Michigan and Miles: What Happened?

Reason No. 1 why Les Miles is not going to Michigan: Money. Miles is expected to be paid $3.45 million a year under terms of his new deal, which would tie him with Bob Stoops for the second-highest coaching salary in college football.

Reason No. 2: As we've been telling you all along, Lloyd Carr and others at Michigan did not want Miles to become coach. Writes Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press: "Carr was not the only influential person at U-M who felt that way. Others had voiced reservations about whether Miles was the right fit."

OK, maybe Miles wasn't the right guy for Michigan. Writes Mitch Albom of the Free Press: "Personally, I saw all I needed to see of Les Miles in his hastily called news conference Saturday. He affected a barking, angry tone, hands by his hips, at one point tugging emphatically on his sports coat."

Albom continues: "We've put up with a lot of baloney this past week in the Michigan coaching search. But getting belligerent about a process he [Miles] encouraged, he invited — and he ultimately parlayed into a jackpot? Sorry. Not swallowing that meatball."

So where does this leave Michigan? At this point, the block M currently stands for "mess." The Freep lists Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, California's Jeff Tedford, Rutgers' Greg Schiano, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe and Missouri's Gary Pinkel among the possibilities. A coach not considered not in the mix (and one that the Wiz thinks is a perfect fit for the job) is Cincinnati's Brian Kelly.