Les Miles and Michigan

GreatDanish

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And if you win big at UCF (which you can), the salary will follow. UCF is a school with massive enrollment - if there was ever a 'sleeping giant' in FBS football, UCF is it. Tons of resources ready to roll when the right coach comes along...
And, from a selfish standpoint, even if UCF doesn't pay... You win 10+ games at UCF regularly, you probably get a chance to go to a $4 million+ job. At Michigan, if you win 10+ games regularly but lose to OSU every year, you get canned and labeled a failure.
 

imauafan

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Michigan's program seems to become less and less appealing with every passing year. If I was a coach who was offered the Michigan job and the Central Florida job, I would take the Central Florida job without reservation.
Folks were saying the same thing about Bama 7-8 years ago and look where we are now.
 

derek4tide

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The Michigan job has tons of baggage. An interim AD and a president from the Ivy League, who doesn't "get" football" make for some issues for any candidate. That's 2 huge red flags right off. However, UM is a top tier job and they will get who they want in the end.
 

uafanataum

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I think some are underestimating how big the UM job is. I know they are in the Big10 and aren't in the south's recruiting hotbed but they are basically Alabama during the Mike, Mike, Mike days.
They are literally the sleeping giant of the north. If they got their "Saban" they would be very relevant again IMO. They'd have to recruit nationally (like UT did in their heyday), but they could probably do that with their tradition.
Any Saban like coaches in the market lately? I agree that Michigsn with the right coach could be Bama north, but who is available?
 

BamaMoon

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Any Saban like coaches in the market lately? I agree that Michigsn with the right coach could be Bama north, but who is available?
There's only one "Saban" but they are probably barking up the right tree with JH. He would need exactly what CNS got from Bama: "total control."

If they let someone that knows what they are doing make the decisions and if the "big wigs" stay out of the coach's business they'll turn it around eventually...at least to being back competing with OSU and beating MSU.

They seem to be in a very similar situation as Bama was "post-Bryant:" Too many cooks in the kitchen. And if they can't get JH, LM seems like a strong enough personality to fix some of what ails them, at least from a leader's perspective (his on the field coaching aside). FWIW, Dan Mullen doesn't strike me as a "I'm the boss, buzz off" type personality.
 

81usaf92

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Michigan's problem on the outside is that their fans basically control the program. Everytime someone moans and groans outside the football program someone magically gets fired or put on the hot seat. Michigan basically canned Lyodd carr for the 07 season after he lost to App State and OSU. What everyone forgets about Michigan 07 is that the teams they lost to the FCS champion, a talented Oregon team, and the Big 10 champion and National championship representative Ohio State. Also Michigan beat the defending and eventual national champions Florida in the Citrus bowl. but people in Michigan whined and moaned about it and wanted Rich Rod, the man that turned down Bama with his high Octane offense. Well that ofcourse backfired, and then they moaned and groaned that they need a MICHIGAN man. So they got Brady Hoke, and now they are moaning and groaning that anything other than Harbaugh or miles is unacceptable.

So the job is very hard for someone that cant take constant criticism and cant have a have two decent teams within their first 4years. I think with the right coach they could make a return, but I cant think of any besides their big three canidates.
 

mittman

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I was in Ann Arbor a little while ago and was commenting on how nice the Big House was looking. A professor that was sitting at the next table butted in and went on a rant about how pitiful it is that they get comments on that monstrosity instead of the real campus. Not that it had anything to do with the conversation, just something that happened.

I think they have everything they need to turn around with the right guy. I don't think it is any harder to recruit nationally to Michigan and cold weather than Alabama with the hot and humid weather, but their base is tough. A really good coach with a lot of confidence would take Michigan in a heartbeat. You turn around Michigan and you get Saban treatment. You build UCF into a contender you just get offers.

It is really hard to know wither they are in their own way or not, but if they do get Jim Harbaugh look out. They could be real good real fast.
 

JeffAtlanta

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Folks were saying the same thing about Bama 7-8 years ago and look where we are now.
Exactly. All of the same things that are being said here about Michigan were said about the Alabama job after Shula was fired.

The fact of the matter is that the northern states do produce a lot of talent. It isn't as concentrated as it is in some southern states but the northern population is still huge and Michigan is still a prestigious destination.

Northern schools like Michigan and Penn State still have the resources, national cachet and fanbase to recover with the right coach.
 
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GreatDanish

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Okay, let me just clarify this...

Michigan in 2014 is worse than Alabama in 2007. We were coming out of our worst time - we were on the way up overall. We had still won 10 games the year before, had a stable athletic department, and an AD and administration who was committed to building the football program. Fran and Price made us look bad - but only because of their own decisions - not because of our athletic department's incompetence.

Michigan doesn't even have an AD. Their fans clamored for their prior AD to be fired because he was train wreck. They have a new President who has recently come out saying that he's not nearly as interested in athletics as academics - he's from Brown and people fear that he's bringing the Ivy League mindset of not caring about sports. Their marketing director for athletics just resigned for saying that the Michigan logo was more important than their athletes.

It's not just that they lost games this year. It's that the university's governance of athletics really stinks right now. Jim Harbaugh could probably win a lot of games, but he would go there because it's his alma mater. He wouldn't be going there because it's the best job he could land.
 

JeffAtlanta

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Okay, let me just clarify this...

Michigan in 2014 is worse than Alabama in 2007. We were coming out of our worst time - we were on the way up overall. We had still won 10 games the year before
Dubose & Franchoine also had 10 win seasons - the program was certainly not on the way up. Alabama had just come off of a 6-7 season and was previously 10-2, 6-6 & 4-9. Almost no one, including Alabama fans, felt that the program was on the way up. I remember lots of minor programs being mentioned as being better jobs than Alabama at that time.

Alabama was also just coming off of sanctions and still facing at least two more years of probation due to the bogus repeat offender status. The feeling nationally was that it was only a matter of time until the program would be hammered again.

All of the problems that you've mentioned at Michigan are transient - all they require is making a good hire with the AD and head coach. A school like Michigan has the resources and national cachet to make those kind of hires if they put their mind to it.
 
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81usaf92

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Okay, let me just clarify this...

Michigan in 2014 is worse than Alabama in 2007. We were coming out of our worst time - we were on the way up overall. We had still won 10 games the year before, had a stable athletic department, and an AD and administration who was committed to building the football program. Fran and Price made us look bad - but only because of their own decisions - not because of our athletic department's incompetence.

Michigan doesn't even have an AD. Their fans clamored for their prior AD to be fired because he was train wreck. They have a new President who has recently come out saying that he's not nearly as interested in athletics as academics - he's from Brown and people fear that he's bringing the Ivy League mindset of not caring about sports. Their marketing director for athletics just resigned for saying that the Michigan logo was more important than their athletes.

It's not just that they lost games this year. It's that the university's governance of athletics really stinks right now. Jim Harbaugh could probably win a lot of games, but he would go there because it's his alma mater. He wouldn't be going there because it's the best job he could land.
well you are comparing two totally different circumstances with our 07 and their 14. For us that was a change of a regime, and for them that was a falling of the face of the earth moment. Of course we were better in that year than they were in this year it was because we had Saban and they had Brady "I smell like hotdogs" Hoke. If you want to compare our 06 season to their 14 season then that is a fair arguement, and quite honestly I dont think we were worlds better than they are like you think . Michigan is going through what we went through from 00 to 06, and they will eventually find a way back to prominence. Will it be this hire??? I dont know, but what I do know is that they will eventually get it right.
 

GreatDanish

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Dubose & Franchoine also had 10 win seasons - the program was certainly not on the way up. Alabama had just come off of a 6-7 season and was previously 10-2, 6-6 & 4-9. Almost no one, including Alabama fans, felt that the program was on the way up. I remember lots of minor programs being mentioned as being better jobs than Alabama at that time.

Alabama was also just coming off of sanctions and still facing at least two more years of probation due to the bogus repeat offender status. The feeling nationally was that it was only a matter of time until the program would be hammered again.

All of the problems that you've mentioned at Michigan are transient - all they require is making a good hire with the AD and head coach. A school like Michigan has the resources and national cachet to make those kind of hires if they put their mind to it.
Michigan 2014 is more comparable to Alabama 2000. They were both at rock bottom at those times. We were not at rock bottom in 2006.
Maybe we disagree, but having a President whose support of athletics questioned, a train wreck of an AD on his way out (and no AD in place now), and another high-up athletic official on his way out because of his lack of support for the athletes - those aren't just "well, maybe next year those things won't happen!" Those are indicative of an organizational problem at Michigan.

Rich Rodriguez is having more success at Arizona than he did at Michigan. That's a symptom of the problem. The university is not set up to support a successful football program right now. The right hire will make a huge difference - no doubting that. But it's just not a good job right now.
 

RTR91

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Per a report from CBS reporter Joe Pequeno out of KPHO in Phoenix, Arizona, Michigan's offer to Jim Harbaugh is for six years and 49 million dollars.

If these numbers are correct, it would make Harbaugh the highest paid coach in college football. Nick Saban at Alabama is currently the highest paid coach in the NCAA at 7.3 million/year. Those numbers at 8+ million/year would also make him the highest paid coach in either college or the NFL, as Sean Payton in New Orleans and Pete Carroll in Seattle make an even 8 million/year.
 

81usaf92

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Michigan 2014 is more comparable to Alabama 2000. They were both at rock bottom at those times. We were not at rock bottom in 2006.
Maybe we disagree, but having a President whose support of athletics questioned, a train wreck of an AD on his way out (and no AD in place now), and another high-up athletic official on his way out because of his lack of support for the athletes - those aren't just "well, maybe next year those things won't happen!" Those are indicative of an organizational problem at Michigan.

Rich Rodriguez is having more success at Arizona than he did at Michigan. That's a symptom of the problem. The university is not set up to support a successful football program right now. The right hire will make a huge difference - no doubting that. But it's just not a good job right now.
I agree on your infransture analysis about michigan, but Rich Rod having success in the PAC 12 is not an indicator of anything about Michigan. Rich Rod's offense was never going to work in the Big 10 while Dantonio and Tressell were stocking up on defense and the most valued recruits in that area. Also Michigan pulled the plug on him because again, the fans were moaning and groaning about the football team and Mrs Rodriguez had to do her best Marie Antoinette moment and said " Well look at how long it took Saban to do it at Alabama" in front of supporters and fans.

Also its worth noting that Brady Hoke went to 3 bowl games in his 4 year tenure just like Shula, but Hoke has two things on Shula and that is a BCS win and a win over his school's arch rival. I dont think Michigan has hit rock bottom, but I do think with either this hire or the next something has to give or they could be looking at it.
 

GreatDanish

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I agree on your infransture analysis about michigan, but Rich Rod having success in the PAC 12 is not an indicator of anything about Michigan. Rich Rod's offense was never going to work in the Big 10 while Dantonio and Tressell were stocking up on defense and the most valued recruits in that area. Also Michigan pulled the plug on him because again, the fans were moaning and groaning about the football team and Mrs Rodriguez had to do her best Marie Antoinette moment and said " Well look at how long it took Saban to do it at Alabama" in front of supporters and fans.

Also its worth noting that Brady Hoke went to 3 bowl games in his 4 year tenure just like Shula, but Hoke has two things on Shula and that is a BCS win and a win over his school's arch rival. I dont think Michigan has hit rock bottom, but I do think with either this hire or the next something has to give or they could be looking at it.
Well, I at least think it's fishy that he's taken three jobs. Two of them were pretty bad when he took over. He took both of those bad teams to BCS bowls and top 10 finishes (if they beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl). At WV, he finished in the top 10 his last three years, went to BCS bowls twice, and won a total of 32 games in those three years.

He took over Michigan when they were decent and in his second year, their only conference win was a three point home win against Indiana.

I don't think Rich Rod is a miraculous coach, but I do think that when a coach succeeds at two other BCS schools and fails at yours, it is the school that's the problem more than the coach.
 

imauafan

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Well, I at least think it's fishy that he's taken three jobs. Two of them were pretty bad when he took over. He took both of those bad teams to BCS bowls and top 10 finishes (if they beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl). At WV, he finished in the top 10 his last three years, went to BCS bowls twice, and won a total of 32 games in those three years.

He took over Michigan when they were decent and in his second year, their only conference win was a three point home win against Indiana.

I don't think Rich Rod is a miraculous coach, but I do think that when a coach succeeds at two other BCS schools and fails at yours, it is the school that's the problem more than the coach.[/
QUOTE]

If I remember correctly after he had already signed the contract and became the HC there was a dispute between he and Michigan about who would pay WVU to buy out his contract. Given this huge breakdown in communication between employer-employee it is no wonder that he did not succeed at Michigan but has been successful everywhere else.
 

81usaf92

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Well, I at least think it's fishy that he's taken three jobs. Two of them were pretty bad when he took over. He took both of those bad teams to BCS bowls and top 10 finishes (if they beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl). At WV, he finished in the top 10 his last three years, went to BCS bowls twice, and won a total of 32 games in those three years.

He took over Michigan when they were decent and in his second year, their only conference win was a three point home win against Indiana.

I don't think Rich Rod is a miraculous coach, but I do think that when a coach succeeds at two other BCS schools and fails at yours, it is the school that's the problem more than the coach.
Michigan is in the land of Big man on Big man football. The Pac 12 and the Big East (what it was at his time at WV) are more finesse offenses with very litle defensive play. Him going to Michigan is like if Chris Peterson was to come here. Michigan was good before Rich Rod, but alot of that was because Lyodd Carr was the coach. Rich Rod tried to make Michigan a finesse team and it royaly backfired. i dont blame Michigan for firing him, but I do blame them for replacing him with Brady Hoke just to appease the peanut gallery crying for a "Michigan Man". I dont think Rich Rod is a bad coach, but I dont think he is a great one either.
 

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