Bill Martin Likes Sailing More Than He Likes Les Miles

If you look closely, you can see Michigan football going overboard.

The Detroit Free Press and Ann Arbor News both confirm what I thought was the case when I emailed Mary Sue Coleman and the University of Michigan Regents on Monday: Bill Martin was off in Florida sailing last Saturday and could not be reached or would not return phone calls when Les Miles's agent and several actors on behalf of the University tried to reach him.

This means either: 1) Martin is a complete moron who takes ill-timed vacations and isn't good at his job, or 2) Martin didn't want to hire Les Miles. Or, to be a little more cynical and likely more accurate, factions within the Michigan power structure--Mary Sue Coleman and Lloyd Carr being leading contenders--torpedoed Miles's candidacy at some point and Martin no longer wanted to hire Miles, despite an initial desire and the unanimous endorsement of his search committee. To say nothing of general fan sentiment and the overwhelming support of former players. Oh by the way, those players are pissed.

Where does Michigan go from here? It looks like Kirk Ferentz is back in play. Coleman hired Ferentz at Iowa and Carr is said to prefer Ferentz, whom he supposedly deems to be something of a coaching kindred spirit, so that only makes me more inclined to think that agents of change lost a battle to the myopic and misguided "old guard" that thinks it knows what it's doing. And maybe it does, or maybe Miles will still be on the Michigan sideline next season--there are all kinds of rumblings at this point--but I will remain skeptical, if not furious, until I see on-field evidence that Michigan is again able to compete with An Ohio State University and USC and every other football program that is actually elite.

What could Michigan be getting in Ferentz? Well, here's a year-by-year break down of Iowa's overall records, with Big Ten results in parentheses:

1999 - 1-10 (0-8)
2000 - 3-9 (3-5)
2001 - 7-5 (4-4)
2002 - 11-2 (8-0)
2003 - 10-3 (5-3)
2004 - 10-2 (7-1)
2005 - 7-5 (5-3)
2006 - 6-7 (2-6)
2007 - 6-6 (4-4)

I'll be honest, these last three years are discouraging. Michigan is seriously considering handing over the reigns of an iconic college football program to a guy who is 19-18 in the last three years while trending downward from his team's apex? Who is 11-13 against a weak Big Ten during that time? Who did that while not even playing OSU and Michigan every year? Who is 3-6 against Iowa State? Who lost to Western Michigan at home this past year? Who is not a strong recruiter and is getting his ass kicked by Ron Zook and Charlie Weis in relatively fertile Illinois? Really?

And let's not forget that while Michigan is not a paragon of moral virtue--arrests for assault, DUI, drug possession, and indecent exposure over a fifteen-month period aren't ideal--Iowa is not either. I think something like eight players were arrested in the past year. Supposedly wholesome Michigan and saintly Lloyd Carr are OK with that?

Meanwhile, Les Miles has averaged 11 wins a year at a program whose scope and status is commensurate with Michigan's. He's got his team playing for a national title, he is a well-regarded recruiter, he hires excellent coaching staffs, he's a wonderful motivator (something sadly overlooked given that college sports are so much about emotion), and I don't see LSU guys on the police blotter all that much. Miles is not the single most ideal candidate in the world--as Dr. G wrote, why not really search far and wide?--but if he and Ferentz are theoretically the two best, most qualified candidates under consideration, how can anyone argue for Ferentz?

To choose a seemingly riskier proposition, pay him well, and ignore the advice of former players, a hand-picked search committee, the desire of fans on whom the program relies for support--well, that's as crazy as going sailing on the most important Saturday in Michigan football's recent history.

If this turns out poorly, or even if Kirk Ferentz comes to Ann Arbor, Bill Martin has some serious explaining to do. And then we'll question Mary Sue Coleman and the regents.