Michigan Coaching Speculation

[WolverineTX]

Given the PC/damn-near-East-Coast-liberal-idealism that pervades the UM campus I honestly believe that there would be a shit storm of Katrina proportions if the athletic department rolled out the kind of jack a BMW coach would demand.

would love to hear from the blue posters on this.

I'm not so sure. Traditionally we've written smaller paychecks. However:

Michigan athletics director Bill Martin recently acknowledged that the school is ready to fork over as much as $3 million a year to land their big fish.

"That would be a cultural change for our program," Martin said. "I'm not opposed to it, though."

Perhaps the higher premium commanded by today's coaching market will prompt a change.

 

[buckeyesin07]

I saw that yesterday. Not going to happen.

No kidding--there's no way Stoops would leave OU for UM. No way.

 

[WolverineTX]

No kidding--there's no way Stoops would leave OU for UM. No way.

Exactly. Not only is Stoops not interested in UM, but unless I've warped into bizarro world, Martin wouldn't give Stoops a moment's consideration for a number of reasons, most notably the car dealership debacle that went down under his watch. Shady dealings in Norman are nothing new.

Our AD is looking to duplicate the same sort of diplomatic, affable father figure we've had in Carr. Stoops has managed an impressive record in a completely different environment where his focus is dedicated primarily to winning, and in an academic environment where a 50% graduation rate for his football players seems perfectly acceptable to the university. That flies like a cinder block in Ann Arbor.

 

[osugrad21]

Blade

LSU Lets Miles Talk to Michigan

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Michigan officials asked for and received permission from LSU to meet with Les Miles about the Wolverines' head football coaching vacancy.

Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

DFP

MICHIGAN COACHING SEARCH
U-M gets permission to talk with Les Miles after SEC title game

November 29, 2007
BY MARK SNYDER and MICHAEL ROSENBERG
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS
Louisiana State coach Les Miles might have moved one step closer Wednesday to succeeding Lloyd Carr as Michigan's coach.
LSU granted U-M athletic director Bill Martin permission to talk with Miles about the job, LSU assistant AD Herb Vincent told the Free Press.

"Bill Martin called (LSU AD Skip Bertman) today and asked permission to talk to Coach Miles," Vincent said. "Bertman asked that (the Wolverines) wait until after the SEC championship game. They agreed to that." LSU plays Tennessee for the Southeastern Conference title Saturday night.
Martin has told people familiar with the search that he plans to talk to a few coaches, not just Miles.
Vincent added that members of the LSU administration planned to meet with Miles next week to discuss altering his contract.



Cont...

 

[osugrad21]

DFP

LSU AD: 'We'll do pretty much whatever is necessary to keep Les'

November 29, 2007
By Glenn Guilbeau
GANNETT NEWSPAPERS
Game on!
Michigan athletic director Bill Martin asked and received permission from LSU athletic director Skip Bertman via e-mail Wednesday morning to talk to LSU football coach Les Miles next week.

On Bertman's and LSU chancellor Sean O'Keefe's request, Miles' agent George Bass of Dallas flew to Baton Rouge Wednesday afternoon to discuss enhancements and pay increases to Miles' contract at O'Keefe's office.

"The Michigan athletic director and I are in agreement that they're not going to talk to Les until after the football game Saturday," Bertman said from his home Wednesday night.

LSU plays Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference championship game Saturday in Atlanta before a near-month-long break until whatever bowl game the Tigers reach.

"Then as soon as we get back to Baton Rouge on Sunday or Monday, we plan to sit down with Les," Bertman said.


Cont...

 

[cincibuck]

If it is Les Miles, and I don't blame Michigan for wanting him, it's going to be for a jaw dropping sum of money.... unless he's willing to go where his heart takes him and his heart isn't in the bank. It's going to be for the kind of money that draws attention at other Big 10 schools.

I'm not sure that any other schools besides OSU and Penn State can pony up that kind of cash, and while I'm fairly sure that his salary comes out of the AD budget, there will be planty of folks who want to know how a school can spend so much more on a coach than they spend on a president.

I don't think this is going to sit well in Ann Arbor.

 

[MaizeandBlue]

just saw it on the morning news. LSU gives Michigan permission to talk to Miles after Saturdays game is played.

 

[Brutus1]

"We landed on the moon"

 

[Oh8ch]

it's going to be for a jaw dropping sum of money...

LSU is making sure of that with their public statements - unless it is a public bluff to discourage precisely that.

In any case, I wold love to see Michigan spend a jaw-dropping sum for Les Miles. Couple that with the money they must pay their current assistants even if they don't return next season and it begins to offset the Obie drain on OSU's budget.

 

[WolverineTX]

"We landed on the moon"

Six times, no less.

At this point I'd rather have the Moon as a coach. I bet it would provide superior clock management and be more judicious where timeouts are concerned...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PkJAhckABM]YouTube - Les Miles Calls Time Out[/ame]

 

[SanAntonioBuck]

Rivals.com

Kelly isn't a Michigan Man, but he's the best man


I know this is going to come as a shock, a slap in the face to the Michigan Men of the world. But hear me out.


Want an end-all, be-all coach, a guy who encompasses everything and lacks nothing? Then take a page from history and follow Ohio State's lead.

Hire Brian Kelly.

Seven years ago, when Ohio State had become a team that couldn't beat Michigan, the Buckeyes went out and did the unthinkable: They hired a coach from the NCAA's lower divisions, Youngstown State's Jim Tressel.
Now that Michigan has become a team that can't beat Ohio State, Kelly -- whose first head coaching job was at Division II Grand Valley State -- would be the perfect fit. Not Les Miles, not some NFL retread, not some guy Lloyd Carr thinks is the Michigan Man for the job.
Continued...

 

[Muck]

Seven years ago, when Ohio State had become a team that couldn't beat Michigan, the Buckeyes went out and did the unthinkable: They hired a coach from the NCAA's lower divisions, Youngstown State's Jim Tressel.

Now that Michigan has become a team that can't beat Ohio State, Kelly -- whose first head coaching job was at Division II Grand Valley State

Jim Tressel was the athletic director at Youngstown State and had spent a career as their head coach.

Brian Kelly spent a few years at Div II school before moving on.

How exactly does this comparison make any sense whatsoever?

I think Kelly would make an excellent coach at a major program but the "lower division ties" anecdote is just silly.

"We landed on the moon"

Lies, LIES!!

Damn dirty Lies!!

 

[MaizeandBlue]

iowa.scout.forum

He thinks Miles, but some interesting stuff on Carr & Miles that I wasn't aware of.

The Ferentz issue is fairly complicated. Obviously, he is strongly connected with Mary Sue Coleman, and he grew up on Michigan (Royal Oak) until going to hs in PA and his daughter went to school at Michigan. As a former assistant and then head coach at Iowa, he has known Lloyd Carr for many years and they share many of the same philosophies about football (running the ball ,time of possession, playing conservatively in the 4th quarter).

Carr has been sick since around 2001, when he was diagnosed with Parkinsons. He was medicated and for the most part was fine, but there were some very noticeable declines in 2003 and 2005, and he basically has fulfilled very few of the head coaching responsibilities since September of 2006. It was set up for the past two years that Carr would retire out after this season. Carr’s contract has deferred comp provisions that don’t require him to be head coach in July, 2008 in order to get paid out, and the assistants contracts are all guaranteed through the end of the 2008 regular season. Carr had promoted Mike Debord to OC in 2006 with the hope that the former Central Michigan coach and Michigan OC (96-00), would succeed and there would be a transition with Debord as HC without any major staff changes. That plan was working pretty well, until the first half of the OSU game last year, and then things have just fallen apart.

At some point last year, Ferentz visited Bo in the hospital. While in AA, he met up with Carr and Coleman. After that conversation, I believe Carr began to see Ferentz as a viable alternative –someone that he respected that would not change things dramatically. Carr is a very strong supporter of Ferentz being the next head coach, because he really does not have any internal coaches that would be taken seriously (maybe English in a few more years, but the D struggled with 7 new starters this year and he has only had the job 2 years).

Had Carr retired last year, there would have been a very high probability that Ferentz would have become the next Michigan coach. He is a coach that is highly respected, whom Carr and Coleman consider to have a lot of integrity, and would seem to fit very well with the existing personnel at Michigan and a safe pick in that he had proven he could win the Big Ten.

Things changed dramatically after the Appalachain State loss. It was readily apparent that an offense supposedly loaded with talent (henne, hart, Long, Manningham, Arrington) was not even prepared to start the season and was being outplayed by a football minnow. I can’t tell you how pissed the season ticket holders and big $$$$ donors were after that game- unheard of at any Big ten school and especially Michigan. Then Michigan got wiped by Oregon, and Carr himself told the AD that he was definitely done-he just didn’t have the energy to do it anymore and the stress was too much for him. The team has basically gone for several years now with a head coach in name only, as English (DC) and Debord (OC) basically function independently of each other, which is why things look like a mess at times.

At that point, the donors, ticket holders and AD realized that the program was in much more of a decline than many had realized (very antiquated strength and conditioning program, poor offseason workout structure, far more disciplinary problems than in the past, and the recruiting is struggling with the Carr rumors running the past two seasons- last year they missed out on several of the top in-state kids, which is pretty rare). The big money donors and alums began looking for the homerun candidate and Miles stepped to the forefront.


Miles has a long history with Michigan. He played for Bo, he coached for Bo, he left with McCartney and coached at Colorado, and he returned to coach for Moeller. Moeller’s staff had some huge divisions amongst the coaches where they just hated each other. Guys like Miles and Kirk Cameron were seen as extremely arrogant, brash and aggressive and that did not go over well with Carr, who was the DC. When Moeller resigned and Carr became interim head coach, Miles was out there door in an instant and Cameron wasn’t far behind.

Miles’ and Carr’s dislike for each other played out on the recruiting trail for years. Miles was allegedly one of the first coaches telling kids about Carr’s health and impending retirement and that was 4 years ago. The dislike spiraled and spiraled.

This is what Carr meant in his resignation speech when he said that certain issues would be left on the recruiting trails (it was directed at Miles). But the current coaching staff (Debord, Loeffler and others) continue to just bash Miles through the media and surrogates on the message boards claiming that there are “ethical” issues concerning Miles. They are hoping that someone like Ferentz would come in and not completely overhaul the entire program, starting with firing most of them.

Miles, though, has huge support amongst the alums, big donors, and within the Athletic Department. On the internet, over 80% of the posters support Miles as the next coach in the polls. Even if he can be quirky at the end of games (not always coaching according to Hoyle like bombing it into the endzone on 3rd and 8 with 14 seconds left), he is seen as the fiery, emotional leader than can bring back the intensity and physical play Michigan has been lacking for many years now. And he is a great recruiter. He is a homerun candidate that is begging for the job (sent word to Martin that he WILL take the job if offered).

Carr, though, will not support Miles no matter what and despite their purported reconciliation. Hence, Carr and the current coaching staff are allegedly backing Ferentz as the anti-Miles candidate. This is a strong constituency because ultimately Mary Sue Coleman may cast her vote.

The third major candidate will be Brian Kelly of Cinn. He won 2 national titles at Grand Valley State (in Grand Rapids), won the MAC with Central Michigan (basically winning 80% of his games at a school that Debord couldn’t win 50% at), and is proving himself at Cinn. He has some skeletons though, as MSU did not hire him last year because of his notorious temper and a purported racial incident (was defending some players claiming that in their culture they don’t cooperate with the police after a shooting). Without a doubt though, the guy is a fiery competitor.

In the end, I think it will be Miles-but not without some shouting and hurt feelings. There is a very vocal minority very strongly opposed to his being head coach, but he is the sure fire homerun for the AD with the donors and alums. And his intense style and excellent recruiting likely has the highest ceiling as far as future success. He may not be the gamecoach that Ferentz and Kelly are, but he would overhaul the system and royally kick some ass until the things started working again. He is also aggressive in games and a dramatic departure from the ultra conservative world of Lloyd Carr, and most importantly-he goes outside of his system to hire top assistants everywhere that he has gone. Jimbo Fisher, Gary Crowton, Bo Pelini-he just goes out and hires the best guy without the cronyism.

..

 

[Best Buckeye]

This is starting to get really interesting. I wonder how many others Mich has contacted that we don't know about.