Having been through several coaching searches at Notre Dame (having seen the end of the Davie and O'Leary eras while at ND and then the end of the Willingham and Baer eras as a proud alum), I feel bad for Michigan. The coaching search seems to mostly be a mess thanks to their AD Bill Martin, who seems to be treating the coaching search like the Grand Prize Game.
However, while reading this list of rumors about who is on whose radars for coaching vacancies, I spied this list for U of M.
Michigan: "Candidates: Kirk Ferentz, Greg Schiano, Jim Grobe, Gary Pinkel, Brady Hoke, Tom O'Brien, Jeff Tedford, Ron English, Mike DeBord, Mike Trgovac, Sean Payton."
Oh...please, please, please, PLEASE let it be Tom O'Brien going to Michigan. Not only would the Crown Prince of Mediocrity (the King sitting upon his throne in Seattle...a throne that's slowly heating up) be calling the shots in Ann Arbor, but then whining and crying and gnashing of teeth in Raleigh would be so great to hear. Oh, the streets would flow with the tears of the Wolfpack faithful as their great coach, set to lead them to the promised land, left for greener pastures.
Honestly, I'm surprised Leavitt out of South Florida isn't on more people's lists. I heard his name tossed around earlier in the season as a possible replacement for Weis should Chuckles lay another terd on the field next season.
Please, Santa, make it so. I'll take back that whole terrorist thing.
2 hours ago
6 comments:
Tom O'Brien? Huh? He was decent at BC, but it's hard to tell why (his replacement did pretty well, so his performance wasn't just coaching - whether it was recruiting or luck will show up later, I guess). BC seems like a crappy place to coach, but NCSt isn't much a step anywhere, and they weren't (aren't) very good, anyway. If Michigan wants to be mediocre, he's probably a good choice, as you said.
Ferentz might be good, but Iowa's been on and off, and I don't know if he's good enough.I don't know why they think Payton would go to Michigan, especially if they just lowballed two college coaches - if they think he's going to take low money to go to Michigan, they've been taking long gulps from Lake St.Clair again. Brian Kelly was suggested, but he's only been at Cinncinnati a year. Considering Miles' short fuse and the OK way that LSU has played (they're obviously really good, but not as consistent as hoped), I was almost hoping he would go. Norm Chow? (supposedly he still wants to be college head coach - he does know offense and MI usually has firepower to work with)
Please don't confuse this with wanting the evil from up north to do well, but it is an interesting intellectual exercise.
Face it, a Michigan coach will get paid "25%" of the national average for the "privilege" of coaching at UM.
Big name, established coaches need not apply.
I for one am happy there are still a few bastions of traditional college football left in the country. Sadly, these bastions have been on the decline (Notre Dame, Michigan, Nebraska, etc...).
*lurk lurk lurk*
Hey, Matt: The pseudonym that you've chosen for your lovely wife "Boudica" -- does that have a fantasy/literature origin? I think I saw the books this weekend.
Apparently Santa did not respond positively to your wishes - Rodriguez should at least be decent (although considering his last two years, I would hope that they have a backup plan in place for a few years from now).
(not because he'll suck, but because he'll want to leave)
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