The second round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (current bracket HERE – background here). Here’s a printable version. Jeff Tedford (California) vs. Chris Petersen (Boise State) How they got here: Tedford received a bye in the first round as the top seed in the region, Chris Petersen smoked Ball State coach Brady Hoke in the first round. Despite Cal’s decline after a fast start this year, Tedford [bio from Cal’s official site] is one of the hottest names in coaching. He’s turned Cal into a title contender and attracted some solid talent. His pedigree is purely west-coach based, he was graduated at Fresno State and then served as QB coach at Oregon before settling at Cal. He’s been vocal about his dissatification with the Cal facilities, so much so that he’s got an out clause in his contract if certain factility upgrades don’t happen. He’d have everything he could need in Ann Arbor of course, and he’d almost certainly take the job if offered. Here’s mgoblog‘s thoughts earlier this season: What he’s done at Pac-10 Indiana is staggering. He runs a pro-style offense that would fit Michigan’s current talent well (and better than, say, Rich Rodriguez’ spread option). He turned Joey Harrington into the third pick in the NFL draft. He’s young enough to coach Michigan for 20 years…
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Could Blue meet LSU at Capital One?
How about this: LSU loses in the SEC Championship game and Illinois squeaks out an at-large BCS bowl bid. The Capital One bowl would then essentially be picking from the remaining Big Ten teams for that game. It’d come down to Michigan or Wisconsin. LSU most certainly drop out of BCS bowl contention with 2 consecutive losses and coud likely end up in the Capital One. It’d be a circus under almost any circumstance. Here’s four different scenarios, each brings its own level of creepy weirdness: – Michigan hasn’t yet selected a new coach and Miles is a candidate. Is Bill Martin evaluating Miles during the game? – Michigan already signed Miles. Pretty weird. Is it some kind of love fest all week? I think we’d find out if Carr really doesn’t like Miles as rumored. – Michigan has already signed someone else (not Miles) or confirmed that Miles isn’t a candidate. And Miles is pissed. – Miles was offered the job but turned it down. Wow.
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Crisler Region Round 1: Trgovac v Stoops
The last of the first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Mike Trgovac (Carolina Panthers assistant) vs. Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) As 3 and 4 seeded players, these guys have come up quite a bit in the lists of potential coaches. Trgovac [bio, Panthers official site] was instantly on the list due to his status as a Michigan man. Check out his credentials as a player under Bo: As a player under Bo Schembechler at Michigan from 1977-80, Trgovac started three years at middle guard and was second-team All-America as a senior. He earned All-Big Ten honors twice and played in three Rose Bowls. An all-state football player at Fitch HS in Austintown, OH, he was named defensive lineman of the year in 1976 and won the state heavyweight championship in wrestling. He continued on under Bo for 2 seasons as a graduate assistant then moved on to Ball State from 1986-88, Navy in 1989, Colorado State from 1990-91 and worked under Lou Holta at Notre Dame from 1992-94. He’s been with a few NFL teams including the Redskins, Packers, and Eagles before taking over the Carolina position. So he’s a Michigan man, probably knows Lloyd Carr and Les Miles very well. Looking over his resume I’ve got a few…
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Kipke Region Round 1: Harbaugh v Meyer
The first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Jimmy Harbaugh (Stanford) v Urban Meyer (Florida) As 3 and 4 seeded players, realistically neither of these guys is a candidate for the position for different reasons. Harbaugh burned the bridge this summer, and Meyer both burned the bridge last year during the BCS title game debate and given the fact that the Florida gig isn’t exactly a stepping stone to Michigan. We’ll start with Harbaugh [bio from Stanford official site]. The question really isn’t whether he’ll be a candidate. The answer is a big fat ‘No’. Vegas thinks he’s got a shot for some reason as he’s coming off at 10 to 1 to get the position. I’d work a strategy to short that. I have an MBA but struggled in derivatives…anyhoo, there’s a profit in shorting Jimmy somewhere. Harbaugh has sufficiently burned the bridge with the current administration whether it be AD Bill Martin or search committee members such as former RB Jamie Morris. No, not going to happen. BUT..obviously a Michigan man, long ties to the program and did pull off the 2nd biggest upset in football this year when he downed the Trojans… The question really comes down to whether Harbaugh could ever be a candidate. Meyer…
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SOL
(Same Old Lions). Thank goodness for squares, pools, picks, fantasy, survivor, etc..
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Bo Region Round 1: Debord v Cameron
The first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Mike DeBord (Offensive Coordinator, Michigan) v Cam Cameron (Miami Dolphins) As 3 and 4 seeded players, each has an outside shot for the position. Bill Martin will interview Mike DeBord for this position. If he gets hired Ann Arbor will burn. We can only imagine the complexities of his job but Coach DeBord is just not a popular figure amongst Wolverine fans. Per the mgoblog: The one silver lining in this turd sandwich of a season is getting this guy the hell away from Michigan’s football program. Yikes. His status as Lloyd Carr’s buddy is probably the biggest thing in his corner. He quit the CMU job and there are still many bitter fans in Mount Pleasant. He certainly qualifies as a ‘Michigan Man’ as a loyal assistant and he served Carr during the great year of 1997, when everything seemed to work just fine. We’ll see what happens. I know there are a few DeBord people out there, I saw you come out during the original vote in September. Cam Cameron has had a charmed career in athletics. Just look the folks he played under during his days at IU: Before embarking on his coaching career, as a collegian Cameron…
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Yost Region Round 1: English v Grobe
The first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Ron English (Defensive Coordinator, Michigan) v Jim Grobe (Wake Forest) As 3 and 4 seeded players, each has an outside shot for the position. As for Grobe, his performance at Wake Forest last season made him the rage of many college football punits and, for Here’s his bio from the Wake Forest official site. He has Midwest ties as he was the headman at Ohio prior to joining Wake where he had some success. Ivan Maisel of ESPN called out Grobe as a candidate and summed up his reputation: Among other names that will be discussed amongst the public is Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe, a Midwesterner who believes in physical football. Grobe’s teams are known for playing hard for 60 minutes, and he is greatly respected by his peers. Grobe’s followed-up on his success this season, going 7-4 thus far with Vanderbilt on Saturday. A lot of people liken Jim Grobe to the John Beilein hire, as Grobe just seems to be one of the coaches that everyone respects. We’ll see if he gets in the mix. As for Ron English, what a difference a year makes. If we went back into time, just prior to the Ohio State…
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Crisler Region Round 1: Bielema v Pinkel
The first round of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (full bracket here – background here). Here’s a printable version. Bret Bielema (Wisconsin) v Gary Pinkel (Missouri) As 5 and 6 seeded players, each is considered a longshot for the position. Bielema has come into conversation lately as a candidate, but it may not be the right time for the young Bielema to leave the high profile job in Madision that he just took over. He would have instant recruiting ties to the Midwest, and may be buddy-buddy with current Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman due to his pedigree on Iowa’s coaching staff. More on Bielema here from the Wisconsin official site. I’m sure a few Badger fans would take offense at the suggestion that their coach could be cherry-picked by the Wolverines, but it could happen. Like it or not, the Michigan gig in on a different level and double-B would be foolish not to keep his ears on for Martin’s call. We’ll see. Gary Pinkel certainly is a hot name right given his hand in resurrecting the Tigers to one of the teams in the BCS championship hunt so late in the season. His team faces Kansas this weekend which will tell us a lot. He’d have instant Midwest recruiting ties as his pedigree is MAC-based (Kent State/Toledo/Bowling Green).…