’t happening. If this was happening word would be getting around quick. I’m fully on board with Harbaugh exiting but I do think they have to make it official before actually contacting coaches, otherwise it’s a really bad look.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:54 PM ^
a really bad look? lol what do you think the product going onto the field looks like?
November 28th, 2020 at 5:03 PM ^
I think firing your coach before you contact his potential replacements is probably something Harbaugh has earned. I’m not disagreeing that he has to go or that they shouldn’t be finding a replacement ASAP. I’m simply stating that Harbaugh shouldn’t have to hear that he is being fired from agents of potential coaches. Fire him today, get the process started, no need to sneak around.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:56 PM ^
I'm convinced of two things. One, lots of guys can do better than JH. We don't need another JH, or at least who he appeared at the time...a home run hire that will require top dollar do get JH's production. Two, whoever we hire will have some questions and will be a wait and see hire. Just like Day, Dabo, Riley, etc. all were, we won't know for sure for several years if they were the right guy. My hope is we get a young guy with modern philosophies and is flexible, keep kids around, and recruit well.
November 29th, 2020 at 2:24 AM ^
It has to be a young, energetic guy who can recruit his ass off. Michigan is a tough job for a football coach because the expectations are through the roof but it's also not in a great recruiting area and it's cold.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:45 AM ^
I don't disagree with you at all. However, you're examples don't quite matchup IMO. Day and Riley stepped into established cultures and it took a few games to realize that they were the right hire and able to keep the train chugging along. Dabo took much longer to establish his culture because he stepped into a totally different situation at Clemson. Whoever takes over for Harbaugh has as much, if not more work to do than Dabo did at Clemson to reverse the culture and establish a winning mentality. But yes, no matter who is hired, I think it will take several years. Michigan is a complete rebuild at this point. But that doesn't mean that whoever comes in should have losing seasons. You can rebuild at UM while winning 7-9 games a year.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:22 AM ^
Michigan is a complete rebuild at this point. But that doesn't mean that whoever comes in should have losing seasons. You can rebuild at UM while winning 7-9 games a year.
To me a UM rebuild is like a 6-7 win season...right around .500. There is no reason go do what we are doing now. But, Hoke took over a terrible RR team and turned them into an 11-win team. The culture was terrible under RR and the recruiting was way worse that what's on the team now. Averaging a top 12 recruiting class for 7 cycles leaves the talent in pretty good shape, minus some obvious holes at DT & CB. But, every other position is filled with young, highly ranked players. How many coaches have a McGregor, Corum, Henning, Rumler, Barnhart, Keegan, Jones, Morant, Paige, McNamara, Dax, Mullings, Seldon, Hinton, Mazi, etc. just waiting to be molded. We have 25 top 300 guys in the last two classes alone that will be Jr/Soph for 2021. That is a great starting point.
November 28th, 2020 at 3:58 PM ^
Well those "influential" people need less influence....
Open the check book and play the background. Entire culture needs changing
November 28th, 2020 at 3:58 PM ^
Oh, please, sweet, babyJesus, swaddled in your golden fleece diapers, let this be true ?
November 28th, 2020 at 3:58 PM ^
Michigan, more than anything, appears to need a new collection of “influential people”.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:01 PM ^
Something that stood out and irritated me with the Big Ten fan ad was every team represents a young or younger person and Michigan is a 91 year old on his birthday. Sums everything up.
November 28th, 2020 at 6:46 PM ^
Living in the past. No one does it better...
November 29th, 2020 at 10:43 PM ^
Celebrated my father's 91st birthday not long ago. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to have the same pleasure someday...hopefully you at least won't be irritated when it happens.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:35 PM ^
With all the comments about structural issues in M FB, maybe that's part of the problem, we have these 'influential people' hanging around keeping the program in stasis.
November 28th, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
He needs to be gone but I don’t trust Warde to make a good hire. Also who are these “influential people?” Why would they want Harbaugh to stay? Do they enjoy Michigan football being a national punchline and a total embarrassment?
November 28th, 2020 at 4:01 PM ^
Which Warde hire did you not like: Howard or Pearson?
November 28th, 2020 at 4:12 PM ^
In all fairness, a dead pigeon couldn’t have screwed up those coaching hires as both of those candidates were more or less slam dunks in both terms of quality of resumes, availability and previous connections to UM.
If and when Harbaugh does go, we’ll need a much more vetted process so we don’t slip any farther into anonymity. If that’s possible given our current state.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:22 AM ^
You clearly haven't seen some of the less than ideal hires by ADs at major schools over the years. Nothing is a slam dunk - and anything can still be ruined.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:07 PM ^
Warde has been in a position to make 2 big hires: hoops (Juwan) and hockey (Pearson). Both appear to be home runs. So what's your problem?
November 28th, 2020 at 4:18 PM ^
Pearson would have been the HC years ago, if it weren’t for Dave Brandon. Red was ready to hang it up, but DB refused to promote Pearson; so Red stayed. Warde only gets credit for doing what Red told him to do — hire Mel.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:37 PM ^
OK, but isn't that what an AD should do, take good advice? Canham took Paterno's advice to hire Bo. Listen to the people that know. Hopefully he'll do that again.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:49 PM ^
Best not to complicate things and just point the money cannon at MATT CAMPELL. He's got Iowa State poised to win a Big 12 championship. Also he's beaten both Texas and Oklahoma this year.
November 28th, 2020 at 6:10 PM ^
I was among those skeptical of Campbell, but how can you not be impressed with the year he's having? Not that it always makes for a great HC, but he seems like a genuinely good guy, too.
November 28th, 2020 at 3:59 PM ^
If Harbaugh stays, it will be career suicide for Manuel, donors will disappear and season ticket holders will back out. The Big house will be half empty next year. If the money dries up they will all be fired. Can't extend Harbaugh when the players aren't committed. He has lost the locker room.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:17 PM ^
While I fully agree, people will be dumb enough to keep buying season tickets no matter what happens. This is coming from a 20yr season ticket holder that gave up his tickets in yr 3 of Hoke. Best decision ever.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:01 PM ^
Yeah, no. People will keep showing up pretty much no matter what. And another year THIS bad is unlikely, though years of mediocrity are fairly high.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:00 PM ^
Better off having COVID cancel games. Announce the seasons over, can him and start the search before Texas and anyone else starts their search. Get out in front of this thing
November 28th, 2020 at 4:00 PM ^
Really hope you're right with the "wheels are in motion already" part WindyCityBlue. This program has too many resources to be this inept. I also think the frustration from alumni has to be very high right now. There just seems like there's no way they could bring Harbaugh back with this product he is currently putting on the field.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:01 PM ^
I wanna hear that they're prepared to make a $20 million per year offer to Urban Meyer. Then when he says no, that they're prepared to offer Matt Campbell what Harbaugh makes now. Use that money cannon and get the best guy available, no matter the cost.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:09 PM ^
I'm all in for Urban. After he declines...
I'd go after someone off the Saban tree after that....someone who can build a recruiting machine so we are at worst where Georgia is now (which would be good enough to compete with OSU).
We don't need and X's and O's guy if we can hire great coordinators. I'd prefer a recruiting machine.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:15 PM ^
I already asked the Urban question. The answer was “ha! No, not with who we have running the show”
in the past, they’ve mentioned there are a handful of very old, very influential people who have too much say in the AD.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:23 PM ^
That's why it's fucking pointless. We won't compete with the elite if we are "too good" and "too clean" for Urban Meyer.
Be happy with and accept Harbaugh's first 5 years of performance at UM with whoever we hire. We won't be beating OSU, Bama, Clemson or even SEC! (UGA, UF, etc) if we stick with this culture.
Our ceiling under our current paradigm is Wisconsin results...except we unfortunately play in the same division as OSU, so time to accept the 10-2 ceiling and no B1G championship games into perpetuity.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:15 PM ^
Saban tree is AWFUL. Gattis, Locksley, Nussmeier, Kiffin, etc.
Let's stop going back to the Alabama well thinking that a product of their success must actually be the cause of it
November 28th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^
After Nussmeier I can't believe anyone would seriously entertain that.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:54 PM ^
The Alabama tree for Michigan is the college version of “The Patriot Way” for the Lions
November 28th, 2020 at 4:36 PM ^
I understand what you’re saying you can’t skate by in just recruiting alone. MSU, in Dantonio’s heyday, is proof that you don’t need to recruit balls to the wall to win big. How many big games did they win with 2-3 star afterthoughts? The leftovers that OSU, Michigan, and everyone else didn’t want.
I’ll concede that elite recruiting is needed to win a national title, but if you can find and recruit players who fit your scheme to a T, who can easily take on and embody the culture you build within your program, and you put those guys in a position to succeed and do what they’re best at, you can win more than your fair share of games on that alone.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:34 PM ^
What you don't seem to take into account about d'Antonio is that his success was SOLELY due to Tressel funneling all the plan B guys to him. Once that dried up when Meyer arrived, his program faded to obscurity. I cannot emphasize this enough... Go back and look at the data. Now it's Fickell who is getting alot of those.
November 28th, 2020 at 7:53 PM ^
Meyer was at OSU for four years by the time MSU walked into Columbus with a backup QB and bitch slapped him with a heartbreaking, playoff dream ending 17-14 loss. Meyer didn’t shut down shit for Dantonio. If anything he opened up Ohio even further for Dantonio, because Meyer went nation-wide for recruits in ways that Tressel never could. I’d love to know which “data” you’re referring to. Meyer had a team full of “his guys” by the time he lost to MSU in 2015.
Not sure why you refuse to recognize Dantonio’s uncanny ability in being able to coach up to the fullest extent the players he got, but okay.
Dantonio was a total fucking asshole. A smug prick in every sense of the word, and he had the personality of a sea barnacle, but as far as B1G head coaches go, he was quite possibly the best talent developer of the past decade.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:06 PM ^
Oh, to hell with the whole "tree" concept. How often does that actually work? The Belichick tree -- mostly losers. The Saban tree -- not much better. The Meyer tree -- hit-or-miss. These three coaches are excellent, but they don't birth clones. For crissake, Gattis is from the Saban tree. So was Nussmeier.
Just pick the most promising, energetic, and innovative option and make sure he's not dirty.
Period.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:12 PM ^
I’m on the Campbell train as well.
November 29th, 2020 at 6:45 AM ^
I am as well. And I believe Campbell is interested in the M job. There was an article about him recently (SI maybe?) where an associate of his mentioned something to the effect of, 'if Michigan came calling, they would get a great coach'. I'm no spy and don't play one on tv, but that sure seems like 'back-channel communication' to me.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:18 PM ^
Then be prepared when Campbell says no. Hope we have like 4-5 contingencies.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^
Why would Campbell say no?
November 28th, 2020 at 4:44 PM ^
I worded that wrong. I should’ve said “if” Campbell says no. Which is a very real possibility.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:29 PM ^
Lol why the fuck would Campbell say no?