Michigan Football: 3 items on Christmas wish list for Wolverines
It’s Christmas Day and it seems like the perfect time to break down what three items Michigan football fans can put on their wish list for 2021 and beyond.
The 2020 Michigan football season was one to forget for the Wolverines. The first game was great and the Rutgers comeback was nice, but everything else was perfectly forgettable.
Of course, we can’t change what happened in the past and neither can the Wolverines, but Michigan football can take steps to make sure 2021 isn’t a repeat of that and it seems things are already changing with the dismissal of Don Brown earlier this week.
We still don’t know for sure if Jim Harbaugh is going to get his contract extension finalized soon or not but the firing of Brown is a strong indicator that it’s coming.
So with that in mind, here are three things on the Christmas wish list that can help the Wolverines turn it around next season.
Get the right DC
Don Brown was a good defensive coach and it’s tough to see him basically cast aside as the scapegoat but that’s life in major college football. His defenses didn’t produce and at the end of the day, a change simply had to be made.
Now, the key is hiring the right guy. We all thought Josh Gattis was going to be a home run and he could still prove to be a successful offensive coordinator, but the results have been mixed so far.
Obviously, Will Muschamp is a big name and others such as Charlie Strong, Derek Mason and other former head coaches have been some of the names in the rumor mill.
The decision Harbaugh will need to make is whether or not he wants an experienced coordinator, one that may or may not be looking for another head coaching job in the future, or a bright young mind that definitely will view the DC job as a stepping stone to something bigger.
Brown was obviously the former. He flirted with the Temple head coaching job and at Boston College, but you knew he wasn’t actively looking to leave.
If the Wolverines hire Muschamp, Strong or Mason, those guys will certainly be looking to turn the job into another head-coaching gig and that’s not a bad thing, it will be just be interesting to see what the priorities are.
A dream scenario might be getting a guy like Derek Mason and then somehow stealing Tim Banks away from Penn State to be the co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach.
Banks would be dynamic for Michigan on the recruiting trail and I honestly think he shouldn’t be ruled out as being the sole defensive coordinator either. But after taking a leap on Gattis two years ago, I think the objective will be to get a proven guy, whatever the cost.
And getting things right at DC is No. 1 on the Christmas wish list.