Michigan coaching search: Josh Pate breaks down options after Kalen DeBoer statement

After Kalen DeBoer reaffirmed his commitment to Alabama, Michigan is now left to look at other candidates in its coaching search. College football analyst Josh Pate broke down what names those might be and gave his favorite candidate.

On Josh Pate’s College Football Show, he brought up a hot board put out by On3’s Pete Nakos. The list featured names such as Lincoln Riley, Eli Drinkwitz and Jedd Fisch, but it was another one that caught Pate’s eye: Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham.

“I think Kenny Dillingham is a wonderful candidate for Michigan,” Pate said. “That would be the guy that I would pursue. …I see what he’s done in terms of quarterback development, I see what he’s done in terms of lighting and fan base on fire, I love the energy, I love the passion, I love how much his guys will go over a cliff for him, I love the energy he would bring, and also, aside from him being a good football coach, you’ve gotta understand what Michigan has had versus what he would bring. Michigan is like an oil field that really hasn’t been drilled properly. That sounds weird because they won a national championship recently, but I’m just telling you from a passion, energy and resource standpoint in the new age, no one’s really drilled deep at Michigan yet. When you do, money’s flying all over the place.

“…They are primed from an NIL contribution standpoint, from a donor energy and engagement standpoint to where if they get anybody, but especially a guy as dynamic as that — it’s no guarantee from a record perspective — I just think it’s a home run. That’s how I would feel if I were Michigan.”

Dillingham helped lead Arizona State to the College Football Playoff last season after winning the Big 12 Championship. He is in his third year as the head coach of the Sun Devils with a 22-16 record in that span.

Pate went on to say that he was merely speaking from what he would do if he were in Michigan’s shoes. However, he has inside intel from Dillingham himself and the coach has not yet heard from the Wolverines.

“I spoke with Kenny yesterda,” Pate said. “He talked about a few things. He talked about how much he loved Arizona State, which is obviously accurate. He talked about how much he would love to be there, which is 100% accurate. He said Michigan has not contacted him whatsoever. He has not spoken with anyone at Michigan. I can tell you that’s 100% accurate and that was about it. They’ve been working on a contract extension for him and that’s been going on for several weeks now.”

Right now, Dillingham is just one of many names being thrown around. The search is still in the early stages as it hasn’t even been a week since Sherrone Moore was fired.

The goal is still to end things quickly with this search, though and that’s what Michigan intends to do. But Pate thinks there’s certainly a better chance of Dillingham saying yes if the Wolverines are interested.

“I think that right now, the status of that search is in the search firm stages,” he said. “The search firm is basically identifying and vetting and accumulating information and that information is handed over to a committee. This is going way differently than the Penn State search, which was pretty much Pat Kraft. They’re going search firm and, I believe, over to a search committee. There’s a rush, but there’s not a hurried rush. You want to get it right however long it takes to get it right and not a second longer.

“It would not surprise me at all if they still waited until after Friday and if Bama gets eliminated Friday, force Kalen DeBoer to say no. I believe he will and then move on. That could be their strategy or they could get pretty strong feedback that, ‘Hey, no means no. He’s locked in.’ And then move on this week. Maybe DeBoer and Alabama go on to win the national championship and it’s a moot point either way. I know it seems like the whole Kalen DeBoer and Kenny Dillingham thing look similar. It’s just a, ‘Hey, I’m happy where I’m at.’ I don’t think those were the same thing.”