Michigan hasn't been Michigan for a long time.
Michigan is not a premier job in college football anymore originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
College football programs have an ego problem. The amount of 'premier' college football programs is limited to less than 10. However, there are about 20-30 programs that believe they are an premier program and a desirable coaching destination. That might be true, but there are levels to this.
Throwing out rivalries, Michigan cannot objectively put themselves over Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, or even a Notre Dame. Recency bias and the new currency of college football (NIL budget) would suggest Michigan is also not a better coaching job than Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Miami, BYU, Vanderbilt, or USC. Michigan might be a solid job, but it realistically does not crack the top 15-20 of the best jobs in college football.
That last group mentioned has little to do with tradition or legacy. The new world order is about NIL budgets and resources, much more so than tradition and legacy. Those who have been covering this sport pre and post NIL era seem to be missing that fact.
The Michigan narrative is no different than a handful of other coaching jobs that have been filled. At one point in the coaching search process LSU, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas and Penn State were all involved in pursuing the same four coaches. With a common sentiment. This is (fill in the blank) University and their name carries the kind of weight that will result in a great coaching hire. That is the failure in thinking.
College football is very different than it was even a decade ago and many national analysts have lost the plot. This week alone included two high-profile analysts saying arguably the same thing. Michigan has to force these coaches to tell them no. There is an issue with that take. Virtually every name floated is a candidate that is ‘likely’ to tell Michigan no.
Earlier this week on the Joel Klatt Show, Joel Klatt outlined six names as the most likely coaches to take over at Michigan. Klatt was adamant to say, Michigan has to force these names to say no. Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State, Clark Lea at Vanderbilt, Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame, Dan Lanning at Oregon and Curt Cignetti at Indiana. As of Saturday December 20th, Dillingham has agreed to contract extension with Arizona State.
Sports Illustrated broke down Klatt’s list into “homerun hires” and “realistic hires”. The issue is all of them would be homeruns and all of them are not realistic. Dillingham is an ASU alum who likely could not be happier where he is and proved that by signing his ASU extension. Lea, DeBoer, and Cignetti have all signed recent extensions or have been on the job only two years.
Dan Lanning and Marcus Freeman are very different stories. As in there should be no reality where either would consider Michigan. Oregon to Michigan would be a step backwards and Freeman shouldn’t leave Notre Dame unless its unanimously viewed as a better gig. For Freeman, barring Georgia or Ohio State jobs opens up, it's hard to rationalize him leaving South Bend for anything short of a premier NFL job.
Online analyst Josh Pate had a similar take on similar names. While Klatt’s take on Michigan can be reduced down to “Michigan is still Michigan”, Pate’s take is more Michigan centric. Pate maintains he is not lobbying for anyone to leave anywhere. He was asked to view it through the perspective of Michigan. Like Klatt though, Pate believes Michigan needs to force these coaches to say no.
Michigan hasn't been Michigan for a long time
Despite Klatt’s claim, Michigan has not been Michigan for quite some time. If Michigan and those lobbying for Michigan were honest about it, Michigan hasn’t been Michigan since Lloyd Carr, who retired in 2007. The Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore eras are under a microscope currently. Brady Hoke was barely a shade over .500. Rich Rodriguez had a significant losing record. The Michigan we think of was created and cultivated by the Bo Schembechler through Lloyd Carr eras.
Michigan, fans and alumni seem to base success on two factors. Post season success and beating Ohio State. Both of which have only happened under the regimes investigated. Prior to that, you have to go back to Carr. Michigan has won four of the last five meetings against the Buckeyes. However, all of those came under Harbaugh or Moore, both of which were investigated and both ceased to be the coach shortly thereafter. From 1998 through 2019, Michigan was a putrid 4-18 against Ohio State.
Maybe the most vocal Michigan super fan, Bartstool Sports' President Dave Portnoy has been as talkative about the Michigan coaching search and the firing of Coach Moore from the start. Portnoy's comments are the result of what happens when objectivity is not an option. In a recent tweet, despite everything we know now, the Barstool President asked everyone to show Michigan a "touch of class". With a second investigation in less than three years and the unapologetic brashness Portnoy displays, that comes off as a humorous request.
I’d like to ask the internet to have just a touch of class when dealing with this Sherrone Moore situation. It’s the moral thing to do. It’s the Michigan Man thing to do. pic.twitter.com/FgSy2oXrM9
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 11, 2025
Outside of 2021-2023, Michigan doesn’t have a Conference title in almost two decades. Schembechler had 13 Big Ten Conference titles in 20 years. Lloyd Carr had three in 22 years. The last time Michigan was a premier job, the way it's being discussed currently, Bo Schembechler was the coach. Before cell phones and the internet were a thing. The last time Michigan was legitimately an elite program was during the Lloyd Carr era.
Michigan will hire a head coach. That head coach will have a tremendous job ahead of him. The Moore situation seems to get worse as it progresses. The Michigan administration has revealed further investigations with further discipline pending those investigations.
Michigan has history and a name people know. In the current landscape of college football, that simply doesn’t carry the weight it once did. Michigan can generate revenue and that is a more important metric. However, considering what has come to light and a lack of success outside the investigated regimes, Michigan just is not on the same level with elite programs like Georgia, Alabama and even their rival Ohio State.
Michigan has some work to do before they can even make the claim that they are a premier program in college football. Repair the culture, repair the image, then produce on the field. After that, we can have a conversation about what level they are on as a program and a desirable coaching destination. While the nation waits for Michigan to repair their image, maybe refrain from invoking what a "Michigan Man" does. It had meaning with Schembechler. It's a bad look when it is associated with two investigations in three years.
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