November 26, 2007
Iowa's Kirk Ferentz offered Michigan job?
Brian at MGoBlue - who broke the Lloyd Carr retirement, btw ESPN -- has multiple sources confirming that Michigan has offered the head coaching position to current Iowa HC Kirk Ferentz.
I've sat on this a couple days waiting for some third-party corroboration and now I have it: Kirk Ferentz has been offered the Michigan job. The general feeling is he will turn it down out of fidelity to Iowa, in case you were thinking of making a late-night run to Ann Arbor (or Iowa City) Torch & Pitchfork. I do realize that this -- unlike the Lloyd thing -- is unlikely to ever be publicly acknowledged if Ferentz turns it down, but this comes from someone in a position to know, and how. The third-party corroboration comes from a couple Iowa insiders reporting things afoot that, unfortunately, I am not at liberty to disclose.Suffice it to say that Wednesday's post on Ferentz not making sense and this being a weird rumor is withdrawn: there's a real chance he's the next coach.
In a word - wow. Kirk Ferentz? I guess I fall into the 'didn't see that one coming crowd', much like Brian when he first got wind of it a few days ago and Mr. Tears & OT Losses.
Suffice to say, the Michigan fans are not happy.
I could understand if this were just a silly rumor - offering the UM job to one of the nation's highest paid coaches - to give Michigan more negotiating leverage with Miles... But, Brian says there's both smoke and fire, so....
While Ferentz may not necessarily make most Michigan fans go crazy in their pants, he has built Iowa into quite a nice little Big 10 program. That said, UM's aim isn't to be "a nice little Big 10 program".
I've never been a big Ferentz fan, but... then again, Ferentz accomplished plenty at Iowa... and if you can ramp up the Hawkeyes, then maybe he is worth every penny.
Be that as it may, Brian says Ferentz will likely say "TBNT" to a Michigan offer out of loyalty to Iowa. If it all plays out as expected and Ferentz says no, then Michigan still needs to find a coach.
So who's next on the Wolverines wish list? Perhaps Cincinnati's Brian Kelly. Rumor has it that Michigan has been background checking Kelly (and Notre Dame may be looking at him, too. Perhaps as an OC for Charlie Choo-Choo?)
Would Kelly be interested? Well, he artfully dodged the question this week.
"From my standpoint, it's similar to all the questions relative to the bowl games," Kelly said Monday during the Big East's weekly coaches' conference call. "Our focus is on Syracuse. That's the most important thing. Any speculation relative to bowls and jobs, we've got plenty of time for that after the Syracuse game (Saturday)."The focus for me and my football team is going to be on getting nine wins for the first time since the 1950s. Job speculation and all those things, we've got plenty of time to do that after this weekend."
So... Ferentz, then... Kelly? ... then Miles?
Honestly, I have no idea, but I do know this... stay tuned at MGoBlog, because Brian is tuned in right now. (Or just wait a few days later for ESPN to "break" the story without crediting MGoBlog... again.)
Originally posted Nov 25, 2007 - 14:55 EST
UPDATE --- 11/26/07 7:45a
MGoBlog links to an Iowa Hawkeyes message board with a respected poster saying that Ferentz has accepted and a press conference is being put together. I can't distinguish with *any* certainty as to the "truth-iness" of the post/poster --- just passing it along.
UPDATE --- 11/26/07 7:49a
There is some scuttlebutt that the "Ferentz to Michigan" rumor began as an internet hoax that may have been back-fed to some better connected sources in order to embarass certain news outlets. I have no idea if that's the case, and I doubt very much that MGoBlog would knowingly perpetuate it, because Brian has built his reputation over the past few years on being pretty dead on. I'll start trying to drill down further.
UPDATE --- 11/26/07
MLive.com posts a link to today's Iowa newspaper in which Hawkeyes AD Phil Haddysays that Michigan has not requested formal permission to interview Ferentz. To his credit, MGoBlog has also posted the link in the interest of full disclosure.
Make of that as you will. For some, it tamps down the rumor while others will note that a lot of conversations occur in backchannels & UM certainly does not want to be run through the same ringer that Notre Dame endured with Urban Meyer.
Comments:
Tom Blogical
posted on November 25, 2007 4:40 PM — 24.95.77.153 — link — abuse?
said:
I've seen a lot of comments, for a long period of time, over at MGOBLOG saying that they'd like to see Brian Kelly get the job. Largely due to, as College Pigskin Fan said, his work at Grand Valley State and Central Michigan.
BigWarEagle said:
posted on November 25, 2007 6:58 PM — 68.209.249.179 — link — abuse?
Kirk Ferentz seems to get a lot of respect each year when sports mags rank the top coaches but I just do not see it. He has had moderate success at best and I would think that Big Blue would shoot much much higher. What is Kirk's record against the Buckeyes anyway?
Eye of the Tiger said:
posted on November 25, 2007 11:01 PM — 68.107.103.214 — link — abuse?
Smoke screen from hell! Next week, or some time soon we should be hearing about Les Miles going to Mich IMO. If Les Miles doesn't go to Michigan I will bend over backwards and kiss my own ass. Besides that, if he doesn't leave, I will have grown a tremendous amount of respect to the man for his loyalty to a team he believes in.
posted on November 26, 2007 7:46 AM — link — abuse?Kevin Donahue
said:
MGoBlog links to an Iowa Hawkeyes message board with a respected poster saying that Ferentz has accepted and a press conference is being put together. I can't distinguish with *any* certainty as to the "truth-iness" of the post/poster --- just passing it along.
posted on November 26, 2007 7:56 AM — link — abuse? said:
There is some scuttlebutt that the "Ferentz to Michigan" rumor began as an internet hoax that may have been back-fed to some better connected sources in order to embarass certain news outlets. I have no idea if that's the case, and I doubt very much that MGoBlog would knowingly perpetuate it, because Brian has built his reputation over the past few years on being pretty dead on. I'll start trying to drill down further.
Spartacus
posted on November 26, 2007 9:55 AM — 72.25.84.228 — link — abuse? said:
There are only three coaches in America that I am sure that need to be fired. Those three are: Bobby Bowden at Florida State, Kirk Ferentz at Iowa and Randy Shannon at Miami(Fla.). Michigan needs this guy like a hole in the head. This guy heads up one of the most underacheiving programs in the country.
Tommie Trojan
Jeff said:
posted on November 26, 2007 5:14 PM — 12.47.224.8 — link — abuse?
What the Ferentz (I wanted to say something else...) is this?? Kirk Ferentz?? I would rather have Lloyd come back, hire Gary Moeller as special teams coach, Mike DeBord as AD, Jim Harbaugh as head of public relations, and John Navarre as QB's coach... Ugh!!!
Let us ALL pray...
"God, if you are there, and I pray that you are..."
"Please keep Ferentz in the land of corn & annual flooding, tornadoes & idiots who wear cornstalks to games..."
"I'm also putting in my deepest & most heartfelt prayers for Brian Kelly..."
PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sweet Home Alabama said:
posted on November 26, 2007 7:32 PM — 75.121.64.199 — link — abuse?
Here's a good article concerning Kirk Ferentz at Mlive.com .
http://blog.mlive.com/jim_carty/2007/11/is_ferentz_really_a_character.html
M GO BLUE said:
posted on November 27, 2007 1:03 PM — 216.46.211.58 — link — abuse?
Kirk Ferentz will NOT be coaching Michigan.
I am not so fired up about les miles as I was.........Brian Kelly could be the man.
Jeff............that would be with no doubt the worst coaching staff in college football......Oh..i forgot....they already are.
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College Pigskin Fan said:
posted on November 25, 2007 3:53 PM — 4.244.209.34 — link — abuse?As crazy as it sounds, this isn't so shocking.
I head this last night listening to Fox Sports Radio that there is an outside possibility they'll hire him. But I also heard Kirk is very happy in Iowa.
But don't be shocked when Brian Kelly gets the job.
If you look at what Kelly did at his short time at Central Michigan, it's pretty impressive. He won the MAC in his third or fourth year as Head Coach. He had OT Joe Staley go in the first round of last years draft/No #28 to the 49ers, and DE Dan Bazuin go in the second round/No #62 to the Bears.
He dominated Division II football as Head Coach at Grand Valley State winning either three or four National Titles while head coach there.
He's doing very well at Cincinnati, and from what I've heard the boosters like him.