Overlooked HC Candidates
So I know that Fleck and Minnesota are having a down year, but before this season I was hearing a lot of people say that Michigan should hire him if Harbaugh disappointed again. Are we sure he isn’t a better candidate than Campbell, I mean Fleck’s best team at Western and last years Minnesota might be better than any Iowa State Campbell team.
Then there is the Purdue coach, Brohm. He was a hot commodity for a minute when they beat Ohio State that one time. He should have quit that night and taken a huge pay day somewhere. Seems like he should at least be talked about in this conversation.
I like Fleck about the same amount as Campbell, I like Brohm less, but better than bringing Harbaugh back. What do y’all think?
November 21st, 2020 at 9:26 AM ^
IDK about Tony’s recruiting chops at the D1 level. But homeboy can definitely coach football. I’d hire him as our OC in a heartbeat for sure. In fact I’d send Mr. speed in space packing right now to do that. Tony is a proven immediate winner at every place he goes. Taking Ferris from the cellar to eating GVSU’s lunch was no small feat.
He was my freshman coach in HS and his intensity was very contagious.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:09 AM ^
I graduated the season before Tony got to campus and the football team was a complete joke...think Rutgers level joke with little funding or student support. He has had some amazing success and teams and I've gone to a few games over the past few seasons and that place is packed now. I'm surprised he has lasted this long at FSU, dude at least deserves a bigger HC job such as CMU, WMU, etc...
November 21st, 2020 at 10:12 AM ^
Like My Blue said, he could be the next Tressel. Even though Tony doesn't recruit D1, he still recruits and does it well. Same with Tressel: he recruited and won at the D2 level. A winner can always build a winning program....or in your case, return it to winning....hopefully, just not the last regular season game....sorry...
November 21st, 2020 at 10:48 AM ^
Tony Annese is so under-the-radar that neither he or the Ferris St. football program have their own wikipedia pages.
November 21st, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
Mark Stoops
November 21st, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
I wouldn't be disappointed in a Campbell hire, not a big fan of fleck though. Seems like a used car salesman to me.
November 21st, 2020 at 9:41 AM ^
“This beautiful low mileage ‘98 Taurus is all yours for our low low price of $3,999, and if you purchase our fabulous extended warranty + undercoating you get this amazing aluminum rowboat!” (paddles not included)
November 21st, 2020 at 9:43 AM ^
The last time we grabbed an overlooked head coaching candidate, we got Brady Hoke. Be careful what you wish for.
November 21st, 2020 at 9:45 AM ^
How about Odee-X as head coach and Hawk as DC?
November 21st, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
Tony Annese
November 21st, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
Hey guys. I have no football experience. But I feel like I’m overlooked. New thread?
November 21st, 2020 at 10:02 AM ^
Can we go back and hire Chip Kelly when he had juice?
November 21st, 2020 at 10:02 AM ^
Offer Ryan Day $10 million a season.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
Tony Annese
November 21st, 2020 at 10:18 AM ^
I am going to say that, thus far, this thread is the "Justly Overlooked HC Candidates" thread. I am not disparaging the effort or anything, mind you.
November 21st, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
That’s the biggest problem. Every viable candidate comes with a list of issues attached to him that draw red flags and you can overlook all of them as candidates because of it.
If we replace Harbaugh, it will likely be with an unproven candidate with a lot of risks attached to him. Not exactly ideal moving forward.
Best hope is someone like Chris Petersen took the time off, is full of energy and life, and decides to leave the west coast to coach Michigan.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:21 AM ^
Let's trade Jim Harbaugh for Scott Frost.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:24 AM ^
Tom Allen would be a better choice than Matt Campbell. He brings energy and enthusiasm and an exciting offense.
I think Hafley or the coach of Coastal Carolina would be great choices.
The arrogance of Michigan would never consider a Hugh Freeze, but he will be more successful than whoever Michigan. Hosses next. He has admitted his failings and paid the price. He's more successful than this season than any of the coaches being considered. And he's doing it from a program that has no cache and after today he will be 3-0 against the ACC
November 21st, 2020 at 10:50 AM ^
I really think Hafley has all the making of a rock star coach. He checks many of the boxes. The problem is he only has one year under his belt as a HC and is probably doesnt have that resume yet to be a splash hire at a place like Michigan. He needs some more wins under his belt as the head honcho before anyone would get a man boner over that hire.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
Those are horrible candidates, PJ is a goof ball, Campbell is a maybe but not sure he has lit the world on fire either.
There are very few people in coaching that can handle this job. Finding one that can turn this battleship is going to be very difficult. Warde will not be able to do it (do a search and find the right coach) and the Regents and Michigan Leadership knows that. Not to mention the COVID deficit and having to pay 2 staffs.
November 21st, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^
You caught a very important point. There are talented coaches all over the country at many different levels. But not all of them are a fit to translate that into success in Ann Arbor. It’s a unique place that people cannot define or solve at the moment.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:30 AM ^
So where are the “overlooked” candidates in this shit post?
November 21st, 2020 at 10:39 AM ^
Still take him over Fickell. Id rather disband the entire football program than hire Luke fucking Fickell.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
All stale takes. I’d keep Harbaugh before taking any of the three.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
How about Steve Ryan. All he does is win. He could be Michigan's Tressel without the cheating. And he's a good guy.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:51 AM ^
Josh Heupel from UCF is another good candidate. The game with Cincinnati today will be one of the best of the day.
November 21st, 2020 at 1:06 PM ^
Why is he a good option exactly? He inherited what Frost built and they’ve slid backwards in his time there. Not exactly the trajectory you'd hope for in a coaching candidate:
November 21st, 2020 at 10:56 AM ^
Not that our opinions matter, but we should probably think beyond coaches that are winning on TV in front of us at the moment.
I remember all the posts the night after we got smoked by Wisconsin last year. Washington State was up big in their game and it was "pay Mike Leach whatever he wants!"
Then Leach promptly blew a 50-17 lead to UCLA and it was "pay Chip Kelly whatever he wants!"
November 21st, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
Will never understand the fascination with Mike Leach. His WSU team shit the bed against Dantini in a bowl game. Fuck that guy.
November 21st, 2020 at 10:58 AM ^
This is the problem with the new coach discussion... Fleck is having a bad year, so we hire him? This is a bad year for Michigan but it is a bad year for most coaches...
Let Harbaugh redeem himself and give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm not ok with firing Harbaugh without a solid coach in mind. Fickell would be great I guess but he probably.doesnt want to coach UM.
November 21st, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
If he was great every other year or had great momentum prior to 2020, I’d be ok keeping him.
But he’s been backsliding for years now, and outside of a 10 game run in 2018, he has been underwhelming and rocks a record of 18-15 (.545) since the start of 2017, with Madden rookie mode level blowout losses to OSU, as well as Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and others. With all of the facilities and more that Michigan offers, he should be doing better.
Even if you add those 10 wins back in, that’s still a 28-15 record - .651, which is only slightly better than Hokes 31-20 (.607) record that got him canned.
November 21st, 2020 at 11:25 AM ^
Hafley. And whoever Meyer mentions.
November 21st, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
Anyone can win at OSU. The talent gap between them and the rest of the B1G is so big that Hoke could lead them to 13-0. When they meet teams with equal talent they lose the majority of the time. The only way to compete in the current climate is to pay under the table for the best recruits. Until the rest of college football starts out bidding Bama, OSU, Clemson, Georgia and OU this will continue.
November 21st, 2020 at 11:44 AM ^
This belongs in a “CC: snowflakes” thread
November 21st, 2020 at 11:48 AM ^
Nick Sheridan.
November 21st, 2020 at 11:51 AM ^
I’m all for out of the box, but why Jeff Hafley?
Looking at where he’s been, it’s not that impressive. Outside of the stop at OSU for 15 minutes, almost all of his other gigs have been in the NFL on some very bad teams. Of those NFL teams he coached, I don’t recall any of them having big name players in the secondary or being particularly dominating defenses in general.
As for his college stops before OSU, he was at Albany, Pitt, and Rutgers. I guess he had Darrell Revis for one season, but that’s about it.
This season as BC, he’s lost to everyone he should lose to and beat everyone he should most likely beat. Is the allure that he had close losses to a Lawrence-less Clemson and a solid Norte Dame?
It does appear he’s a pretty good recruiter - or at least he was at OSU. Though, I don’t know how much of that is him vs players just wanting to play for the Mordor/Death Star that is OSU.
Is there something I’m missing? Not trying to sound rude. Honestly curious.
November 21st, 2020 at 1:02 PM ^
You pretty much mentioned his positives. Young, great recruiter, and he’s defensively focused. At the same time, you can make similar arguments against any other candidates that have been mentioned. Nobody is really jumping out ahead of the pack right now.
November 21st, 2020 at 12:20 PM ^
I think you have to trust (and have) a great hiring process.
Its not all about the record - its getting your team and program better.
Paul Chryst was a pedestrian 19-19 at Pitt before being hired by Wisconsin; this is why Campbell's record doesn't worry me that much.
its a data point. But just one data point...
I hate the 'experience' argument... Harbaugh desperately wanted the Michigan job after RR was fired...but Brandon didn't even bother to interview him, because he was too 'inexperienced' at tiny SDSU... i think a year later, Stanford took a chance and hired him, even without 'top level' college coaching experience.
i would prefer a coach that actually has been a coordinator (either side of the ball), to bring an actual identity to the team.
And please, no more "Michigan Man" bs... Hire the best candidate. Period.
November 21st, 2020 at 1:00 PM ^
But the reason they brought Chryst in at Wisconsin is because they wanted to get back to Wisconsin ball. They wanted to play the Alvarez/Bert ball and Chryst was the best candidate out there that was part of those offenses. They WANTED the status quo. Meanwhile we’re trying to get AWAY from the status quo. So it’s pretty hard to compare the two scenarios.
November 21st, 2020 at 2:05 PM ^
Chryst's coaching record was still pedestrian - even if Wisconsin overlooked it in favor of picking a guy who was a Badger through and through...
a better example then is Cristobal, who was 27-47 at FIU before landing the Oregon gig and now is someone that ppl see on the short list.
Coaching record at prior stops isn't a guarantee that you'll get the same results at the new stop...That's why I don't see Campbell's record at ISU as necessarily something that precludes him from having success at Michigan
I don't think there is a candidate without risk...esp considering the fact that Harbaugh appeared to be a Grand Slam, zero doubt hire at the time, and is probably just a double, at best.
November 21st, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
The only thing I will judge a coach by is wins. Total wins and wins against OSU and MSU.
I don't care about his (or her) personality or if they are "gimmicky". Just bring in a coach that wins and I will support them.
I don't care what winning looks like. 70-63 type games or 10-3 it doesn't matter. Just win.
Admittedly this attitude is cart before the horse when it comes to searching for who that person is. But I'm a fan not the AD, Uni President, or Board of Regents.
November 21st, 2020 at 12:58 PM ^
The issue with a gimmicky coach is that their gimmick is usually figured out pretty quickly while at a high profile job and that’s when those wins go down.
Rich Rod was a gimmicky coach. Let’s recruit small speedy guys and run read option works when you play in the Big East or when you play lower level teams. Then you play the Big Boys and they have the same speed but also size, and your offense doesn’t work anymore and they run amok on the defense you neglected because you figured you could just outscore everyone.
Fleck has a different KIND of gimmick (more along the lines of Lane Kiffin than RR), but that’s a prime example of what happens when you give a gimmicky coach a shot at a major program. Typically doesn’t end well.
November 21st, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
Fleck is a gimmicky coach and he’s finally being exposed for the fraud he is. He’s not good. He capitalized on a weak MAC and an incredibly easy schedule last year. Just stop.
The ONLY positive thing about Brohm is that he beat OSU in a game OSU looked disinterested in and unprepared for. Brohm has had a progressively worse record each year he’s been at Purdue. He’s on the downturn.
I’m not a huge fan of Campbell personally (I’d grade his hire a 6 or 7 on the surface). But he HAS taken a Rutgers level program and turned them into a consistent 8 win team that pulls quite a few upsets against top 15 teams. Could he do better with a program with actual support and resources? Who knows. But he’s a helluva lot better option than Fleck or Brohm at this point.
Hell, I’d take Jim McElwain over Brohm, and probably over Fleck as well.
November 21st, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
Fleck is similar to harbaugh, hype. Not sure he moves the needle. The Boston college coach could be a great hire. Risky...but maybe great
November 21st, 2020 at 1:47 PM ^
2 overlooked candidates. Neal Brown of WVU and Scott Satterfield of Louisville. Both with outstanding success in the SBC and now leading P5 jobs that previously had trouble. Brown has more jobs to his name where Satterfield spent most of his career in various capacities at Appalachian State. And both programs are well coached.
IMO Brown has the better experience. Satterfield currently has the better coached team. And both deserve a serious look.
November 21st, 2020 at 2:03 PM ^
Matt Campbell is underrated. The guy coaches at Iowa State and is 2-2 against Lincoln Riley and his Heisman caliber QBs with less talent than Oklahoma. It’s only because the two point conversion attempt in their one meeting that Matt Campbell isn’t 3-1 against him. Check his record against Oklahoma, it’s impressive.
Another fun fact, every running back he’s had was either close to a thousand yards or had a thousand yards rushing. Unlike Harbaugh, Campbell knows how to find and develop running backs.
EDIT: Whoops, forgot he started in 2016 not 2017 so the record figures are off. Point still stands that the Oklahoma-Iowa State series is close every season and Iowa State routinely beats them.
November 21st, 2020 at 3:15 PM ^
November 21st, 2020 at 7:56 PM ^
Jamey Chadwell – Head Coach, Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (8-0)
Graham Harrell OC USC
Dave Clausen Wake Forest HC
Bryan Harsin Boise State HC
Tony Elliott - Clemson, OC
Nick Sheridan – Offensive Coordinator, Indiana Hoosiers
Alex Grinch - Oklahoma, DC
Dan Lanning - Georgia, DC
Mike Hart – Running Backs Coach, Indiana Hoosiers
Bob Stoops - currently retired
Eric Bieniemy – Offensive Coordinator, Kansas City Chiefs
Byron Leftwich – Offensive Coordinator, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Matt Entz - North Dakota State, HC
Rhett Lashlee OC Miami
Lance Leipold - Buffalo, HC
Jason Candle - Toledo, HC
November 21st, 2020 at 9:46 PM ^
You actually think UM will pick a winner? Recent history says otherwise.