5 head coaches Michigan should call if Jim Harbaugh bolts for NFL

Mark Stoops

Another call Warde Manuel should make immediately is to Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops, who would be another great fit as Michigan football head coach.

Stoops won’t be easy to pry away from Kentucky, where he just finished his ninth season as head coach. The Wildcats won 10 games for the second time under Stoops and finished ranked 18th in the final AP poll. They also have a top-15 recruiting class in 2022 too.

There are multiple things to like about Stoops. One is that he’s a proven winner like the others on this list and like Campbell, he’s got strong ties to Ohio.

It’s one reason why Stoops and Kentucky are able to recruit so well in the state of Michigan and Ohio. Plus, Steve Clinkscale was formerly on his staff, and Clink is expected to be the co-defensive coordinator at Michigan next season, if he’s still on the staff, so that’s another fit.

At some point, you’d think Stoops would want to move on from Kentucky and outside of moving up in the SEC, it’s hard to see him doing better than Michigan. It feels like Luke Fickell is waiting to leave Cincy for the Ohio State job and that’s likely another Stoops would want.

He might be totally happy where he’s at, but Michigan should make a run at him because a proven SEC head coach with ties to Ohio and the midwest sounds pretty attractive, especially a guy who can coach defense as Stoops can.