Michigan Monday: No News Is Bad News in Wolverines' Coaching Search

It's now been 10 days since Michigan got embarrassed in the Gator Bowl. It's been 44 days since Michigan got blown out by Ohio State. It's been five days since Rich Rodriguez got fired by David Brandon as Michigan's head coach. It's 21 days until signing day for the 2011 class.

Folks, time is not on our side. I know this is maybe the most important decision David will ever make in his entire career as athletic director and he needs some time to make the right decision, but there are currently four open BCS positions at the moment: Michigan, Stanford, Pitt and UConn. You could argue that just Stanford would be competing with Michigan for candidates.

So why is this taking so long?

I had convinced myself that David Brandon had a plan in December. Maybe he did, and maybe that plan got blown up when Jim Harbaugh's ego blew up. Either way, this search is a mess right now. Les Miles has more ghosts in his closet than a Poltergeist movie, Brady Hoke seems to have a clean slate but no experience leading a BCS school and after that nothing but question marks.

The Detroit media has not done Michigan any favors the last few years, so I can see why he is keeping this search quiet. With that said, I thought Brandon had until this past weekend to find a head coach while trying to keep this recruiting class intact.

Let me be very clear: We cannot throw the 2011 recruiting class away. You will set the program back years. I don't care if you hire Bob Stoops, Jon Gruden, Jimmy Johnson or Bill Cowher—you have to have talent to win football games. Losing an entire class is criminal and would kill the Wolverines a couple years down the line.

Bill Martin had an entire year to plan for Lloyd Carr's retirement; he did nothing to prepare for his search. David Brandon should've had an idea what his plan was for RR after the Ohio State game. It looks like he didn't have a plan B after Harbaugh.

I know it would have been difficult to keep RR after the Gator Bowl, but keeping him and firing his entire defensive staff might've been better plan than flying around the country with a "Help Wanted" sign.

Do you remember when Ole Miss hired Houston Nutt? At the time Houston was the head coach of Arkansas. Houston resigned from Arkansas and within a few minutes was named the head coach of Ole Miss. They had a plan and executed it.

Stephen Ross took a hit this week talking to Jim Harbaugh when he already had a head coach under contract. Why? I think he did the right thing. He had a coach that he thought was doing a good job, but maybe he had a chance to get the hottest candidate in the land. He didn't land him, and the Dolphins' current head coach got a two-year extension. I know those two days had to suck for the Dolphins staff, but they got a two-year reward out of it.

The Michigan job is one of the highest-profile jobs in college football. It comes with huge expectations. It has to be the right candidate for now and for 10-plus years from now. Hiring for this position is a huge responsibility, and you need to make the right choice. As each day goes by, and as each hour ticks away, it looks more and more like a huge mess with very few options. One big recruiting weekend is now lost—what will we lose next?

The latest is that Miles will meet with Brandon on Tuesday in Dallas at the coaching convention. Glad this discussion can wait a couple of days.