2014 Michigan Football: Dammit Jim, we need a Harbaugh. And a miracle worker.
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Kremlin Watcher said:
Nope. He quit on a 3-10 team on Monday, December 10th with a four-sentence note he had laminated and put in every player's locker. Less than 24 hours after telling Arthur Blank and Rich McKay he was "going nowhere".
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/sports/football/13falcons.html?_r=1&
Bobby Petrino is a colossal dickhead, for many other reasons, and I'm sorry for derailing the Michigan thread with a factual correction.
Back to looking for a coach.
I was referring to his departure from Arkansas, not Atlanta.soxfan121 said:
Edit: My poor attempt at sarcasm resulted in a misunderstanding. The judgment of "successful" or "unsuccessful" referred to their college coaching career, not pro. So the reference to Saban as a failure was meant as a poor attempt at humor, not his record at Miami.
He won't last until the third unless there's a personal incident. I'd still say 50/50 for the second half of the first round if he has a good combine. He's a rare combination of size and athleticism.
Zososoxfan said:
He won't last until the third unless there's a personal incident. I'd still say 50/50 for the second half of the first round if he has a good combine. He's a rare combination of size and athleticism.
Supporting Zo's line of thinking, my position on Funchess:Zososoxfan said:
He doesn't have NFL speed.
He is an unwilling blocker.
He is a poor route runner.
He drops too many passes, due to both average hands and poor concentration.
Effort, discipline, perseverance are not words in his vocabulary.
Jeremy Gallon is twice the receiver Funchess is, despite his diminutive stature.
It's true that "you can't coach height", and Funchess has unusual physical tools, but he'll get some position coach or scout fired if he's drafted before the end of the 3rd. He's the definition of a lottery ticket, and is more Mike Williams than Megatron. A really disappointing season. No thanks.
Several media outlets, and even Duke University itself, declared that Michigan did NOT contact Cutcliffe, much less offer him the job.
Sounds as if the search firm has been extending feelers to gauge potential interest, but may now begin the process of narrowing the field.
Kremlin Watcher said:
Carroll and Mora are the only ones that really count. Spurrier, Davis, Saban, Devine and Petrino were not really "pro coaches" -- they were successful veteran college HCs BEFORE jumping to the NFL in the first place. Lou Holtz too, though you don't mention him. So they're not the most useful data point when you discuss NFL coaches who later enjoy college success. That success was predictable based on past success as college coaches. Other than Carroll and Mora, I'm having a hard time coming up with someone who jumps to college after only being a HC in the NFL who does really well. Al Groh maybe? He coached the Jets to a 9-7 record in his 1 year there before a mediocre stint at UVa. Dan Henning? He had 1 good year at BC with Tom Coughlin's players after a career as an NFL retread type.
Sean Payton being considered now?
http://fansided.com/2014/12/12/michigan-hiring-sean-payton-jim-harbaugh-les-miles/
http://fansided.com/2014/12/12/michigan-hiring-sean-payton-jim-harbaugh-les-miles/
I assume everyone here reads MGoBlog, but just in case they don't...:
I know this is couched with all the necessary disclaimers, but since Cook is seemingly the only person saying positive things about Michigan's chances, he's going out on a bit of a limb here. My head tells me the lone voice guy is probably wrong, no matter how much I like him, but it's hard not to get my hopes up.
If it doesn't happen of course, gonna be hard not to be a bit pissed at Cook.
I know this is couched with all the necessary disclaimers, but since Cook is seemingly the only person saying positive things about Michigan's chances, he's going out on a bit of a limb here. My head tells me the lone voice guy is probably wrong, no matter how much I like him, but it's hard not to get my hopes up.
If it doesn't happen of course, gonna be hard not to be a bit pissed at Cook.
No doubt that Harbaugh is a good coach and will probably bring Michigan back to a national power. And I will probably root for the laundry. But I really cannot stand him as an NFL coach and as such I probably wouldn't be able to enjoy any success quite as much. Just my own .02. YMMV.
twibnotes said:
Fully agree with this. I wanted Les back in 2008 before they hired RR but not now 6 years later.
bowiac said:
A fellow alum I know who's about 10 years older than me and a lot more connected than I am claims "it looks good" based on what he calls reliable sources. Of course I don't know who these sources are, so i wouldn't know what to make of it.
Steve Lorenz @TremendousUM 8m8 minutes ago
Report: #Michigan offering Harbaugh 6 yrs/$49M; would be the highest paid coach in football (FREE): http://michigan.247sports.com/Bolt/Report-Michigan-offering-Harbaugh-6-Yrs49M-33944453 …
Report: #Michigan offering Harbaugh 6 yrs/$49M; would be the highest paid coach in football (FREE): http://michigan.247sports.com/Bolt/Report-Michigan-offering-Harbaugh-6-Yrs49M-33944453 …
There's certainly a lot of smoke out there re Harbaugh, but until December 28th, we're really not going to hear anything. Harbaugh could already be making plans to move to A2 or he could be using this entire thing as leverage. I hope that Harbaugh wouldn't do UM the disservice of stringing them along for his own benefit, but he could always say 'I was interested in UM, but then [Insert NFL Team] blew me away and I couldn't say no" to save face.
So... an offer is out there and we're waiting for Harbaugh. Part of me says he's going to take the job, everyone who matters already knows this, and we'll get the announcement a week from Monday when the 49ers are officially done. And part of me says someone at Michigan really pissed him off and he knows perfectly well what waiting to hire a coach will do to this year's recruiting class if he's not there, not to mention the national perception of the clusterfuck that's been Michigan sports these days.
If he does cost $8 million per year, which these days means some rah-rah alumnus ponied up a lot of cash, does he have to wear a plaque on his clothing commemorating the donation? You get a plaque if you donate $8 million toward the new library.
If he does cost $8 million per year, which these days means some rah-rah alumnus ponied up a lot of cash, does he have to wear a plaque on his clothing commemorating the donation? You get a plaque if you donate $8 million toward the new library.
Harbaugh situation should be coming to a head on Monday.
Latest is that Hackett et al are in the Bay Area to try and finalize arrangements with Jimmy and the 49ers, while Rapoport also reported that SF has given permission to Oakland to speak with Harbaugh (I find this a little dubious, as it would be difficult to see SF handing Harbaugh over to Oakland, only to see him kick their ass for the forseeable future. But $$ and draft picks talk, I guess...)
It's hard not to feel optimistic about getting Harbaugh at this point, but dare I ask what plan B is? Wonder if Hackett has someone ready to go or if the search would take an extra week or two after a public swing and miss on Harbaugh.
Would just be odd if a guy like Mullen is waiting to see what Harbaugh says. Everyone would know he wasn't their top choice, and I worry about the implications of that.
Would just be odd if a guy like Mullen is waiting to see what Harbaugh says. Everyone would know he wasn't their top choice, and I worry about the implications of that.
No, that's impossible. He's just using Michigan to get a better contract offer from a pro team. Impossible.
There are people in Oakland that are still sure they are getting an interview on Monday. That is obviously against all media reports at this point, but there are people in the Raiders org. that are certain they get a sit down before he signs anywhere.
Congrats to the Michigan men of SoSH. Outstanding hire. I'll never understand how/why the 49ers let Harbaugh get away.
Here's to a new 10 year war between Urban/Harbaugh and that The Game is now meaningful every year.
Here's to a new 10 year war between Urban/Harbaugh and that The Game is now meaningful every year.
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On Jim Harbaugh: Michigan officials believe he’ll be their coach. But no firm deal is in place yet. Raiders haven’t been told they are out[/twitter]
It seems Michigan people have reason to think the deal is done, but Hargbaughs people, nor any 49er sources have not confirmed it.
Following
Ian RapoportVerified account
@RapSheet
On Jim Harbaugh: Michigan officials believe he’ll be their coach. But no firm deal is in place yet. Raiders haven’t been told they are out[/twitter]
It seems Michigan people have reason to think the deal is done, but Hargbaughs people, nor any 49er sources have not confirmed it.
More assertions from NFL media that this isn't done yet.
http://mweb.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24919491/raiders-still-plan-to-approach-the-49ers-about-jim-harbaugh-on-monday
http://mweb.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/24919491/raiders-still-plan-to-approach-the-49ers-about-jim-harbaugh-on-monday
Yup.twibnotes said:
The only bit of news in that article is that the Raiders aren't even pretending to consider giving Sparano the HC job on a permanent basis. I'm a little surprised they aren't at least keeping up appearances on that front until the final game is in the books.
Everything in that article about Harbaugh's intentions is rank speculation. I've felt for a while that Harbaugh would've tamped down speculation for the sake of the Michigan program if he wasn't headed for Ann Arbor, so I fully believe this is a done deal.
- Harbaugh negotiate contract settlement with SF
- Michigan negotiate compensation with SF
- Harbaugh finalize contract with Michigan
Three separate agreements (my conjecture) need to be executed in some order.
Rapoport, Schefter, LaCanfora et al simply don't have the sources to close the loop on all three of these moving pieces.
Of course Harbaugh isn't going to announce anything prior to his formal exit from the 49ers. That won't occur until sometime after the conclusion of his game today. So all the NFL media dipshits will leave their positions open for more clicks.
Michigan insiders (that have proven reliable thus far) have been indicating that a verbal between Harbaugh and Michigan has been in place for at least 10 days. SF FO has openly indicated that they have been in touch with Michigan, so I think item #2 has been agreed to in pricinciple for several days as well.
Despite all the caterwauling from the media and the Oakland FO saying they haven't been told they are out of it yet (makes me shiver because it harkens Cherington's identical quote about the Sox and Lester), the latest from insiders this morning is that all three of the items listed above have been completed.
Rumor is that DJ Durkin (Harbaugh's DL coach at Stanford and current DC at Florida) will be coming to AA as DC.
Arrangements being made for Tuesday presser... unveiling at BBall game... blah blah blah.
Hackett deserves tremendous credit when this gets pushed across the goal line.
Good for UM! I always thought that Harbaugh was a great college coach (and would not make a great pro coach) because the three legs of the college stool played to his strengths way better than he pros. College: maybe 40% recruiting, 25% getting your players up for big games, [SIZE=14.3999996185303px] 35% Xs and Os[/SIZE]. He was great at the first two, weak on the third. Pros: 90% Xs and Os, 10% motivation, 0% recruiting. Not a good fit, and I think he really did coast in SF based on a) an incredibly talented roster and b) a team that had been so badly coached they would automatically respond well to basically anyone not named Singletary.
UM has fallen pretty far, but they're still not as bad as pre-Harbaugh Stanford. If he could turn that shitshow into a national power, I feel really confident he can do the same in Ann Arbor.
UM has fallen pretty far, but they're still not as bad as pre-Harbaugh Stanford. If he could turn that shitshow into a national power, I feel really confident he can do the same in Ann Arbor.
Given the leaking from the front office over the past 8 months or so about how they want Harbaugh out, there's no way the 49ers are getting any significant compensation if Harbaugh goes to the college ranks. They will either let him out of his contract or they risk being stuck with him.Dick Pole Upside said:
Since it's clear they don't want him around, the compensation to the 49ers is the $5 million they are saving plus a tip for their trouble.
Edit: I guess they can have Brady Hoke.
SportsCenter said alums put a full court press for Harbaugh. Included on that was both Charles Woodson and Tom Brady.
This is not new news. ESPN is at least a week behind as are all of the national media guys. It's been embarrassing how poor their reporting has been regarding Harbaugh. People closer to the program have been talking about this for some time. I'm not ripping you, Red. I just think that you posting this now shows how poor the national media has been in reporting this and how slow they've been to getting up to speed. Those of us plugged in or listening to the Michigan side of things have heard the Woodson/Brady thing a while ago.RedOctober3829 said:
Yeah, I'm salty and petty at guys like Rapoport, La Confora, and co.
EDIT: Like 90% of the stuff the NFL media "reported" was straight from agents.
As is usually the case, local media people are going to have these things before national guys do. No one is going to confirm that Harbaugh is taking another job until the previous one is done. It's the ethical thing to do. The local guys want to make a name for themselves and will put themselves out there before things are official. National guys don't need to do that.sachmoney said:
National guys weren't reporting anything. They were sound boards for agents. We were rumored with Sean Payton and Jason Garrett? We were reportedly turned down by David Cutcliffe? All of this stuff came from NFL guys. The shift in reporting over the last four days has been incredible and these dudes are tripping over themselves to back track. The local guys, in this case, were doing their due diligence. There weren't guys who were jumping to say Harbaugh was coming to Michigan, but they were doing their due diligence and also filtering the various reports from other folks.RedOctober3829 said:
This has nothing to do with confirming him taking the job. It's about positing where Harbaugh would go. The NFL guys didn't do their diligence and were in denial. The Michigan guys didn't confirm anything until this weekend anyway. The reporting about whether Michigan can get him has been going on for the last month. The NFL guys haven't even considered the possibility until the last week.
Michigan-themed pleated Dockers on sale now
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2014/12/29/jim-harbaugh-dockers/20993897/
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2014/12/29/jim-harbaugh-dockers/20993897/
Pretty excited about Harbaugh. From what I've read, Durkin is coming AND Mattison is staying on in some capacity. All around pretty awesome. Very interested to see how he rounds out his staff and how he does with recruiting. I think next year there will be growing pains, but I also think UM will be very good in 2016. I'll be very interested to see if he goes to a pro-style offense again, or if he picked up some stuff from his experience with Kaep that keeps him closer to a spread. Lastly, I don't know if he sticks around for the duration of his contract. I think he will be lured by the NFL again sooner than later. But for now, I'm excited.
Bullshit -- there's no ethical obligation to keep a story under wraps, lest it cause discomfort for the subject of the story. If anything, the opposite is true.RedOctober3829 said:
The national guys got scooped on this one. Which is a tribute to Harbaugh's professionalism -- he kept mum, and all the leaks were on the UM side. (Not that they were wrong to let the story leak -- they had their own interest in getting the story out, and no obligation whatsoever to the 49ers.)
I think the coverage and narrative is a great example of the differences in sources between various blogs and 'mainstream' guys like Schefter and Rappaport. Greg Henson (radio host in Detroit) and Brian Cook (MGoBlog) have been hinting (if not outright reporting) the Harbaugh talks for a while based on emails from boosters and former players. Meanwhile, ESPN and NFL Network coverage seems to originate from agents and other coaches. It's no mistake that I currently spend more time on message boards than ESPN.com, etc. This has generally been true since the Nomar and Schilling trades.
The NFL guys had no problem speculating about where in the NFL he might end up. They just wrote off Michigan from the start. As Maufman says, there were a lot of leaks from the Michigan side. Why weren't these leaks coming from the NFL guys? Forget about the Michigan Michigan guys for a second. What about the Michigan guys in the NFL? Who did we hear about talking to Harbaugh at one point or another? Charles Woodson. Tom Brady. These are NFL players. We heard about Andy Moeller, the current Cleveland Browns offensive line coach that was co-captain with Harbaugh at Michigan. These are Michigan guys in the NFL. How come there was no/little approach to these guys?
Again, it's not the "scoop" that I'm being critical of here. Michigan didn't get on Harbaugh overnight. But if you followed just the NFL guys, that's what you'd think. It was a long, full court press. What I'm saying is that they covered the whole thing poorly. They didn't cover developments and were overly dismissive.
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I'm excited to see who Harbaugh brings aboard. I think that Andy Moeller would be the obvious guy to bring aboard to coach the offensive line. I'd love to see Durkin as he seems like a young energetic guy that has high aspirations as well as some recruiting chops. Another great guy to get would be Tyrone Wheatley from the Bills.
Again, it's not the "scoop" that I'm being critical of here. Michigan didn't get on Harbaugh overnight. But if you followed just the NFL guys, that's what you'd think. It was a long, full court press. What I'm saying is that they covered the whole thing poorly. They didn't cover developments and were overly dismissive.
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I'm excited to see who Harbaugh brings aboard. I think that Andy Moeller would be the obvious guy to bring aboard to coach the offensive line. I'd love to see Durkin as he seems like a young energetic guy that has high aspirations as well as some recruiting chops. Another great guy to get would be Tyrone Wheatley from the Bills.
