On Iowa with Marc Morehouse

Two sources . . .

Have now told me that Kirk Ferentz is at the top of Michigan's list of coaching candidates.

Members of Michigan's search committee leaked today that Ferentz has been made priority No. 1. Lloyd Carr, who's retiring after 13 seasons at Michigan, is pushing for Ferentz, a source said. He has a say in this. Mary Sue Coleman, UM's president and the UI president when Ferentz was hired at Iowa, has a say in this. That's according to logic, by the way.

UM athletics director Bill Martin said in a statement Sunday, a day after LSU staved off Michigan and held on to Les Miles, "As for Michigan, we are continuing with the process we established and will continue to talk with and research our list of candidates."

Carr said during a Capital One Bowl teleconference that the process would wrap up "quickly," meaning by the end of December.

Now, remember, this is coming from Michigan's end. This is what Michigan people are saying. This is a Michigan story, and if it breaks, it will likely break out of Michigan.

Ferentz didn't talk at Saturday night's basketball game. The end-of-season press conference, that Ferentz said would happen in November, has been scuttled for this week and probably next.

When this exploded the first time around, Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News wrote that Ferentz was "approached by a third party representing Michigan to gauge his interest, and he let them know early this week his interest is at Iowa."

What could change in a week? Desperation, on Michigan's part. And money. If UM and Martin learned anything coming out of the LSU/Miles snafu it's that the price of college coaching has gone up. Lloyd Carr made $1.7 million. Ferentz makes $2.84 million at Iowa, and that's guaranteed through 2012 (that's $14.2 million over the next five years). Michigan knows it's going to take between $3.5 and $4 million to get in the ballpark, with a lot of coaches, not just Ferentz.

Remember, this is what Michigan wants. What Ferentz wants might be another story. We don't know that, though. Ferentz has talked with Fox Radio on Friday mornings during the season. Don't know if that's on the schedule this Friday, but I'm tuning in. Might as well. That might be as close as we get to that season-ending press conference.

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