Michigan Football - 2024 Season.

[Mike]

Yep. I'm happy for him and wish him the best. I think the Chargers will be very good very quickly.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Herbert is following Harbaugh to LA per Josh Henschke.

He's going to be harder to replace than the OC and DC.

[Mike]

That really sucks.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Josh Henschke reported Herbert's move to LA earlier today. Now, Sam Webb is reporting JustinTress, Hebert's assistant, is getting promoted to Head S&C and can keep the S&C program chugging right along.

There's not a lot out there about his credentials and resume. What I like is the info coming out of Schembechler Hall is that Moore is working to create as much continuity in the program, now sans Harbaugh, as possible.

[lineygoblue]

I just wish he wasn't gutting the M coaching staff as he leaves.

There's plenty of excellent qualified NFL guys out there looking for jobs who'd fit his requirements nicely.

[lineygoblue]

So far:

Minter ----- gone
Jay Harbaugh ---- gone
Ben Herbert ---- gone

---

Mike Hart ---- out of contact with the program .. nobody has seen or spoken to him since returning from the NC game.

----

Kirk Campbell --- no official word yet
Mike Elston ---- no official word yet
Ron Bellamy ---- no official word yet
Steve Clinkscale ---- no official word yet
Grant Newsome ---- no official word yet

----
Maybe some word will come down this week?

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think Minter and Jay Harbaugh were entirely predictable coach losses. The promotion of S&C Assistant Justin Tress to the head S&C guy signals Moore is working to extend the M culture that Harbaugh installed and Herbert was a big piece of that. It's the S&C system that contributed to the M culture that warrants preserving.

I also think that team 144 had an identity that isn't going to be replicated. 145 will have it's own identity shaped by a continuation of a successful culture for sure. But team 145 leadership among the players is going to have to emerge. McCarthy led 144 along with Corum and Sanistril. Remains to be seen who emerges as team leaders. They'll have to concoct their own glue that binds the team together focused on winning.

[Mike]

Grant Newsome has been promoted from TEs to O-Line coach.

[Jeff Buchanan]

mgoboard is reporting Balas believes Herbert wanted to stay and was asking for a longer term contract but M (Warde Manuel) wouldn't provide it. People posting in response point out the Balas has been woefully wrong on several football program circumstances and is no longer a trustworthy insider.I think it's just more piling on Warde, throwing shit on the wall to see if it will stick.

[lineygoblue]

I saw a pre season video with Herbert in it, and he said in referring to Harbaugh, "I go where he goes".

Its no surprise that he left. I was hoping that he might be persuaded to stay, but he's true to his word.

At least we got one of his top assistants so the S&C program should remain unchanged.

[Hannibal]

Boy o boy, are we going to have some young-ass, inexperienced coaches. It's a little scary to me. Grant Newsome is OC and he's what -- 30 years old? Moore is pretty young for a HC. He had an excellent audition for the job, but he's an unknown commodity long term.

Maybe at least recruiting will pack back up with some youth and enthusiasm on the staff. It looks from where I am sitting like Michigan has taken 12 months off in that department.

[Mike]

Recruiting is an area I'm definitely hopeful for improvement.

Is anyone else fed up with annual contract negotiations? Herbert signed a 5 year deal last year which, apparently, made him the highest paid S&C coach in the country. So why the hell were they even talking about a new contract? In 2024 contracts for college coaches work like this: If the coach doesn't perform very well the school still has to pay him X, per the contract. If the coach really sucks and gets fired, the school has to pay him X per his contract. OTOH, if the coach exceeds expectations, he automatically feels entitled to a new contract even though the ink is barely dry on the old one. So WTF are we even doing here?

[iam416]

Sherrone Moore honestly has more long-term program upside than HARBAUGH***** (IMO). I think, in theory, he can actually recruit. Certainly better than HARBAUGH****. And, IMO, he's definitely in it for the long haul. So, if he's good, you don't need to worry about that silly song and dance every offseason. He could be there for 25 years if he's good -- which would necessarily mean he can build and SUSTAIN roster strength.

His floor, of course, is way lower than HARBAUGH*****, but that's the roll of the dice.

Unless he gets his QB situation figured out for 2024, though, it's going to be a rough start. And he has work cut out for him to make it any better in 2025 -- but, at least with the new rules he has options to upgrade. But that roster is, IMO, not in a great place. Not for winning the B10 and maybe not for even getting into the CFP -- being 1 of the 6 best "at-large" teams.

We'll see.

[iam416]

As a follow-on point to the roster quality and sustainability issue -- the new B10 now has Oregon and USC. Those boys are gonna recruit. Those boys are gonna put rosters together. And so is Ohio State. That's now 3 schools that would certainly out-recruit HARBAUGH***** by a considerable margin. Moore has to be competitive with those schools -- and he probably needs full institutional alignment --- which, man -- that can be tricky. As far as I can tell, it takes seeing your rivals win a national title. But, even then, Ohio State recruiting was already elite. They were losing out on a few true game-changing recruits, but they were way better than anything else in the B10. Now they're not in a "losing out" position any more.

Anyway, I really think Moore needs full institutional buy-in if he's going to succeed. M has to take a huge jump. And I think M is gonna be in real trouble in Columbus. We'll see. I've been very wrong before, so it wouldn't be a first. But, if I'm right, then it would be a ginormous mistake to chalk it up to portal anomalies or whatever. It would be entirely correct to treat it as a harbinger UNLESS the school gets on-board fully.

[Mike]

Hard to disagree with any of that. The 2024 defense will keep the team competitive but the current QB situation is a limiting factor. We have a couple guys coming in, Davis and Smith, but that's a hopeful solution for '25 and beyond IF they work out/don't transfer. I don't think there's anyone left in the portal that's worth a great deal - an unfortunate downside to a deep playoff run.

As far as NIL goes (and by "NIL" I mean pay-for-play, not selling jerseys with players names on them and giving them $3/unit), I'm not sold that the current model is sustainable. If the reported figures out of OSU are accurate, $10-13M in player retention/portal additions, are the monied interests willing to shell that out every year? I think it's safe to say that their recent spending spree is a direct result of Michigan winning the national championship but what about when that urgency fades?

It will end up being just like professional sports where owners go all-in when they're close and when things are lean, you pare back spending. When people complain that Michigan is lacking in NIL, what they really mean is we don't seem to have wealthy doners buying players. That's true as far as I know. But there is actual NIL in place. Until major CFB gets their collective shit together, separates from the NCAA, installs a commissioner, and has actual rules over this stuff, it will continue to be the wild west.

As a fan, the LAST thing I will be doing is contributing to some collective to pay players. Harbaugh is 100% correct when he says the players should get a cut of the revenue. Both the Big Ten and SEC bring in well over $2B a year now. OSU just hit close to $250M alone. It's absolutely ludicrous that fans who shell out quite a bit for tickets, merchandise, and travel are supposed to now fund player payrolls in the tens of millions of dollars. Fuck the fuck off with all that.