Michigan is going to hire a new athletic director sometime this month and the checklist of things to do is pretty brief:
1. Fire the current football coach.
2. Hire the new football coach.
The odds of San Francisco 49ers coach, and Michigan alum, Jim Harbaugh returning to college look longer each week. The perception around the NFL is that if he’s let go by San Francisco, a shot with another franchise (New York Jets? Oakland? Miami? A new L.A. team?), featuring more control and money, seems far more likely.
If so, Michigan should try to convince Bob Stoops not just how he’d be great for Michigan, but how Michigan would be great for him.
Stoops isn’t looking for a job, of course. He’s in his 16th season at Oklahoma, works for an athletic director and a school president who are trusted confidants and makes $5.25 million a year. He’s built a legacy. He’s synonymous with the program. He’s under no pressure – outside of the depths of message board frustration.
Michigan, which will inevitably can Brady Hoke, should recruit Stoops anyway. It’s not that the Wolverines are necessarily a better job or a better fit, it’s that they are a different job and a different fit.
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