The next CMU head coach is...
With Dec. 10 now less than two weeks away, it's time to handicap the contenders for the CMU Football Head Coach position.
For those of you who don't know, Dec. 10 is the date that CMU Athletics Director Herb Deromedi is hoping to have a new coach in place by.
According to the job description posted by CMU, the ideal candidate would have at the least a bachelor's degree and five years of college coaching experience with at least three years at the Division I level.
In conversations with Deromedi, he has indicated that the next head coach would also have midwestern ties.
First of all for everyone out there wishing and praying for Terry Bowden to leave CBS for the friendly confines of Kelly/Shorts, forget it. Bowden recently signed an extension to stay as the network's studio analyst for college football and said he wasn't interested in returning to coaching at this time.
The name mentioned most prominently early on was Michigan Defensive Coordinator Jim Herrmann. Speculation on Herrmann has died down though recently because he has made it known that he has no desire to leave Ann Arbor for Mount Pleasant or anywhere else.
My theory is that he is waiting out Head Coach Lloyd Carr for the top job for the Big Blue.
The next name up, Indiana Assistant Head Coach Pete Schmidt was first floated by a Detroit radio station the day after Dick Flynn's resignation was announced. Schmidt met all of the prerequisites, 14 seasons at Albion College, 13 as head coach including a Division III national title in 1994 and was finishing up his third season as Assistant Head Coach and Quarterbacks Coach at IU.
A wild card was thrown into the mix though as Indiana announced that Schmidt had cancer and would need treatments immediately.
The Port Austin native was originally thought to be the top choice but may have moved back into the equation as it is believed that his illness may have been treated enough.
Contacted earlier this month, Schmidt stated that a head coaching job anywhere was not the top thing on his mind.
"Well right now we're just going to concentrate on beating this (cancer) and not really worry about anything else," Schmidt said.
Current CMU Defensive Coordinator Brian VanGorder was believed to be a top internal candidate until Deromedi revealed that none of the current assistant would be considered for the position.
With a recent opening of the head coaching job at Wayne State VanGorder, who previously was head coach there from 1992-94 with a record of 16-17, might be looking to go home again.
Next up is the man considered to be the current leader for the job, Michigan Offensive Coordinator Mike DeBord. DeBord is in his eighth season at U-M and also spent two years at Colorado State and a season at Ball State in 1989, helping guide his alma mater to the Mid-American Conference title.
DeBord is thought to have met with the four-man search committee at least once and it is rumored that he and Deromedi dined at The Embers last week.
DeBord has not returned messages left in his office by CM LIFE and Deromedi has stated he will not comment on individual candidates during the search process.
As for salary difference, DeBord is set to make just over $116,000 in salary and incentives at Michigan while Flynn will earn a total of $106,366 in his final year.
Other names mentioned for the job include U-M Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs Coach Fred Jackson and Cincinnati Bengals Offensive Line Coach Paul Alexander, who coached at CMU under Deromedi from 1987-91.
The two though are mentioned more prominently for the Eastern Michigan job with Jackson getting perhaps a slight edge.
Paul Schudel, currently the offensive line coach at Virginia, who guided Ball State to that 1989 title is also reportedly in the mix as are Mose Rison, a CMU grad and current Stanford assistant, and Illinois State Head Coach Todd Berry.
As they come down the home stretch with less than two weeks to go, we'll give the slight edge to DeBord. I believe he will be offered the job with a condition that he may have to keep some current staff members and that Schmidt may be a close second and Berry my darkhorse choice.
