Name The Coach

I personally thought Michigan dodged a bullet when the didn't get Les Miles to coach. His work at LSU didn't particulary impress me. I'll take a coach who gets the fundamentals first, and then works on the flashy stuff.

A Michigan fan recently wrote me on the coach vacancy and he had a lot to say:

I'm not much of a Miles fan either. In addition to what you said, he'll be 54 next season. I'd rather have a younger guy, as it's hard to think of a coach who did as well in his 60's as his 40's & 50's. He's not entirely out of play yet, though. A number of former players, who apparently think he should have been annointed head coach without an interview, background check or anyone else being considered came out and basically raised a very public stink sayingCarr blackballed Les and they were going to hold their breaths until they turned blue or something if Les wasn't offered the job.

There were strong rumors over the weekend that Mary Sue Coleman had gotten involved and that an offer was made to Miles behind the scenes this past weekend. He supposedly has a couple of days to decide. I have no idea of the veracity, but it's not just the usual random posters suggesting this, so it might have some legs.

Assuming Miles turns it down or was never offered, it should get interesting. Not clear who they'll target. Could be Tedford (Cal), who lots of people loved until his team dropped six games this year. But it's not clear if he'd come anyway, since he's a California native who's got a pretty good gig going there. People fear Martin will turn to former Carr D-Line coach and current Ball State head coach, Brady Hoke,and some think it might also go to current UM DC RonEnglish.

Other names mentioned include Saints HC Sean Payton (supposedly UM inquired but he said he's not interested), and Chris Petersen of Boise State. Undeniable offensive innovator, but has only been ahead coach for two seasons and like Tedford has no midwest ties; Missourri HC Gary Pinkel who'll be 56 inApril and who's only really had one good year there, but he's supposed to be a good man and rhe coach atToledo, so he's got midwest ties, and possibly Former UM defensive lineman and current Carolina Panthers DC Mike Trgovac (his name hasn't come up much lately, but I thought he might be a way to appease the former players behind Miles). Brian Kelly's name also comes up from time to time. He's the HC at Cincinnati, and was at CMU for three years before that, and before that he turned Grand Valley into a Div. II powerhouse. But though his name comes up, it's pretty widely thought by insiders that he's not going to be considered because he's a jerk. Another coordinator whose name comes up is the Patriots' OC, Josh McDaniels, whose dad is a legendary high school coach in Ohio. After all, Notre Dame has had such success with a Patriots' OC. Actually I don't want to lump him in with Charlie Weiss because he could be great. I just don't know if his aspiration is to coach college or the pros. Plus you just never know with coordinators making the jump to HC. Take Cam Cameron, who used to coach at UM and whose name the national media (but not the insiders) keep bringing up as a candidate. I can't recall if he was ever OC here or just the QB coach, but by all accounts he was a great assistant. Then he went to Indiana and failed pretty miserably as a head coach. Then had several successful NFL gigs before shining as the Chargers' OC the past couple of seasons. Gets himself hired as the Dolphins' HC and is on pace to do 0-16.

My personal favorite, who probably won't get a look, is Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun. This is only his first year as a head coach, but he's got a great pedigree, having been the Houston Texans' OC and assistant head coach to Mike Shanahan at Denver. Furthermore he was on highly-respected (but 56 years-old) Jim Grobe's staff at Wake Forest as OC, and he coached for at least five years at Ohio University(so he's got midwest ties). All that and he's only 41. While most people want a big name (Bill Cowher's and John Gruden's names are brought up by posters with regularity) coach, I'd rather have a guy who's going to make his name at UM.

The other guy I like, but who would be an even bigger than Calhoun is Brian Kelly's successor at GVSU. He not only maintained the program, but advanced it, going 50-4 over the past four seasons and winning the last two DII titles before losing in the semis this past weekend. He's only 39 or 40 and clearly knows how to wind. I've watched at least some of their last three games, and I really like his sideline demeanor. He's definitely intense on the sidelines, but he never screams or even seems upset. But it's an awfully big jump from D-II to D-I (but Tressell made a similar one from Youngstown St.), and he's never been at a big school as a coach or player. One thing in his favor, though, is that he knows how to prepare a team that constantly has a bulls eye on its back like UM does. In other words we're the biggest game of the year for OSU, MSU, Illinois Wisconsin & Minnesota, and possibly for ND & Northwestern as well.

So anyway, I went into the search fairly optimistic because I thought Martin had done pretty well with his past 5 or so hires (Men's and Women's basketball, Baseball, Tennis and Swimming), but there's SO much pressure from so many sides (former players several factions of big time donors, Lloyd Carr and others) I probably don't even know about, that I'm not as confident now. Martin is being villified in the press for "blowing" the Miles hire and for being "embarassed" by Schiano of Rutgers, who took himself out of consideration after a 5 hour meeting with Martin during which it apparently looked as if he'd take the position if offered), so now I'm lessc onfident he'll be able to just hire the best person. So we'll see.