Published Dec 3, 2024
HOT BOARD: Michigan Offensive Coordinator candidates
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Trevor McCue  •  Maize&BlueReview
Senior Editor
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Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has announced that Kirk Campbell will no longer serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Given the struggles of the offense this year, this was not a massive surprise.

Candidate names have been floated among our sources over the last few weeks, and now with the job officially open, let's break down some of the names we have heard early on in the process.

There appear to be three buckets of candidates:

Offensive minds with recent head coach experience. Established "best in the game" coordinators. Up-and-coming young playcallers.

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HEAD COACH EXPERIENCE

JASON CANDLE, TOLEDO HC

Candle has done an excellent job as head coach for Toledo, but he has likely taken the program as far as it will go. Miami and Ohio State showed interest in Candle as OC last season, and he was reportedly a candidate for HC at Michigan State.

He checks a lot of boxes at Michigan. An offensive mind with experience running a balanced power spread. He brings head coach experience to help Moore focus on recruiting and offensive line. Candle is well liked by Ohio and Michigan high school coaches, and would be a monster recruiter in his own right.

DAN MULLEN, FORMER FLORIDA HC

Mullen has been out of the coaching game for a few years, but his spread offense went from new fad to the standard of college football. Mullen was successful at Mississippi State and did well at Florida, but there was tension around his recruiting. He of course is from the Urban Meyer tree, coaching his offenses at Utah and Florida.

His offense could blend well with power run and spread pass concepts. Running back coach Tony Alford's best seasons came under a Mullen offense at Ohio State. Like Candle he brings head coach experience. While he may not be super interested in recruiting, that's not a big obstacle because Moore is the recruiter at Michigan.


KEVIN WILSON, FORMER TULSA HC/OHIO STATE OC

Wilson was the offensive coordinator at Ohio State during their offensive explosion under Urban Meyer. He left for the Tulsa head coach position after Ryan Day was brought to Columbus. Before that, Wilson was the head coach at Indiana, and we'll just say things didn't end well there.

Wilson was the OC for Moore when he played at Oklahoma, so there is a connection there. Whether Wilson would want to coach at Michigan and whether Michigan would hire Wilson are big questions.

ESTABLISHED OFFENSIVE COORDINATORS

MIKE DENBROCK, NOTRE DAME OC

This would be a massive move by Moore. Denbrock just returned to Notre Dame for a second stint after briefly reuniting with Brian Kelly at LSU. Widely considered one of the top 3 offensive coordinators in college football, Denbrock is an excellent play caller, can recruit, and has plenty of NFL pipeline players to talk about.

Denbrock is a Michigan native and originally met Kelly while coaching at his alma mater Grand Valley State. Denbrock was at LSU when Jadyn Daniels won the Heisman, so Bryce Underwood would likely approve of the move. Denbrock could be tight end coach, with Casula moving to quarterbacks.

Moore has tried to take guys from Notre Dame already, could he pull this off?

JOEY HALZLE, TENNESSEE OC

If you want to make your new quarterback recruit, Bryce Underwood, happy, a guy like Joey Halzle will do that. QB play at Tennessee has been through the roof under his lead. Three straight seasons of 3,000-yard passers. But will Michigan go away from the run game? They also led the SEC in rushing during that time frame. Halzle also coached Dillon Gabriel at UCF.

Halzle is a former Oklahoma quarterback who just happened to play with former Oklahoma offensive lineman and current Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore. Now, of course, that same connection is why he is at UT with Josh Heupel, so it's not a trump card.

UP AND COMERS

BRENNAN MARION, UNLV OC

People have fallen in love with Marion's Go-Go offense. Sources tell us, some Power 4 coaches worry if it is too "gimmicky" for the next level. That there would have be some adaptation. Largely, the offense runs outside and inside zone with RPO concepts. The clash could come from the up-tempo style.

Marion was a rumored candidate at Oklahoma and Florida State and is considered a top candidate at Wisconsin. In the past, Michigan has used a committee approach on offense, where each coach brings their own flavor to the game plan. Could Michigan make that work with Marion as play caller, but with a modified version of his scheme?

JOE CRADDOCK, TULANE OC

This name started getting traction before The Game on Saturday when Bruce Feldman mentioned his name as a potential candidate. Craddock was the playcaller for strong offenses at Troy before following Jon Sumrall to Tulane.

Craddock has impressed this season, especially with the play of Darian Mensah. Prior to that, Craddock followed Chad Morris at SMU and Arkansas. Things didn't go great then, but he was also the youngest OC in college football at the time.


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