Michigan Football Head Coaching Hot Board (Week of Dec. 22)

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The Michigan Wolverines’ search for a new head coach enters a second week, as their Plan A guys didn’t exactly work out over the weekend. Kalen DeBoer and his Alabama Crimson Tide team upset Oklahoma on the road in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Friday, while Kenny Dillingham signed a new contract with Arizona State on Saturday.

After those punches to the gut, here is our latest Hot Board. As mentioned last week, this is not the entire list of all the candidates Michigan is considering, but merely what we have seen, heard and reported on, as well as some guys Michigan should at least give it a shot with.

The new (alleged) top target

Jeff Brohm HC, Louisville

*gulp*

Yup, this is where we’re at now, folks. Jeff Brohm is now at the top of the list for the Wolverines.

Let’s start with the positive — he is an offensive mind that has turned guys like David Blough and Aidan O’Connell into serviceable college quarterbacks and guys that eventually made it to the NFL. The thought of pairing him up with Bryce Underwood is exciting and would very likely take him to the next level.

And that’s about where the positives end for me. Now, the not-so-positives — Brohm’s never had elite defenses, which is obviously something Michigan has prioritized having over the last several years. The Cardinals had the No. 64 total defense last year before rebounding and putting together the No. 15 total defense this season. It’s improvement, but is it a one-hit wonder because the ACC was hot garbage in 2025, or is it actually sustainable?

Brohm is also reportedly challenging to work with, as a Louisville source told Sam Webb ($) he was described as “difficult,” and his family as “a problem.” Brian Brohm, Jeff’s brother, is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Louisville, while his other brother, Greg, is the chief of staff. Both of them worked with Jeff at Purdue, so it’s clear he would bring his brothers to Ann Arbor with him.

The cherry on top is Brohm has never had a season as a Power 4 head coach where he’s lost less than four games. That includes this year, where the Cardinals started off hot by winning seven of their first eight games, only to implode and lose three of their final four games, including horrifically bad losses at home to Clemson and Cal.

For Brohm to be the guy at the top of the list at this point is majorly disappointing. I think he would be a fantastic offensive coordinator at a school like Michigan, but for him to be considered for this role…what are we doing, Warde?

Should be strongly considered

Jesse Minter, DC, Los Angeles Chargers

Jesse Minter has obvious ties to the university, serving as the defensive coordinator during Michigan’s run to a national title in 2023. He’s also widely viewed as a head coach in the waiting whenever his stint as defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers ends.

But will that be in college or in the NFL? If I had to guess, it would likely be the latter. However, he should absolutely be someone the Wolverines make a phone call to just to get a temperature check. He is an elite defensive mind that was great on the recruiting trail over his two years in Ann Arbor.

Eli Drinkwitz, HC, Missouri

The AP reported over a week ago that Michigan’s search firm has been in contact with representatives of Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz. The 42-year-old just signed a six-year contract extension with the Tigers back in November and has never coached, nor resided in Big Ten country. It seems unlikely, but with options dwindling, maybe the Wolverines should consider Drinkwitz a bit more seriously moving forward.

Kyle Whittingham, former HC, Utah

After more than 20 years as the head coach of Utah, Kyle Whittingham stepped down just a couple weeks ago and declared himself “in the transfer portal” in search of his next job. He has a career 177-88 head coaching record (all at Utah) and won two conference championships when Utah was still a member of the Pac-12.

A downside to Whittingham is he has never been this far east of the Mississippi in his career — he grew up in California, went to college at BYU, and has coached his entire career in either Utah or Idaho. Would he be able to adapt to the midwest culture and recruit at a high level? Considering his high level of character, it wouldn’t surprise me if he would be able to do so, but it’s a major question mark on his resume for a school like Michigan.

Another major question mark is how much he has left in the tank. He’s 66 years old and by no means has to coach anymore. He could retire and live the rest of his life in paradise. If he got hired and things weren’t going well, would he leave Michigan before his contract was up for an early retirement? That’s something I would need reassurance on before potentially hiring him.

Clark Lea, HC, Vanderbilt

Another unlikely option, in my opinion, but Clark Lea needs to be discussed more now that Dillingham and DeBoer are out of the running. One of my colleague Nick Durand’s favorite candidates, Lea has turned around his alma mater Vanderbilt and led the Commodores to a 10-2 record this season and just on the outside of the College Football Playoff. He also played a large role in flipping five-star quarterback Jared Curtis from Georgia right before National Signing Day a couple weeks ago, so he’s got some recruiting chops as well.

The issue here is that Lea signed a six-year contract extension with Vanderbilt last month, so buying him out of the contract may be tricky. Again, this is a very unlikely option, but if Michigan is serious in opening up the checkbook for the best candidate, Lea would be a pretty decent coach to do that for.

A couple coordinators to consider

Glenn Schumann, DC, Georgia

Before I begin with this group of coaches, I remain in the camp of not necessarily *wanting* Michigan to hire someone with no head coaching experience. However, if Michigan does go this route, these are the two I would be okay with.

Starting with Glenn Schumann, a young up-and-coming coach who has been in the SEC his entire coaching career. The 35-year-old Schumann started off as a grad assistant at Alabama, his alma mater, before getting hired by Kirby Smart to lead Georgia’s inside linebackers in 2016. He was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2019, and interviewed for the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator opening in 2023 before staying put at Georgia and becoming its lone defensive coordinator in 2024.

Schumann also has leadership experience off the field. He was Alabama’s director of football operations from 2014-15, where he dealt with team travel, logistics, day-to-day operations, recruiting and other off-field assignments.

There’s a lot to like about Schumann, but the obvious caveats are he has no head coaching experience and is a life-long resident of the south. How would he do in a new environment like Michigan? And would he be able to recruit the midwest? These are obvious questions that would need to be answered before a potential hire.

Adam Stenavich, OC, Green Bay Packers

Adam Stenavich has worked his way up the coaching ranks since leaving Ann Arbor as an offensive lineman in 2006. He was a graduate assistant at Michigan for two years before taking the offensive line coaching gig at Northern Arizona. He also was an offensive line coach at San Jose State before jumping to the NFL, where he has been since 2017. Stenavich has been with the Packers since 2019 and was promoted to his current role in 2022.

The obvious caveat here — other than the lack of head coaching experience — is that the Packers are likely to be in the playoffs since season, which will run through January. This is not great timing due to the transfer portal opening up on Jan. 2. However, as Sam Webb ($) pointed out, head coach Matt LaFleur calls the plays in Green Bay, so it wouldn’t be a major problem for Green Bay if Stenavich left his current role early.

It still seems unlikely to me that Stenavich (or anyone) would want to leave early in the midst of a run to the Super Bowl, but it’s an interesting thought nonetheless.

Call and have them tell you ‘no’

Curt Cignetti, HC, Indiana; Dan Lanning, HC, Oregon; Marcus Freeman, HC, Notre Dame

I had this same section here last week and I will keep it here this week, especially with DeBoer and Dillingham officially off the board.

Look, you’re Michigan. On College Game Day last week, Nick Saban called you a top-five job in all of college football. If you are so high and mighty and want to be the “Leaders and Best,” you should be going after the elites in the sport. Especially Marcus Freeman, who has been sitting on his couch the last couple weeks after the Irish opted out of bowl season.

Warde — do your job, or someone else should be doing it for you.

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