Brady Hoke, It's Tuesday 1/18 Do You Know Who Your DC is?

I sure don't and time is ticking away in this 2011 class.   I think someone should check the clocks and calendars in Schembechler Hall.  I think they might be a week or two off.  First, David Brandon decides to fire RR in early January and do a national search.   Which most experts believe to be a month late to find serious candidates.  Since he took him a week to find that out, he hires a coach who he could of had the day he fired RR. 

So Michigan continues to be behind the 8Ball in recruiting with a coach hired in mid-January.  Then Brady Hoke gets the job and brings a couple of assistants with him that were with him at Ball State and SDSU.  Now it's January 18, 2010 and you haven't hired the most important role on your staff - The Defensive Coordinator. 

I was pretty vocal when Brandon fired Rich Rodriguez that you don't fire him to hire Brady Hoke.  I have somewhat changed my mind on that after I saw Brady's love for Michigan.  Now, let me be very clear - a Ball State Staff should not be coaching at Michigan!  Please find some quality guys with a lot of recruiting and coaching experience to fill out this staff.  DC is the most important role on this staff and there needs to be a very high quality coach.  Tick Toc, Tick Toc..................

Rumored candidates?

Greg Mattison: DC Baltimore Ravens: Greg and Brady are very close and I'm sure they have talked since Brady got the job.   Greg is 61 and I don't know if you go from the Ravens to the Wolverines, but maybe he misses the college game.   I don't see this happening.

Jon Hoke, DB coach of the Chicago Bears:  Brother of Brady and said he hasn't talked to Brady about a role at Michigan.  He is also busy with the playoffs.

Teryl Austin, out of work but was the DC of Florida last year.   Austin coached the DB's at Michigan from 99-02.   If he was the guy, they could of had him last week.  Of course, since that seems how Michigan hires coaches, he is probably the guy that will get hired.  Austin only has 1 year experience as a DC.

Vance Bedford, DC at Louisville - Charlie Strong brought Vance with him when he left the job at Florida and took the head coaching job at Louisville.  Urban Meyer wanted Vance to stay and replace Charlie as the DC at Florida.  He declined and went to Louisville.   Urban offered him a boat load of money and Vance said no.  I think he is pretty happy in Louisville. 

Mike Trgovac, DL at Green Bay.  Mike was the DC for the Carolina Panters and there are rumors he might be a candidate to join John Fox at Denver as their new DC.  Mike is my first choice but he may enjoy the pro game (and money) over college.  He is also busy right now.

Ron English, HC at Eastern Michigan.  Ron has won a couple of games at EMU in two years.  He is building a program and I would be surprised if he left to be Michigan's DC.  On the other hand there was a strange message on his facebook page that he spoke to Coach Hoke and that there is good news coming.  Many believe that account is not Ron's and the whole thing is a hoax not a Hoke.

Corwin "Cornflakes" Brown: DB coach for the New England Patriots.  Corwin as you know was a safety at Michigan from 1993-2000 and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 4th round.  He was also the DC at Notre Dame under Charlie Weis.  His season is now over. 

Randy Shannon, former head coach at Miami.  The only people throwing his name around are Michigan bloggers.  I'm pretty sure Michigan isn't going to pay him close to $1M a year to coach defense, but they should.  He is a very good defensive coach and would have a HUGE impact in recruiting Florida. 

So those are the candidates I have been hearing (outside of Randy Shannon).  You might be wondering, what the hell is taking so long?  (Becuase I sure am).  1) The coach they want to hire is still alive in the NFL Playoffs and doesn't want to leave before his team is eliminated.  I understand that but why not do what Charlie Weis did?  Take the job at Florida but work with Kansas City until they were eliminated. 

2) They are in deep negotiation with a college coach.  If they are currently employed they are on the road recruiting and pretty busy.

So we better hear something real soon! Because the time is ticking away and recruits like Kris Frost (whose commitment was accepted by Auburn today) really wants to know who the DC is going to be.  Please hire someone soon, so we can try to salvage this recruiting class. 

Michigan recruitment of Devin Lucien seems to be over.  Michigan called him yesterday and said they wanted the 4 star prospect from California as a DB instead of a WR.  Devin was crushed and really wanted to visit and sign with Michigan.   So I'm guessing Michigan feels pretty good where they are with a couple WR's they have on their board.  (I certainly hope so).