After former Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore was fired on Dec. 10 for breach of University of Michigan policies, (learn more on ESPN.com) Michigan is now searching for a new head coach. Michigan Football went 9-3 under Moore this past season, missing the playoffs and losing to arch-rival Ohio State, ending a four year winning streak against the program. Michigan also lost to the other two best teams they played, USC (University of Southern California) and Oklahoma in games that weren’t particularly close. The combination of these losses created a feeling of disappointment from many Michigan fans and people associated with the program, and even started to put Sherrone Moore on the hot seat for performance reasons and not for the problems arising that eventually caused him to be fired. This is all on top of a very subpar season for Michigan standards after going 7-5 the previous season, making the entire Michigan program eager for an upgrade at the head coaching position.
The four most popular names that are being linked to the Michigan job opening are Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch, and current Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator and former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. There are also rumors of interest regarding Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz and Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm, but these two coaches currently seem to be lower on the list.
Michigan finished their regular season ranked 18th in the country in both the AP poll and in the College Football Playoffs (CFP) rankings but finished 53rd in the country in SP+ offensive rankings, which is an efficiency metric that is determined by the consistency and adjustments of that team. Meanwhile, Michigan finished above their overall ranking in defensive SP+ rankings, finishing 12th in the country. I think this shows that Michigan clearly needs an offensive minded head coach, especially since they had true freshman Bryce Underwood at quarterback this season, the previously ranked number one national high school recruit with huge amounts of unlocked potential and growth. Michigan also started two true freshmen on offense this past season and four redshirt freshmen, making them the youngest offense in the Big Ten Conference. There is so much potential growth at quarterback and all around the offense in the coming years, which means I don’t think it is the right time to be hiring Chargers DC Jesse Minter.
The key to Michigan being successful in the next two to three years is how well they develop and use quarterback Bryce Underwood. He had a decent freshman season, throwing for 2,229 and nine touchdowns, while also adding five rushing touchdowns on the ground. Kenny Dillingham has had Sam Leavitt at quarterback the past two seasons. Leavitt was injured for part of the year but the previous season had an amazing year throwing for 24 touchdowns, showing Dillingham can clearly execute a successful passing game.
Jedd Fisch had Demond Williams Jr. this season, who nobody was focusing on at the start of the season. By midseason, he was being mentioned on the national stage as a great quarterback in some conversations as someone who could be on an all-conference team at the end of the season. Kalen Deboer has had the most success at quarterback though, developing first round draft pick Micheal Penix Jr. at Washington in 2023 and making current Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson look like a Heisman contender at certain points in the season, showing he has amazing skills at developing quarterbacks.
To be a coach at Michigan, a season in which the team doesn’t make the playoffs or a Big Ten Championship for multiple years is unacceptable. Michigan needs a coach that can win. Kenny Dillingham, while only 35, has already won a Big 12 Championship in his first two years with ASU. Fisch has not yet had any major accolades in his coaching career but turned a 1-11 Arizona team into a 9-3 team with a postseason bowl win. These two coaches have been impressive in the way they can make a losing program a winning program, Kalen Deboer has accomplished significantly more. In 2023 while at Washington, he led the Huskies to the National Championship in a perfect 14-0 season before finally meeting a superior opponent in the Michigan Wolverines. After that season, he was hired by Alabama and narrowly missed the playoffs his first year, going 9-3. This year, Alabama was slotted into the nine-seed for the CFP after going 10-3, losing in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) Championship.
Michigan is looking at three very impressive coaches who have led teams to great seasons. I think the most impressive of them is Alabama coach Kalen Deboer. He has had success at multiple programs and knows what it takes to lead such an elite and historic program like Michigan because of his experience at Alabama. If Michigan is willing to spend enough money and resources to go and get Deboer, which they definitely should be, then I think he should be the top option for the job. Jedd Fisch has been able to do great things at the programs he has been at, but he hasn’t proven he can win as a head coach at big programs and has zero CFP experience.
This puts him below Deboer and Kenny Dillingham on my list. Kenny Dillingham led Arizona State to the CFP in just his second season, but it was a weaker Big 12 conference that year and did lose to Texas in their first game. Another big factor is that he is only 35 years old, even younger than previous coach Sherrone Moore. There is a lot of unknown that comes with hiring Dillingham, and it is a risk I don’t think Michigan should take at this time. Michigan needs a coach right now that can get them back on track to being a national championship contender, and a coach that can develop Bryce Underwood in the best way to further use his potential. The future Michigan coach will also need to build an offense around Underwood through recruiting and the transfer portal. I think the coach best prepared to do this is Kalen Deboer.
