Brian at MGoBlue - who broke the Lloyd Carr retirement, btw ESPN -- has multiple sources confirming that Michigan has offered the head coaching position to current Iowa HC Kirk Ferentz.

I've sat on this a couple days waiting for some third-party corroboration and now I have it: Kirk Ferentz has been offered the Michigan job. The general feeling is he will turn it down out of fidelity to Iowa, in case you were thinking of making a late-night run to Ann Arbor (or Iowa City) Torch & Pitchfork. I do realize that this -- unlike the Lloyd thing -- is unlikely to ever be publicly acknowledged if Ferentz turns it down, but this comes from someone in a position to know, and how. The third-party corroboration comes from a couple Iowa insiders reporting things afoot that, unfortunately, I am not at liberty to disclose.

Suffice it to say that Wednesday's post on Ferentz not making sense and this being a weird rumor is withdrawn: there's a real chance he's the next coach.

In a word - wow. Kirk Ferentz? I guess I fall into the 'didn't see that one coming crowd', much like Brian when he first got wind of it a few days ago and Mr. Tears & OT Losses.

Suffice to say, the Michigan fans are not happy.

I could understand if this were just a silly rumor - offering the UM job to one of the nation's highest paid coaches - to give Michigan more negotiating leverage with Miles... But, Brian says there's both smoke and fire, so....

While Ferentz may not necessarily make most Michigan fans go crazy in their pants, he has built Iowa into quite a nice little Big 10 program. That said, UM's aim isn't to be "a nice little Big 10 program".

I've never been a big Ferentz fan, but... then again, Ferentz accomplished plenty at Iowa... and if you can ramp up the Hawkeyes, then maybe he is worth every penny.

Be that as it may, Brian says Ferentz will likely say "TBNT" to a Michigan offer out of loyalty to Iowa. If it all plays out as expected and Ferentz says no, then Michigan still needs to find a coach.

So who's next on the Wolverines wish list? Perhaps Cincinnati's Brian Kelly. Rumor has it that Michigan has been background checking Kelly (and Notre Dame may be looking at him, too. Perhaps as an OC for Charlie Choo-Choo?)

Would Kelly be interested? Well, he artfully dodged the question this week.

"From my standpoint, it's similar to all the questions relative to the bowl games," Kelly said Monday during the Big East's weekly coaches' conference call. "Our focus is on Syracuse. That's the most important thing. Any speculation relative to bowls and jobs, we've got plenty of time for that after the Syracuse game (Saturday).

"The focus for me and my football team is going to be on getting nine wins for the first time since the 1950s. Job speculation and all those things, we've got plenty of time to do that after this weekend."

So... Ferentz, then... Kelly? ... then Miles?

Honestly, I have no idea, but I do know this... stay tuned at MGoBlog, because Brian is tuned in right now. (Or just wait a few days later for ESPN to "break" the story without crediting MGoBlog... again.)