Michigan Wolverines: Ohio State -- What Happened and What it Means -- II

Nov 29, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Devin Gardner (98) checks on Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett (16) after Barret was injured at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Posted at 12:00pm — 12/1/2014

Michigan Wolverines: Ohio State — What Happened and What it Means — II

What this game result, and likely the ghosts of Rutgers and Maryland, means is that all the Blue fandom will now sit around and wait for Hackett (or the core power of certain Trustees and the President) to act. Regardless of who makes the decisions linked to hire and fire, Hackett will be the spokesperson and insulator for the university.

Any coaching search, and that assumes a change will be made, will be hindered by the reality of teams being in the college football bowl mode or professional teams finishing a long season. No pro GM will want a college sniffing around in season and no college AD will want a college making public noise about their head coach.

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This search needs to be private and thorough. It may not be good timing for Michigan. There is a really off the wall minimal idea that Hackett may consider: basically announcing that Hoke can have his fifth year, but behind the closed doors it is understood this is it for the regime. Now while off the wall, it would give Michigan first dibs for a good hire next year. It would hurt recruiting the big names, but provide a better option for securing “the coach.”

Now this scenario assumes that the big coaching names do not even sniff the UM job. There is probably tons of misinformation about Harbaugh and his travails with the 49’ers. He remains successful and in the playoff hunt, and to him the “Michigan thing” is probably annoying but satisfying to his ego.

Hackett (hopefully not the President or core power Trustee group) seeks knowledge about the hiring procedure, determines what he has in the current state, determines what is needed for the future, and determines who can transform the team in an upward direction with what is available This is better, in the author’s opinion, than hiring a guy with an oooo and ahhhh offensive pedigree that mandates tons of skilled players and place him in a situation with square pegs. If so, expect two to three years to transform. Common sense leans toward an offensive hire.

Hackett will need to use a simple model, a variation of the actual state-desired state old style change model, to make a good hire. One could say that Hackett has an advantage that his entire future does not hinge on the hypothetical hire being discussed. He should not feel any time pressure like Bill Martin succumbed to in a previous search.

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Hackett has several choices, as mentioned on the message board, ranging from an unknown entity with constant success at a lower level (think Tressel) to the big name college Head Coach (NOT MANY OUT THERE AVAILABLE), to an assistant of a major program with some or no head coaching experience (insert any SEC power team), to a hired gun from the pros, who likes the idea of a pay raise and is willing to trade the money for the pain in the backside life that college coaches endure.

Ann Arbor and the Michigan setting are impressive. The current state of the football program is not impressive. There will need to be a sales job that has never had to occur when the Head Coaching job opens up in Ann Arbor. Coach Carr asserted that the Michigan job found you, negating a real search mechanism. This assumption is now likely dead on arrival. The real answer may be money. The choice of who gets the money must recruit and develop players. That part of the formula is simplistic, as was the analysis of Michigan’s season.

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Best wishes to the graduating seniors and a special wish for Devin Gardner, a guy who clearly will put others first in his career in social work. His gesture to J. T. Barrett made a positive statement about competition. Best wishes to the coaching staff, whatever happens. Regardless of the vitriol poured forth against them, these guys are teachers and advocates for the student athlete. They believe in the educational process and have delivered, with few exceptions, good citizens to go out into the general population. These traits are important, except to the average fan with no knowledge of team functions or internal workings, that cares only about the final score. Integrity is important and this staff gets high ratings for the intangibles that will be important to the graduates throughout life.

So, the clock is ticking and a decision needs to be made next week, one way or the other. In the meantime, Hackett can secure points for making good statements, getting the student support mechanism back in order, hopefully scrap the greedy and flawed ticket scalping system put in place this past year, dynamic flex event pricing or some such nonsense. In short much can be done to sooth the patrons while a decision is being made.

To beat Ohio State and Michigan State the Wolverine program will need strong players and strong coaching. Again, and finally, money may be the only carrot Michigan can dangle.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Doc4Blu

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