SEARCHBITS XXVII: OKAY

HARBECHLER HALL!!!!! pic.twitter.com/4cvLTUMz2q

— LostLettermen.com (@LostLettermen) December 24, 2014

All right, there's enough stuff. We're all degenerates.

INCREMENT. Webb goes to 75%. Drew Hallett notes that at this rate he will be at 100% on December 29th.

THE CONFERENCE CALL. It happened, it was coy and positive. Not much of substance was related except an expectation that the next call might be unnecessary. There was a brief flutter of positive tweets from players, most of which were vague and quickly deleted. It was made clear that things are not signed($); the overall feeling from the meeting was highly positive.

Durkin is holding off on his plans

THIS IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL. Texas A&M has been trying to name a new defensive coordinator for a couple weeks now, and DJ Durkin is a—the—prime contender. He's not going to stay at Florida after McElwain poached the Mississippi State YOU'RE A BALLER guy, so why isn't he going for a good job in the SEC?

Texas A&M’s slow movement toward hiring a defensive coordinator appears to be tied to Jim Harbaugh.

One of the Aggies’ candidates, Florida defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, is waiting to see whether Harbaugh takes the open Michigan head coaching job, according to a source close to the situation. If Harbaugh, currently at odds with the San Francisco 49ers, were to go back to coach his alma mater, Durkin could get reunited with his former Stanford boss.

If Durkin is willing to stall on a job as good as A&M DC, that "could" is almost certainly a "would." And Harbaugh's arrival at Michigan seems highly probable as well. Nobody's going to keep a job like that waiting based on a vague hope.

Interestingly, Greg Mattison was also a part of these rumors. Sometimes he's mentioned as a possible "co-DC"; sometimes his potential role is unlisted. With current speculation leaning towards a Mattison/Durkin partnership at Michigan, that also signals a shift. Mattison reportedly cleared out his office with authority when Hoke was axed.

NUSSMEIER OUT. Doug Nussmeier takes the Florida OC job as the first half of a potential coordinator trade. There had been a little chatter that Michigan might keep him on that's obviously done now.

HACKETT'S APPROACH. Heard from someone close to the search that Hackett's first approach to Harbaugh was to ask him what were the five things that he needed if he was going to come back to Michigan. These included top-five college money and disciplinary autonomy. A lot of it seemed like reassurances he wasn't going to have a Baalke or Brandon in his life.

Hackett is very tight-lipped. Even folks on the regent level aren't getting every detail; Hackett prefers to keep people informed on a high level but keep details private so that things don't get screwed up. He's been impressive to everyone I've heard who has come in contact with him.

THE JETS ARE NOT IMPRESSED. Okay, Jets owner, that's cool.

Told today the Jets are unlikely landing spot for Jim Harbaugh. They interviewed him when they hired Rex. Woody wasn't impressed.

— Pete Thamel (@SIPeteThamel) December 23, 2014

With the Dolphins out and the Jets apparently not enthralled, NFL options appear to come down to the cheapskate Bears and basket-case Raiders, with the potential addition of the Falcons if they don't make the playoffs.

I THINK WE HAVE FORGOTTEN SOMETHING ABOUT THE RAIDERS. Hey, look, Football Scoop is bringing up something a lot of people seem to have forgotten when talk turns to Harbaugh with the Oakland Raiders:

If he were to leave for another NFL job, however, the 49ers would supposedly ask for "a king's ransom" in exchange for releasing him, as the potential for embarrassment is much higher if Harbaugh remains in the NFL, especially if it's with the Oakland Raiders.

Harbaugh is under contract. York and Baalke would be reviled in the Bay Area if Harbaugh went to the disaster zone that is the Raiders and turned them around, especially if the 49ers struggled. (They're already moving towards reviled if the comment sections of 49ers articles are any indication.) It is unlikely they are going to let that happen unless the Raiders pay an exorbitant fee in draft picks, which makes the Raiders job even sketchier.

Congratulations to FS for finally saying something reasonable about this search. It was something I mentioned on December second(!) in the same post bombing their ridiculous"Harbaugh is not a candidate and Michigan is struggling" post, but better three weeks late and after a pile of complete bollocks than never at all.

ROONEY RULIN'. Another thing that makes Michigan a good bet as a landing spot: if the 49ers do cut ties with Harbaugh within 48 hours of the season's end that heavily implies Michigan: NFL teams have to comply with the Rooney Rule, which might be tough when hypothetical black candidates feel they're wasting their time. They would have to figure out a trade and a contract. Michigan has a big head start, and can act quicker.

ACT LIKE A CLOWN, GET TREATED LIKE A CLOWN PART II. Greg Gabriel, the fringe NFL writer who called Michigan's search "embarrassing" on December 12th and followed that up with gems such as "just laughing at you" and "if you want to dream go to Disneyland" amongst a number of other tweets he's deleted, has thrown a hissy on the National Football Post.

My fondness for the school ended this week through no fault of the University, but rather their asinine fans.

Two weeks ago I tweeted that in all likelihood, Jim Harbaugh would not become the next head coach at Michigan. Two weeks ago that was a very true statement, as Harbaugh wanted to coach nowhere but in the NFL. That was reported in various places by some very credible people. Harbaugh was done with the college game and wanted to coach only in the professional ranks.

Soon after my tweet, I started receiving several threatening, vulgar and obscene tweets from Michigan fans. In simple words, they said I didn’t know what I was talking about and that my sources were worthless.

The few replies he got to his tweet include an assertion he's a senile idiot… and that's it. Behold the asinine Michigan fanbase.

@greggabe@mrh160 I respectfully disagree that UM has been told they are out. Time will tell.

— Matt (@UMich38) December 12, 2014

I get worse than that from random LSU fans without even talking about LSU. And of course Gabriel didn't know what he was talking about and his sources were useless. Meanwhile he approached the inherently unknowable fiasco that is a coaching search with a supremely unwarranted arrogance.

That's been par for the course for a bunch of supposed NFL insiders who have been cocky and wrong—bad combination—while the Michigan side of things has consistently said things like "Michigan is in this," not "Michigan is a lock" (until recently, as Harbaugh moves close enough to being a lock that even previously dismissive NFL people are admitting that it's probably happening).

There are ways to communicate your point of view without bringing the wrath of the internet down on you. Step one is not being an asshat, something Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport understand. Kawakami and this guy not so much.

MEANWHILE. Gabriel's sources remain useless. He asserts that the thing that makes Michigan an option is the money that's easily matched by NFL teams flush with cash and asserts that Harbaugh will be fired by the 49ers. More "heart in the NFL" stuff from people who promised up and down that Michigan was never happening.

PLAN B. I don't think we'll need one. Continue hearing that Dan Mullen is a strong possibility if things go pear-shaped. He may not be the #2 option outright, but he or Miles is the #1 guy they know would take the job. Depending on who you talk to, Miles is the #2 option or way down the board. I think it's the latter but can't be sure.

NO SEARCHBITS TOMORROW, YOU DEGENERATES. Probably.