Michigan football coach job pros, cons and candidates after Jim Harbaugh | Top Vip News

Michigan needs a new head coach. Jim Harbaugh will be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, league source said The Athleticopening the top spot in Ann Arbor for the first time since 2014.

Harbaugh returned Michigan to glory, finishing his career with a national championship, three straight Big Ten championships and three straight wins against Ohio State. Having accomplished everything possible, he returns to the NFL in search of that elusive Super Bowl.

This could be a very quick search, considering who’s on staff and what happened last season, but it’s enough time to include a job profile.

So how good is the job in Michigan? What names could enter the mix? These are the factors to take into account.

Michigan is a national championship program.

For many years, Michigan did not appear to be a program that could compete at the top of the sport. It had history, a lot of money and very good players, but it didn’t seem to have enough talent to compete with the SEC’s best in the same way Ohio State could. Harbaugh continued to hit ceilings during his tenure, first at Ohio State and in bowl games and then in the CFP semifinals.

That has now completely changed. Harbaugh crossed all the limits and showed that there are no limits for this program anymore. The Wolverines won it all and have produced some of the biggest draft classes in the country. They can develop and win better than anyone else in a given season. There are no more hypotheses or limits here.

It will be a bit of a rebuild, but there are solid pieces in place.

The Wolverines counted on several star players returning for the 2023 season to accomplish what they did. Now they are gone. Players on track to turn pro include quarterback JJ McCarthy, running back Blake Corum, wide receiver Roman Wilson, guard Zak Zinter, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, defensive back Mike Sanristil and cornerback Josh Wallace, among others.

That’s a lot for any team to replace. Harbaugh said before the season that he thought this Michigan team could set a record for NFL Draft picks, and that seems possible.

But returning players include running back Donovan Edwards, tight end Colston Loveland, defensive lineman Mason Graham and cornerback Will Johnson, all current or potential stars, although it’s always possible more players come through the portal after a trade. coach. On the other hand, Michigan could find more players through the portal now or in the future, especially at quarterback, once its coaching situation is finally resolved.

It’s one of the best-resourced programs in the country, but can it compete in NIL recruiting?

There has never been a shortage of resources. The Wolverines ranked 11th nationally in football spending in 2021-22, according to Sportico’s database. All facilities are in place.

But what made Michigan’s national championship run surprising was that he built that team without residing at the top of the recruiting rankings. From 2020 to 2023, the Wolverines’ recruiting classes finished 10th, 13th, 9th and 17th in the 247Sports Composite rankings. They were ranked 14th nationally in the 247Sports team talent rankings last season. Winning a national championship without a top-five recruiting class or a transcendent quarterback hasn’t happened in recent history. The Wolverines became one of the best developmental programs in the country and turned really good players into NFL players.

Is that development sustainable without Harbaugh? Or does Michigan need to recruit at the level of Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State? The Buckeyes, clearly motivated by Michigan’s three straight wins and national title, have loaded up over the past week, adding several big recruits and transfers. Head coach Ryan Day has said in the past that Ohio State needed to take a step forward in NIL. It looks like it is. Michigan hasn’t been at that level. Maybe that should change with a new coach. Or maybe it’s not like that.

So what names could enter the mix?

This search obviously begins and could end with offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore. It’s not often that a school has an assistant on staff with two top-10 wins under his belt. Moore beat Penn State on the road and Ohio State in Ann Arbor, while Harbaugh stayed home due to a Big Ten suspension for sign stealing and advanced scouting. The fact that he won at Ohio State as Michigan’s head coach is a resume point no one else can match. His players love him, he can continue the culture and the momentum, and he has coached some games. He was Harbaugh and Michigan’s pick the second time Harbaugh was suspended, and he would be an easy pick here unless some of the Connor Stalions scandal directly implicates Moore again. So far we haven’t seen it.

If for some reason Moore doesn’t get the job, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and running backs coach Mike Hart could also be internal options.

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold He’s been in the mix for many jobs, including Washington, thanks to the miraculous work he’s done in Lawrence, and he knows the Midwest as a Wisconsin native. The boy just wins. The 59-year-old inherited a winless Kansas program and won nine games in his third season, beating Oklahoma and finishing 23rd this season. He won two MAC division championships in Buffalo and before that developed several NFL players. He was 109-6 at Wisconsin-Whitewater with six Division III national championships before that. The biggest question would be whether he can recruit at the top of the sport. He just signed running back Deshawn Warner, a top-70 recruit, to Kansas.

Chris Klieman, Kansas State head coach has won 27 games over the past three years, with a Big 12 championship in 2022 and back-to-back top-20 finishes. The 56-year-old previously won four FCS national championships at North Dakota State. Like Leipold, Klieman earns a lot. But also, like Leipold, can he recruit at a top-10 level?

Todd Monken, offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens and defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald They could be options. Both are also potential future NFL head coaches, so they may not want to return to college football, but Monken led Georgia’s offense en route to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022, and did a good job as a coach. in chief at Southern Miss a. a decade ago. Macdonald was Michigan’s defensive coordinator in 2021 (when they lost to Monken and Georgia in the CFP), before returning to the Ravens to run that defense. Obviously, they both also have the connection of working for John Harbaugh in Baltimore.

Matt Campbell, Iowa State head coach He felt like a natural fit for many Big Ten jobs, but he stayed in Ames. The 44-year-old Ohio native gave Iowa State its biggest success in a century, winning a Fiesta Bowl and finishing first in the Big 12 in 2020, but he is 18-20 since then and his name isn’t as popular in coaching circles as it was a few years ago. We also haven’t seen him train and recruit in a Power 5 job with high expectations.

LSU head coach Brian Kelly The name appeared as a possibility a few weeks ago. Perhaps coincidentally, LSU has since seen an overhaul and expansion of the Tigers’ personnel. Kelly hired Missouri defensive coordinator Blake Baker to be the highest-paid assistant coach in college football ($2.5 million) after Baker turned down several top jobs. Kelly also hired defensive line coach Bo Davis away from Texas with an increased salary. Kelly spent two decades at Michigan and always seemed like an unusual culture at LSU in replacing Ed Orgeron, but the moves LSU has made in recent weeks make such a move by Kelly seem quite unlikely.

would do Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell be interested? Longtime Buckeye has an $8 million buyout to leave Wisconsin. Long gone from his stint as interim head coach at 6-7 Ohio State in 2011, Fickell went 57-18 at Cincinnati, winning at least 11 games three times and reaching the College Football Playoff in 2021. If This was a year earlier, it makes all the sense in the world. But being new to Wisconsin, plus their disappointing 7-6 debut season last fall, could make this unlikely for both sides.

Dave Clawson, Wake Forest head coach He has also won at multiple levels of the sport. Clawson is 63-61 at Wake Forest since 2014, with six winning seasons in the last eight years, including an 11-3 record in 2021. He previously coached and won at Bowling Green, Richmond and Fordham. At Wake Forest, Clawson has found success in one of the Power 5’s toughest jobs, recruiting and developing players like Sam Hartman and Kenneth Walker III before they transferred elsewhere for their final seasons.

(Top photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)