ESPN insider is skeptical Michigan will get its top choice to replace Sherrone Moore

The college football world had a bombshell dropped on it late Wednesday afternoon. While this was apparently bubbling below the surface for a bit, former Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore is now out of a job for scandalous reasons. With Michigan aiming to swing for the fences to make its next head-coaching hire, one ESPN insider is doubtful that the coach will be Kalen DeBoer.

ESPN's Pete Thamel did his best to throw water over the DeBoer rumors on The Pat McAfee Show.

"The conversation about this is going to start with Kalen DeBoer of Alabama. Whether he wants to go, whether Michigan can get him, whether the timing could work, would remain to be seen. I would be skeptical just having been around this long enough that Kalen DeBoer could navigate the high wire to leave in the middle of the playoff. And also, nobody has indicated he would be interested at all either."

The combination of timing and Thamel's doubts of DeBoer being able to do both jobs is why he is out.

In his second season leading the Alabama Crimson Tide, DeBoer had his team playing for an SEC championship before getting crushed by the Georgia Bulldogs in a rematch from the regular season. This was only his second year at the helm of the Alabama program. While Michigan may, in theory, be the one job he would leave Alabama for, he will now have to navigate a first-round game in the playoff.

If Michigan would have made a change sooner, DeBoer would be far more likely to come to Ann Arbor.

Pete Thamel is way down in the idea of Kalen DeBoer coming to Michigan

At this point in time, Michigan is only going to attract a certain kind of head coach for the position. In all honesty, it probably needs to be an active Power Four coach, one who has won big before. That being said, he probably is not taking part in the College Football Playoff now. So while the idea of poaching someone like DeBoer, Kirby Smart, or even Dan Lanning could be fun, let's not count on it...

So where should Michigan look instead? The Wolverines could try to welcome back their former defensive coordinator Jesse Minter from the Jim Harbaugh era, but there might be some red tape attached to it... They could look at a recently fired head coach who is out of a job like Brian Kelly. Michigan could try to poach someone from their alma mater like Kenny Dillingham or Jeff Brohm.

In the end, Michigan is planning to act fast to salvage its recruiting class. Just because a player signed on the dotted line last week does not mean he has to come play for Michigan now. The situation has changed entirely. We know that Biff Poggi will serve as the interim for the bowl game. Could it still be DeBoer in the end? Maybe. But right now, a major insider is quite skeptical on this.

For now, the Michigan job opening up will create a much larger ripple effect in the coaching carousel.