Why is the interview process for the coaching vacancy at Michigan so damn public? Why is there a headline on sports news sites announcing every time a candidate rejects an offer/interview?
Is this normal? Why doesn’t the Michigan AD have more control over this situation? This can’t be good for the recruitment of players.
Just curious- there’s a man out there who has some very impressive things on his resume.
He was offensive coordinator of a team that won the national championship
He has turned a perennial doormat into a BCS team this season.
Wouldn’t you THINK that SOME big school would be showering money on Mark Mangino of Kansas??? Especially when you look at the money being given to assistants with no head coaching experience.
Michigan might be a little adamant of wanting to stay “within the family”.
There’s essentially 2 reasons. First, there are a lot of reporters who are pretty good at their job paying attention to what goes on there. They get paid to find out about things like this and the guys being asked to interview are fairly famous, it’s hard for them to fly into Michigan or vice versa and not be noticed by someone with access to the programs in question.
Secondly, and most importantly, it’s in someone’s best interest that it be public. In the case of Les Miles, he got a huge contract extension from LSU because Michigan came calling. Schiano’s profile and prestige goes up because he was considered for Michigan job and he’ll likely remind Rutgers of that fact when contract talks come up. Also, there are possible arguments to be made that Michigan benefits from the publicity too. Getting turned down might reflect poorly, but having it in the news that a certain coach is considering them might give them negotiating power. Public opinion and media pressure on a potential candidate might help push them to the Michigan job so long as the media attention reinforces how great a job Michigan would be.
Also it’s worth noting that these are all public, state universities we are dealing with. Chances are that all personnel moves of this level are required to be disclosed to the state and are likely subject to laws requiring the information be made public.
It will almost certainly hit this news that there was an interview. Which creates uncertainty for the coach’s old team, so they will try to quash that by stating absolutely they they arn’t leaving.