Michigan coaching search continues to fail

As the rest of the country spends their time recruiting college football’s next stars, Michigan is still searching for a five star head coach, and with little development made, you have to wonder how close the school is to panic mode.

Les Miles has now turned the school down twice. Greg Schiano would rather wait for Joe Paterno to retire than coach in Ann Arbor. And it seems like UM athletic director Bill Martin didn’t even think about Bobby Petrino, a big time offensive coach who desperately wanted to get back in the college ranks after less than a season with the Atlanta Falcons.

The Wolverines job is an attractive one, yes, but a rich tradition is not going buy a head coach. Only money can do that, and at least in Miles case, LSU was willing to offer a lot more to keep him than Michigan was to pry him away. The university can learn a lot from Notre Dame, who didn’t offer Urban Meyer enough cash a few years ago and watched him win a National Title with Florida last season. In an era where there is so much parity in college football, the traditional powers can’t just expect coaches to leave great situations for less money.

Whichever way you look at it, Schiano’s case should be an even bigger cause of concern for the school. Either he is waiting for a rival job that might not be open for a few years or he actually believed he was in a better place in Piscataway. Either way, the Rutgers coach, who actually underachieved this past season, turned down Michigan without any hesitation.

Petrino’s name was never mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Lloyd Carr and to me, that just shows how out of touch Martin and the university are. His high-scoring system would have brought excitement and undoubtedly would have helped to generate interest from the country’s top skill players. And let’s not kid ourselves, the public may have not known about Petrino’s desire to leave the NFL, but I highly doubt Arkansas’ people were the only ones in the know.

And now, three weeks after the search began, Michigan is no closer to finding a head coach than it was on the day of Carr’s announcement. In fact, they’re probably even farther away today.

Who is next on the list of possible replacements?

Nobody knows for sure. Not even the university.

Great Reads
The Michigan Coaching Search: Head Coaching Candidates From the Obvious to the Crazy – Maize n Brew
A Letter to Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman – Straight Bangin’