Michigan coaching search will be a true search
It’s funny: many Michigan fans eagerly anticipated the day when the head coaching job at the University of Michigan was truly open to the most highly-qualified candidate. That hasn’t been the case since Bo Schembechler was hired following the 1968 season. But when Bill Martin refused to budge when his hiring process didn’t fit Les Miles and LSU’s timetable there was a huge outcry from the Michigan faithful for not simply offering the job to Miles.
The pursuit of Les Miles played out a little bit like I thought it might.
…the timing is going to play a big role in the decision process: LSU will likely give Miles a small window to take or leave their offer. If Bill Martin really is committed to interviewing a solid number of prospects he might not be able to give Miles an answer as quickly as the coach would like. So if that’s the case will Les Miles walk away from an LSU deadline without knowing for sure if he will become Michigan’s next coach?
But I also have been championing Brian Kelly for months and every reporter who has any connection to the Michigan athletic department has either said directly or by not saying much has indicated that Kelly has no shot at the job. I don’t know what the big issue is with Kelly but apparently there is something that makes him unpalatable.
One final push on the Brian Kelly front. The New York Times recently ran an interesting article on Kelly.
Kelly, 46, has become one of the country’s fast-rising coaching talents. He not only won two N.C.A.A. Division II national titles at Grand Valley State and the Mid-American Conference title at Central Michigan in 2006, but also guided the Bearcats to a 6-0 start this season and their first top-25 ranking since 1954, before they lost the next two games.
Kelly’s outreach to the students and the community has helped double the team’s season-ticket sales and changed the biggest football problem on campus from how to fill the 35,000 seats at Nippert Stadium to how to meet the students’ demand for seats. More than 1,000 students camped outside the stadium before the Louisville game on Oct. 13. Kelly was right at home in the middle of the tent city, shaking hands, chatting and handing out pizza.
“Brian was just born that way,” said the Cincinnati athletic director, Mike Thomas. “He’s comfortable dealing with the media, alumni, donors, students and fans. It’s a skill set a lot of people don’t have and a lot of coaches don’t have.”
He’s also likely to win 10 games when the Bearcats play Southern Mississippi in the Papa John’s Bowl later this month. That’s only happened once before in Cinci’s 122 years of playing football. Given that Michael Rosenberg wrote about how highly some at Michigan thought of Mark Dantonio [who preceeded Kelly at Cincinnati], perhaps there is a similar thought from those people that Mike DeBord, who preceeded Kelly at Central Michigan, would be a preferable candidate as well. It’s pretty easy to put two and two together as far as this is concerned.
Michael Rosenberg seems pretty well-connected. Back when I was pushing for Michigan to hire Chris Lowery as the new basketball coach Rosenberg was practically writing press releases for John Beilein’s candidacy. So this recent column on Jeff Tedford might give you some indication that Tedford has a really good shot at the gig. Tedford, like Beilein, has generated some interest from professional sports - which is weird considering how poorly his quarterbacks have done in the NFL.
Tedford was also Brian’s first pick in his Profiles in Heroism series during the football season. I’ve always been skeptical about Tedford but the fact Rosenberg wrote a glowing Beilein-like article about him makes me think he’s the guy who has to be the front-runner right now.
He’s a west coast guy and I’m not sure he has any interest in coming to the midwest, but hey Miles was a midwest guy whose coaching career took him to the south. So I guess anything is possible. Brian also does a great job looking at the compensation Tedford currently receives. Tedford is already paid $1.8mm per season and has a buyout that can range from anywhere to $0.9mm to $1.8mm as he’s signed through 2013.
Giving Tedford a nice raise probably fits in line with what Bill Martin said he’s willing to consider - $2mm to $3mm - and the buyout is probably closer to $0.9mm as it doesn’t sound like the Cal football team is close to occupying their new football facility. That makes the buyout half of what it would be otherwise.
Cal’s season ended last night with a loss to beleagured michigan man Jim Harbaugh. Bill Martin could be placing a call to the California athletic director at any time to request permission to discuss the head coaching job opening with Tedford. My guess is this will be the storyline that replaces the Les Miles, Kirk Ferentz, Les Miles spin cycle as the Wolverines continue to pursue their new head coach.
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The knock against Kelly is that he hasn’t built a D1 program. I’m not all that worried about it, as he did build a power at GVSU, and Michigan can somewhat recruit itself. Kelly would do just fine.
What does bother me about Kelly is the job hopping. He’s another Saban, looking for the BIG payday. My fear is that Kelly uses Michigan as a stepping stone to the pros, and stays for only 2-3 seasons. Then this circus starts all over again.
I’m not totally sold on Tedford. The way Cal finished their season took some of the luster off his rep. But he is an offensive guru, and would bring life to a staid program. The thing is, does he want to come east?
I guess that’s the problem, there is no “Sure thing” in the U of M coaching search. Miiles was the closest to being a perfect fit. Now most of the remaining candidates would be round pegs trying to fit in a square hole.
Big Al,
I’m not sure Kelly’s headed to the NFL. He’s been a college coach for his entire career so I’m not sure where the rumors come regarding the NFL. Guys like Bobby Petrino took NFL assistant jobs early on in their careers which is someting Kelly has never done. So I think this is pretty unlikely.
Kelly spent 12 years at Grand Valley and spending three years at CMU isn’t bad at all. If he stays at Cinci he could have a similar four-year run as Petrino had at Louisville:
year one: 9-4
year two: 11-1
year three: 9-3
year four: 12-1
If Kelly gets hired at a program like Michigan the only upward position he could potentially seek would be the NFL. He’s never coached in the NFL in any capacity so this seems pretty unlikely.
He’s built GVSU and CMU up to the point where they’ve been successful after he left, so even if he theoretically did leave for the NFL there’s reason to believe he’d leave a solid network in place that could sustain the success I’m certain he’d have as Michigan’s coach.
This guy would be a home run hire. I just don’t get why he’s not a candidate.
One more comment. Kelly wants to coach big-time college football. That’s just not CMU. He was obviously successful there and he put his hat in the ring for Iowa State [Big Twelve], Michigan State [Big Ten] and Cinci [Big East].
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a guy with his track record wanting those kind of opportunities.