As Michigan’s coaching search enters its second week, fans are waiting with bated breath to find out who the next leader of the football program will be. Well, on Monday, interim head coach Biff Poggi provided an update for reporters on when a resolution might be coming.
“(Athletic director) Warde Manuel just spoke to the kids today – I know he wants to have something done by the bowl game,” Poggi said.
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While it’s not necessarily known how far along the coaching search was over the last week, two wrinkles got added to the search over the weekend, with Kalen DeBoer and Alabama winning their game against Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff and Kenny Dillingham signing a new contract with Arizona State. It seems that with those events occurring, Michigan was forced to recalibrate over the weekend and focus on other options.
By getting a new head coach in place before the Citrus Bowl on December 31, Michigan would be providing itself with a small buffer for the new coach to connect with players on the roster. The transfer portal opens on January 2, and opposing programs would surely like the chance to try to poach some of the young and talented players on Michigan’s roster. The longer Michigan waits and the more cloudy the future looks, the easier it is for players to get poached – a situation that the Wolverines would certainly like to avoid.
In addition to the update on the timeline of the search, Poggi mentioned that he is indeed being considered for the vacancy.
“I’m being considered. I’ve had multiple interviews. Multiple conversations,” Poggi said. He’s currently the only candidate who has publicly been known to have interviewed for the job at this point.
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In addition to the update on the timeline, Poggi mentioned the need for a serious re-evaluation of everything within the program, saying it has been a “malfunctioning” organization for the last five years.
As for other candidates and the dates of their bowl games to keep in mind, Jeff Brohm and Louisville play on Tuesday, December 23, Eli Drinkwitz and Missouri play on Saturday, December 27, and Clark Lea and Vanderbilt play on Wednesda,y December 31.
