UM Football Recruiting - by WM Wolverine

[Hannibal]

The sooner the better. I'm not under the illusion that the next guy is guaranteed to be better than Harbaugh, but we need to get rid of this clown and move on. Maybe the next guy will suck. Nor am I under the illusion that UM is the draw for an up and coming coach that it used to be. But I'm ready to take the risk on Rowing the Boat, Kentucky Stoops, Luke Fecal, or Jeff Brohm. Whoever it is can't possibly suck worse vs. OSU and is virtually guaranteed to be better than 1-9 in Bowl Games + OSU.

[Hannibal]

My four favorite candidates right now:
1. Fecal
2. RowTheBoat
3. Stoops
4. Brohm

[lineygoblue]

It will be genuinely interesting to see how long this lasts. Harbaugh may have changed, but he doesn't seem like he's changed enough to want to hang on to a job in which he's consistently failing, in the way that Hoke would have been. I'm not sure it can go on like this, but I'm also not at all sure Michigan can hire someone better.

That's the real paradox here. Not only would it be difficult to get someone better to come here, Manuel and his superiors are obviously satisfied with Harbaugh's performance. I still think he's safe in his job as long as he wants it. Kind of like Kirk Ferentz at Iowa. He doesn't win championships, but he has the favor of his bosses, and they're satisfied with his results. Pretty much describes what is going on at Schembechler Hall.

I'm reduced to hoping that the year off football we might possibly be looking at, or the major disruption to the annual rythym of it, is an opportunity to reset for him.

Its going to be interesting to see how this plays out. I believe that there is less than a 20% chance that CFB is played in this calendar year. It could go either way for Harbaugh. He could be bolstered by some who choose to stay with an additional year of eligibility granted by the NCAA, for a lost season, .. or the program could be ravaged by the transfer portal, losing the few talented players that they actually have, choosing to move on. Still, I think Harbaugh hangs on. He has the support of his superiors. They're not going to fire him unless he goes full-blown Woody Hayes on them.

[hack]

No matter who the candidates are, one thing we know is that a whole bunch of people are going to worm their way into the discussion and inject a whole bunch of distractive nonsense. I'm not looking forward to any coaching search unless I'm convinced that the program and the people around it have truly hit bottom and are willing to conduct a proper search free of Michigan Man hubris.

It could very well take one more cycle. On the other hand, Fleck ticks a whole lot of boxes, and it will stroke egos to hire another HC from within the conference rather than from a mid-major.

[lineygoblue]

They may have to take a flyer on an unknown. At one time, nobody ever considered Dabo Swinney or Lincoln Riley to be "great" coaches, but yet, there they are. Any new search committee will have to do their homework to find someone that can do the job, but is still somewhat of an unknown.

I'm still not sold on Fleck. To me, he's James Franklin on crack. All emotion, and no substance. He's getting some decent results, but he's a prime candidate for early burnout.

[hack]

I can't say for sure -- you could be spot-on there. But what I mean is that it fits with the Michigan hubris to hire somebody ``proven'' rather than ``taking a flyer". Taking a flyer might get you a Riley or a Swinney, but to the people who have an informal degree of control in Ann Arbor, I don't think they see it that way. They seem to use coaching searches not only for the purpose of finding coaches, but for reinforcing what they think about the prestige of the university and also for appearing as if wins are just a small fraction of the goal here. Going after ``proven'' names is one way they reinforce that prestige and not dwell too much on the unsighly process of actually winning games. I personally would rather use a coaching search to find the best possible coach, so that the team can win. That, too, brings prestige. But I've no control over the process. In their ideal worlds, you just get the greatest number of ``proven'' head coaches and see who will walk the furthest and come for the least amount of money.

[iam416]

Perhaps UFM's greatest accomplishment for Ohio State was fighting to install Ryan Day.

It could be that Gattis is that guy for M.

[Hannibal]

Talent -- thank you for the humor. I woke up in a bad mood this morning and I got a good laugh out of that.

[iam416]

#SpeedInSpace!!!!

Well, seriously, I'm not sure what we know about Gattis. He had to remake M's offense and I'm not particularly sold that HARBAUGH!!!! is completely on-board with what he wants to do. So, it may be hard to see what Gattis is really capable of.

[lineygoblue]

Gattis may not be coaching at Michigan if the 2020 season goes by the wayside. By time M takes the field again, he may have already moved on.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I have nothing to add to the foregoing. Great post, Hack, on the notion that a coaching search at M would focus on augmenting M's prestige instead of looking for a coach that can win.

Harbaugh needs to move on. I actually think he may have one foot out the door and out of football altogether. It sure seems that way. It's bizarre.

[WM Wolverine]

M is unable to recruit elite DTs and corners now that Cass Tech isn't creating them. Both issues are becoming more apparent every season...

Don Brown and staff have little issue taking an athlete that they think can play if all a recruit needs is taught how to play and add strength. M takes too many of those types when they could be chasing elite talent then settling for them later...

While Talent is comparing our recruits to the Buckeyes (there is no comparison), I'm sadly comparing them to Penn State now. Buckeyes are targeting and signing recruits a full level ahead of M. M's talent is similar to that of Penn State. I'm serious when I say M is only competing for 2nd place in the B1G East, the gap between us which was minimal in '16-'18 (they had miles better QB play) is growing.

Very similar to last years recruiting class, I'm looking at the 'top targets' and the list is both very small and missing in elite talent (top 100 types). Last year they hit on most top targets with mutual interest at this time getting a ton of commits in June-ish. The same will need to happen this season to sign a top recruiting class.

[hack]

Regardless of the Xs and Os, the defense under Don Brown is not recruiting anywhere near well enough. Harbaugh's legacy may be determined by how this is addressed. I hate to sound like a broken record about Brady Hoke, but Michigan can probably take back the guy most responsible for the '16 line.

[iam416]

Brady Hoke was, and probably still is, a great recruiter.

[iam416]

To WM's point, someone I trusted posted this:

247 Composite Top 75 players on 2020 Rosters:

Ohio State 30
Penn State 8
M 4

I dunno if that's entirely correct, but the gist of it is.