Joel Klatt: Two SEC coaches are 'good fit' for Michigan football job
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Fox Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt thinks there are three names that make a lot of sense for the Michigan Wolverines‘ sudden coaching vacancy — two of which are current SEC head coaches.
Michigan fired Sherrone Moore with cause on Wednesday for what the school said was an “inappropriate relationship with a staff member.” As is customary, talk immediately turned to who might replace Moore after two seasons in Ann Arbor. That’s led to some speculation — or wishcasting — that Alabama Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer could be a top candidate for the Michigan job.
On the Thursday edition of his video podcast, which is shown in syndication on FS1, Klatt said there are two SEC head coaches that fit the Michigan opening perfectly — and neither one is DeBoer.
Klatt offered that Vanderbilt Commodores coach Clark Lea, who has coaching history outside of the SEC at Notre Dame, Syracuse and UCLA, would be a good fit at Michigan. Lea was Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator from 2018-20 before his first season in Nashville in 2021.
“It’s not like he’s just a dyed-in-the-wool SEC guy,” Klatt said of Lea, who has taken Vanderbilt from perennial punchline to the doorsteps of the College Football Playoff in two seasons.
“I understand that they’re having success, and maybe he wants to stay at Vanderbilt, but Michigan is Michigan. It’s better than Vanderbilt. If Lane Kiffin can leave Ole Miss to go to LSU, you can certainly leave Vanderbilt to go to Michigan. The resources at Michigan are great. Clark Lea has been an excellent coach at Vanderbilt, and you would absolutely call him.”
The other SEC coach Klatt believes would be a good fit at Michigan is Mike Elko, now in his second season at Texas A&M. Elko had the Aggies atop the conference at 11-0 until the final weekend of the regular season when they lost to rival Texas in Austin.
Klatt believes Elko, whose program is currently the No. 7 seed in the College Football Playoff and will face the Miami Hurricanes in the first round of the CFP, knows how to build a program “the right way.”
“A&M has not had a ton of success in their history. A&M fans get all mad at me when I say this, but it is true … A&M has been just a bit above .500 for most of their time. They’ve been kind of a middle-of-the-pack conference team, whether it was in the Big 12, the SEC, outside of a couple of years where they would jump up.
“There’s these spurts with Texas A&M, but he seems to have built something that is going to last longer than just a one-year or two-year thing,” Klatt added of Elko.
Klatt, who is the color commentator on Fox’s “Big Noon Saturday” games and called the Big Ten Championship Game between Ohio State and Indiana last Saturday, also named Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham as a potential replacement for Moore.
Klatt recalled his prediction that Alabama would turn to one of three coaches following Nick Saban’s retirement in January 2024: Oregon‘s Dan Lanning, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, and DeBoer.
Buyouts won’t effect Michigan football coaching search, Joel Klatt says
Lea recently signed an extension to stay at Vanderbilt, as did Elko at Texas A&M.
During a segment on potential coaches that Michigan could force to say no, which included names such as Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman and Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Klatt said:
“Listen, it’s just legal jargon. So, all the coaches that signed extensions, I would at least have them in the pool because why limit your own pool? Force Curt Cignetti to say no after winning the Big Ten championship and being the conference’s Coach of the Year back-to-back years. Why not?”
Klatt clearly doesn’t see those buyouts as being an obstacle when it comes to a job as high-profile as Michigan. But perhaps just as notable is the absence of one name on Klatt’s list of coaching candidates: DeBoer.
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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Michigan football could target these two SEC coaches, Joel Klatt says
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