Every Michigan football fan has a preferred head-coaching candidate. Most of them do anyway. Some of them probably just want the process over after Sherrone Moore was fired for cause last week.
It feels like Kalen DeBoer is the top candidate to be the next Michigan football head coach. His current team, Alabama, has a College Football Playoff game on Friday night.
If the Crimson Tide wins that game and advances, DeBoer will have to be off the board. The Wolverines just can't afford to wait. They kind of need a coach by Christmas, at least if they are going to have a realistic shot of keeping the roster/recruiting class together.
Biff Poggi has done a great job so far. That won't last forever, though. If Alabama loses, then Michigan football gets to make a run at DeBoer. He will certainly consider the offer. Some Alabama fans may scoff at that, but an extension hasn't been signed.
If DeBoer says no, or if Alabama wins, then Kenny Dillingham feels like the next option on the list, at least according to our most recent power rankings. We feel like he is the most likely option.
But what if he says no and stays at Arizona State? Then, Michigan football could be looking at Jeff Brohm, Clark Lea or Kyle Whittingham, who feels like more of a long shot.
Some Michigan fans have anxiety about Jeff Brohm
There seems to be a segment of Michigan football fans who are opposed to the hire of Brohm. To be fair, he's not the perfect candidate.
Outside of DeBoer, there might not be a "perfect" candidate. Dillingham even has flaws. Like Brohm, his teams haven't been as good on defense as they will need to be at Michigan.
That's a fair criticism of Brohm. He will also need to recruit better than he has at Louisville or Purdue, although that will be easy to do at Michigan. The program has always recruited itself to a certain extent, and now it's loaded with NIL resources.
Brohm's teams have been somewhat average on defense. There have been some top-35 defenses in overall scoring, though, and more talent which Michigan would provide would help. Hiring an elite defensive coordinator or keeping Wink Martindale would be a key part of it.
However, Brohm has won everywhere he's gone. He coached Western Kentucky to the C-USA championship, as well as Louisville (ACC) and Purdue (Big Ten) to a conference title game each. He's also won seven games against ranked teams in the past five seasons, with four wins over top-11 teams.
So Brohm is the kind of coach who can help make up for a little less talent. He's also never been anywhere that has a roster filled with blue-chip players. Michigan would give him all of those resources.
And after his quarterbacks each threw for over 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in four straight seasons (2021-2024) with two NFL draft picks, it seems like this would be an easy hire to sell guys like Bryce Underwood and Andrew Marsh.
The upside of Dillingham might not be there, but considering what Michigan football was working with before, Brohm would be a massive upgrade. Frankly, it's not even close.