re: Per Michigan 247; they've been told it's 1) Harbaugh 2) Miles

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Harbaugh

First things first: Not a surprise to read articles like this one that say the chasm between Jim Harbaugh and San Francisco management is too far to repair at this point. The likelihood of him returning to San Francisco has reportedly been low for a long time; the question has been more about whether or not another NFL team would prevent him from heading to Ann Arbor.

Money stuff: I believe we were the first to report this, but we've been saying for a while that money was not going to be an issue for Michigan in this coaching search. This is almost certainly a combination of the highly profitable Michigan athletic department and donor/booster Stephen Ross, who will play a role in a potential Harbaugh hiring.

Around 9:30 this morning, I got a message from someone I consider a reputable source that echoed the 8 million/year number that has been bandied about. I want to stress that I have not been able to confirm this from a second source. It does, however, fit the quote that we've repeated a few times revolving around this search: "If Jim says no to Michigan, it will not be because of the money". 8 seems really high; maybe too high. Still, it fits what we've been saying so far.

Other Harbaugh: We included John Harbaugh on our hot board, but have never taken him seriously as a candidate for the Michigan job. Basically, this is backed up by every report out there. We would be very surprised if his name continues to be linked to the job, despite the fact that he would be a great fit in Ann Arbor.

Clint's Bits

I spoke to a few people last night and they believe that if Michigan put together an absolutely block-buster deal for LSU head coach Les Miles, not just offer him the job, but really went all in for him that they thought he would accept the job at Michigan this time around. Their reasoning was the lack of great success LSU had this year and that things seem to be going a bit downhill there, and of course the connection he has with interim athletic director Jim Hackett and Michigan.

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From what what I've gathered, Michigan’s top candidates (besides Jim Harbaugh) look like--

1. Les Miles (LSU)
2. Dan Mullen (Mississippi State)
3. Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State)
4. Steve Addazio (Boston College)

Regarding Addazio, I spoke to two coaches who said he is very highly thought of in the coaching world and that he has won at some very hard places to coach. He has also developed some great running backs through the years and a strong rushing attack at Boston College and the Wolverines want to be strong running the football.

One person also said that Addazio could be above Gundy on the list because of the season Gundy had this year at Oklahoma State, sitting at 5-6 right now, but taking into account that Oklahoma State is without their starting quarterback.

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