Spin the Michigan coaching wheel, where it stops, nobody knows

The series of tubes that is the internets has it's first Michigan head coaching rumor. The rumored candidate is...Iowa's Kirk Ferentz?

Excuse me for a moment, while I'm totally underwhelmed.
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I'm back from being underwhelmed. To be honest, I really don't know how seriously to take this rumor. At face value, I can see the interest in Ferentz...If it was 2003. You think Michigan can do better than someone who's currently underachieving at Iowa? I do.

I'm sure this is going to be the first of many rumors that will have Michigan fans scrambling all over the web, making asses of themselves on message boards and blogs, trying to find every and all nuggets that pertain to the Wolverines coaching job. Today, the rumor du jour is Ferentz. Friday, it could be Jeff Tedford at Cal. Over the weekend? God forbid, as there would be riots all across the great state of Michigan, it's the twin terror coordinators, Ron English and Mike Debord.

Next week? Monday it could be the Man Mountain at Kansas, Mark Mangino. Tuesday, the 4 letter could say something about the coach Minnesota now wishes they hadn't fired, Glen Mason. After that, it could be the man who made Rutgers relevant, Greg Schiano. When will we hear the first non-denial, denial from Cincy's Brian Kelly? (Actually, that's already happened) Maybe Lou Holzth will listhp that U of M ith looking ath WVU's Rith Rodriguieth. Who knows?

For that matter, there will be a Les Miles rumor of the day, every day, till LSU's season ends.

I think it's safe to say that the rumormongering is never going to stop as long as the position is open. The Wolverines gig is an above the fold kind of job, the sort that will lead Sportscenter, stop the presses at the fishwraps, and flood the switchboards of sports talk radio stations, whenever the Michigan job is filled.

That's why I'm taking every rumor as tongue in cheek. You think some of these coaches might spread these rumors on their own, leaking (Truthfully or not) that the great Michigan Wolverines are interested? It could raise that coaches profile immediately, and scare their own schools into making monetary concessions to keep them. All the Spartys remember the annual "George Perles is leaving MSU for the NFL" tango. If you remember, Perles parlayed that manufactured drama into a nice contract extension.

I'm not saying it will happen, but I wouldn't put it past some of the snake oil salesmen that are running some D1 programs.

I guess what I'm saying as a Michigan fan, the rumors are as exciting as all get out, yet also absolutely terrifying, at the same time. The thought that an exciting new coach could come in an invigorate an in-bred program is tempered by the fact that the school administration could totally blow the hire as well. For every Urban Meyer who continues a winning tradition, there's dozens of coaches, like a Dave Wannstedt, Bill Callahan, John L.Smith, or Charlie Weis, that will send the program reeling into oblivion...

I'd hate to be in Bill Martin's shoes right now. He only has the hopes of millions of football fans riding on his shoulders. He best not make a mistake in his search.

Because if Martin screws the pooch with the hire, he'll quickly learn that there is no fury like the fury of a college football fan who thinks their coach sucks...