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This move comes after several recent controversies including the decision by the football team to put quarterback Shane Morris back in a game despite having suffered a concussion as well as the recent revelation of condescending emails allegedly sent by Brandon to fans and alumni.
This move will likely have a big impact on the future of the school's football team. With the perceived performance of big school ADs so closely aligned to the success of the football program, the next AD will almost certainly want to choose his own coach.
This means that the current head coach, Brady Hoke, will almost certainly not be back for the 2015 season. After going 11-2 in his first season at Michigan, Hoke has gone 18-16 since, including just 3-5 this year.
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This could be Brady Hoke's final season at Michigan.
That means Michigan is in the market for a new head coach and the one name that will be mentioned the most is San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh was a quarterback at Michigan and had a successful run as the head coach at Stanford where he helped build that program into national title contenders.
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Would Jim Harbaugh be able to replicate his Stanford success at Michigan without Andrew Luck?
Harbaugh also has a relationship with 49ers general manager Trent Baalke that has been described as "competitive tension" as the two have clashed over personnel decisions. Harbaugh has one year remaining on his contract, however, many believe this will be his last season with the 49ers.
In other words, Michigan may be creating a perfect storm that will ultimately lead to Harbaugh going back to Ann Arbor. Or at least that's what many will assume until it happens or until Michigan hires somebody else.