According to the same people that reported the firing of Rich Rodriguez as Michigan Wolverines head coach, Stanford Cardinal head coach Jim Harbaugh is NOT the primary target for athletic director Dave Brandon, but instead San Diego St. Aztecs head coach Brady Hoke. Ryan Ermanni of FOX 2 in Detroit was just on ESPN News with Linda Cohn, and reported that his sources close to the situation are telling him Hoke will be the guy to end up the job. Despite 90% of Michigan people wanting Harbaugh, Harbaugh apparently has turned away from Ann Arbor.
Hoke, like Harbaugh, is a Michigan man, having coached the defensive line under Lloyd Carr from 1995 to 2002. While he lacks the appeal of Stanford football's leader, Hoke seems to have a resume similar to that of Harbaugh--he turned around the Ball St. Cardinals over a six year period and led them to 7-6 and 12-1 season before moving onto San Diego State. In two years he took them to the Pointsettia Bowl and led them to a victory over Navy and a 9-4 finish. He clearly has shown the turnaround ability Harbaugh exhibited with the Cardinal. His defensive pedigree also will be much needed for a team that's been lacking defense of any sorts for the last few years.
Perhaps those early rumors about Harbaugh losing interest in the maize and blue weren't as far-fetched as originally thought. Which makes you wonder exactly what soured the Harbaugh-to-Michigan deal in the first place.
The people really cheering are in Palo Alto and in San Francisco, who thought Harbaugh was as good as gone as early as a week ago; their chances at keeping or landing him respectively just skyrocketed. But don't rejoice yet Cardinal fans; Ermani also said it's almost certain Harbaugh is going to the NFL. And so it continues.
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