Sources: Harbaugh eyeing exit strategy

You are selling PJ/Gophers short. They are actually 4-0 in the Big 10.

I believe what he is referring to is all the hubbub on GH that started with multiple similar threads when they were 3-0.


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put me in the camp that does not think it's very likely that a B1G head coach would jump to a different job in the same conference.

And, as others have noted, being the Michigan coach is a real catch-22 situation. They're almost always going to be decent - but decent isn't good enough for the fans and boosters. If any coach takes over the Michigan job, they are being hired to beat Ohio State, Win Conference champions and make it to the National Playoffs. that is a tall order. to beat Ohio State, you have to either out-recruit them or out-coach them. Neither option is easy.

To take the Michigan job, a coach (I think) will want some assurances that he'll be given time to install his system - OR demand a big enough contract and buyout so if you do get canned for failing to live up to expectations, you walk away with one heck of a golden parachute.
 

Lloyd Carr had a nice run at Michigan. 1 Natty, 5 BCS bowls (4 Rose, 1 Orange), 2 outright Big Ten titles + 3 Big Ten co-champs

Since then, it has pretty much been the Ohio State show, with a little bit of Michigan State/Penn State thrown in.

Michigan fans are desperate.
 

Lloyd Carr had a nice run at Michigan. 1 Natty, 5 BCS bowls (4 Rose, 1 Orange), 2 outright Big Ten titles + 3 Big Ten co-champs

Since then, it has pretty much been the Ohio State show, with a little bit of Michigan State/Penn State thrown in.

Michigan fans are desperate.

Michigan’s best bet against OSU is to hope for the next Buckeye coach to be a reincarnation of John Cooper - (record against Wolverines: 2-10-1)
 

5 Coaches Who Could Replace Jim Harbaugh At Michigan

Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck
Fleck turned Western Michigan from a one-win program to a 13-1 Cotton Bowl participant in three years. Since taking over at Minnesota, he’s improved the Golden Gophers from five wins in 2017 to seven last year and now a 7-0 start in 2019. A dynamic recruiter and energetic salesman, it seems like a matter of time before Fleck takes his career to a higher level. Michigan would give him the opportunity to do just that.

https://thespun.com/big-ten/michigan-wolverines/5-coaches-replace-jim-harbaugh-michigan

Go Gophers!!
 


I don’t think Ohio St wins because of their head coach. It is a player driven culture. You guys give PJ way too much credit. Develop a winning culture and head coaches are interchangeable. If PJ cared about MN he would move his personality to the background and drive it from a players perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, the Gophers are winning, which is great, but you are all convinced that it’s all because of PJ (PJ likes to promote it that way) and that the house of cards all falls if he leaves. That’s the opposite of what you want to build in a football “program”. You want the players to be front and center. That’s what builds lasting success at a school.
 
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I don’t think Ohio St wins because of their head coach. It is a player driven culture. You guys give PJ way too much credit. Develop a winning culture and head coaches are interchangeable. If PJ cared about MN he would move his personality to the background and drive it from a players perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, the Gophers are winning, which is great, but you are all convinced that it’s all because of PJ (PJ likes to promote it that way) and that the house of cards all falls if he leaves. That’s the opposite of what you want to build in a football “program”. You want the players to be front and center. That’s what builds lasting success at a school.

This idea is nice and all, but it only works at a place like NDSU because you mostly play programs with significantly inferior talent, especially in the playoffs.

NDSU wins absurd amounts of games because they have MAC level talent, playing against FCS schools that have borderline DII level talent.

That’s why it doesn’t matter who your head coach is.



None of that applies in the big leagues.
 

I don’t think Ohio St wins because of their head coach. It is a player driven culture. You guys give PJ way too much credit. Develop a winning culture and head coaches are interchangeable. If PJ cared about MN he would move his personality to the background and drive it from a players perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, the Gophers are winning, which is great, but you are all convinced that it’s all because of PJ (PJ likes to promote it that way) and that the house of cards all falls if he leaves. That’s the opposite of what you want to build in a football “program”. You want the players to be front and center. That’s what builds lasting success at a school.

You don't seem to know what you are talking about.
 

You don't seem to know what you are talking about.

It’s because his perspective is as an NDSU fan, and they keep winning regardless of head coach. Which I explained why in the previous post.
 



I don’t think Ohio St wins because of their head coach. It is a player driven culture. You guys give PJ way too much credit. Develop a winning culture and head coaches are interchangeable. If PJ cared about MN he would move his personality to the background and drive it from a players perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, the Gophers are winning, which is great, but you are all convinced that it’s all because of PJ (PJ likes to promote it that way) and that the house of cards all falls if he leaves. That’s the opposite of what you want to build in a football “program”. You want the players to be front and center. That’s what builds lasting success at a school.

That's exactly what Fleck says all the time, genius. Who do you think installs a culture of winning and self-accountability among the players?
 

All this is speculation. The writer picked names out of the air based on a rumor. Furthermore Luke Fickell should be at or near the top of any P5 HC openings or rumored openings, even this one despite his long ties to Ohio State.
 

All this is speculation. The writer picked names out of the air based on a rumor. Furthermore Luke Fickell should be at or near the top of any P5 HC openings or rumored openings, even this one despite his long ties to Ohio State.

Can't see a long-time Ohio St guy going to Michigan.


But there are plenty of great candidates in the MAC, CUSA, and American. How about Sonny Dykes at SMU, literally reviving them from the dead? He's been an HC at Cal already, so wouldn't be his first rodeo.
 

I don’t think Ohio St wins because of their head coach. It is a player driven culture. You guys give PJ way too much credit. Develop a winning culture and head coaches are interchangeable. If PJ cared about MN he would move his personality to the background and drive it from a players perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, the Gophers are winning, which is great, but you are all convinced that it’s all because of PJ (PJ likes to promote it that way) and that the house of cards all falls if he leaves. That’s the opposite of what you want to build in a football “program”. You want the players to be front and center. That’s what builds lasting success at a school.

Someone got kicked in the head too many times during a stampede.
 



All this is speculation. The writer picked names out of the air based on a rumor. Furthermore Luke Fickell should be at or near the top of any P5 HC openings or rumored openings, even this one despite his long ties to Ohio State.

Lots of whispers about Luke Fickell to Michigan State should Dantonio step down or be asked to pack his belongings.
 

I don’t think Ohio St wins because of their head coach. It is a player driven culture. You guys give PJ way too much credit. Develop a winning culture and head coaches are interchangeable. If PJ cared about MN he would move his personality to the background and drive it from a players perspective.

Don’t get me wrong, the Gophers are winning, which is great, but you are all convinced that it’s all because of PJ (PJ likes to promote it that way) and that the house of cards all falls if he leaves. That’s the opposite of what you want to build in a football “program”. You want the players to be front and center. That’s what builds lasting success at a school.

I'm not sure this was your finest comment.
 

It’s because his perspective is as an NDSU fan, and they keep winning regardless of head coach. Which I explained why in the previous post.

Herd thinks they'd win the B1G if given the chance
 

This idea is nice and all, but it only works at a place like NDSU because you mostly play programs with significantly inferior talent, especially in the playoffs.

NDSU wins absurd amounts of games because they have MAC level talent, playing against FCS schools that have borderline DII level talent.

That’s why it doesn’t matter who your head coach is.



None of that applies in the big leagues.

Well Wisconsin seems to have done well under several different coaches while not recruiting at a superior level to their opponents.
 

Well Wisconsin seems to have done well under several different coaches while not recruiting at a superior level to their opponents.


If Fleck builds program correctly, we should be able to get another coach to step in when Flecks take over here as AD
 

Well Wisconsin seems to have done well under several different coaches while not recruiting at a superior level to their opponents.

You're right, they have.

I don't think that's a valid example of what Herd was describing, though. "Player driven, winning culture". Sounds like gobbledygook

I'm sure you could imagine at places that have done a lot of winning (like Ohio St or NDSU) that the players all want to win every game, and push all the players to do their best, etc. But that alone can't get it done. It still requires a coach to, at the minimum, bring in new talent. You still need someone to come up with game plans and call the plays. Even if the scheme stays mostly the same. Which you could argue it has at NDSU and Wisconsin.


But specifically, I am also correct about NDSU. The bulk of their starting lineups have been players from the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, that had MAC level talent but no MAC level schools in the northern Great Plains to recruit them, so they fall to schools like NDSU. At this point, the FCS nationally is so depleted of programs that were at a similar-ish level (App St, for example, has been gone for some time now), that NDSU sleepwalks to the Natty every year.
 
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