Friday night was a weird night for Michigan football fans. Many of them were cheering for Oklahoma to beat Alabama, the team led by Kalen DeBoer, who was viewed as the No. 1 target before Friday's 34-24 win over the Sooners.
Alabama will advance to the Rose Bowl to face Indiana in the quarterfinals. Michigan can't wait that long for DeBoer's season to end. The Wolverines have to shift their attention to other candidates.
Kenny Dillingham feels like the top target now that DeBoer is basically off the board, although not completely. Here's an updated look at our Michigan head coach power rankings following the Alabama win over OU.
Instead of ranking candidates just by numbers, this time around, we'll separate them by tiers.
Long shots
Kalen DeBoer
You never know how things will go. Maybe Michigan football will have time to circle back, depending on who is offered the job and what their answer is, but it seems like the ship has sailed for Kalen DeBoer as the U-M head coach.
Jesse Minter
Minter is certainly qualified for the job. He's also on the brink of being an NFL head coach. It just doesn't seem that he would be interested. If Minter is, though, that would be a home-run hire, assuming the Wolverines could keep him in Ann Arbor past a few seasons.
Eli Drinkwitz
With two 10-win seasons at Missouri, the 2023 SEC Coach of the Year would be an upgrade over last season. Still, it doesn't feel like a fit. I'd much rather have Jason Eck, the New Mexico coach. His track record might not seem as impressive, but he's a great coach, knows offensive line, and won nine games in his first season with the Lobos.
Backup plans
Clark Lea
If Dillingham says no, Michigan football needs some backup plans. Clark Lea makes sense. He understands recruiting at an academic institution and has led Vanderbilt to back-to-back bowl seasons. His time as the Notre Dame DC doesn't hurt. Maybe he would be Michigan's Marcus Freeman.
Lea might be a harder sell to someone like Bryce Underwood, but he built a team around Diego Pavia that had success, which should be a decent selling point.
Kyle Whittingham
Whittingham is 66. Yet, he's a free agent, has won multiple conference championships with Utah, and seems energized about the chance to coach again.
Curt Cignetti is 64. Whittingham is two years older but has eight 10-win seasons. With Michigan football, a successful 5-7-year run seems possible.
Jeff Brohm
We laid out why Jeff Brohm would be a solid here. There is way too much anxiety about him, sort of like Jedd Fisch.
Brohm has won a conference title. All three of the programs he has coached for have reached a conference title game, and over the past five seasons, his teams have seven wins against ranked opponents.
Brohm might not be flashy. He's a proven QB guru, though, and would do wonders for Bryce Underwood and the Michigan offense.
The Favorite: Kenny Dillingham
The Arizona State head coach is in a league of his own now. It feels like the Michigan job is his if he wants it. Dillingham has coached a team to the College Football Playoff, but is equally comfortable running the ball as he is throwing it.
Locking him down is the top priority. We should find out before long if Michigan is actually able to make that happen.