Michigan Football: 8 Possible candidates to replace Jim Harbaugh

P.J. Fleck – Head Coach, Minnesota Golden Gophers

Fleck is an outstanding coach and I would venture to guess if Michigan came calling he would listen with a lot of interest. He is from the Midwest and previously coached at Western Michigan. He knows the area and is a good recruiter.

Some people may not like his rah-rah type of attitude, but the players love him and respond to how he coaches. He helped lead Western Michigan to its first-ever bowl win and turned the Gophers into a top-15 team last year with a big win over Auburn in their bowl game.

Fleck knows how to coach and if he could get into a place like Michigan with their facilities and tradition he could do some great things. He should be at the top of the list of coaches to call.

Pat Fitzgerald – Head Coach, Northwestern Wildcats

Fitzgerald might be the first person I would call. He has repeatedly said he wants to stay at Northwestern and so far he has stayed true to his word. He is a Northwestern alum and seems to love being in Evanston.

But if there is a sliver of hope to get him away, you should call him. Fitzgerald has consistently done more with less than anybody else in the Big Ten. Besides a couple of down years, last year one of them, he has had the Wildcats competing in the Big Ten West every year. He even took them to the Big Ten championship game, which is one more than Harbaugh.

Yes, they play in the weaker division but that is still an impressive feat for Northwestern. Fitzgerald is a stand-up guy who again has players who love him. He is a great coach and as we just stated gets the most out of all his players.

He may never leave Northwestern, and kudos to him if he stays, but the Wolverines need to call him and if he says yes, they would be very lucky.