Sports
Who will Michigan hire if Jim Harbaugh leaves for the NFL?
Jim Harbaugh did everything Michigan fans could’ve hoped the former Wolverines star quarterback would do when he returned to Ann Arbor to take over his alma mater’s football program. He ended hated arch-rival Ohio State’s dominance in their series and flipped it around; he turned Michigan into the bully of the Big Ten; and then he led Michigan to its first national title in almost 30 years.
And now, not surprisingly, after three years of flirting with returning to the NFL, Harbaugh is back meeting with NFL teams. He is beginning by meeting with the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday, opening up the very real possibility that he will now leave behind a storied program and one of the best jobs in college sports. If he leaves, who could Michigan turn to next?
The obvious path
That would be promoting Wolverines offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore.
Moore has emerged as a strong candidate, especially after the last month of the regular season. The 37-year-old is still young, but he proved more than capable of the job when he stepped in and coached Michigan late in the 2023 season after the Big Ten suspended Harbaugh during the toughest stretch of the Wolverines’ schedule. Moore led the team to a win over top-10 Penn State in a very hostile environment, managed the road trap game against Maryland and then continued Michigan’s dominance over the Buckeyes. The team loves Moore; spend some time around the program and you see that his impact is significant.
“I was pretty close to leaving,” offensive lineman Trevor Keegan, one of the team leaders, told me about an hour after Michigan won the national title. “The recruiting process is a dangerous thing. Everybody tells you how good you are. That you’ll start as a freshman. As an 18-year-old kid, I wasn’t the most mature guy. I wasn’t playing. I kinda stopped loving football. Coming into Schembechler Hall was kind of a drag for me. Coach Moore came in and changed my whole outlook on life and football. He made me fall in love with football again. I can’t thank him enough. He’s just a guy who puts his head down and works as well. He started here as a tight ends coach and now he’s an OC getting head coaching offers.”
Moore, a Kansas native who played at Oklahoma, is beloved by his players and his coaching peers. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get the job. There have been some relatively similar situations to point to — most notably Ryan Day taking over at Ohio State after Urban Meyer left for the NFL and Marcus Freeman taking over at Notre Dame after Brian Kelly left for LSU. Day is 56-8, although Buckeye fans are not happy about the losing streak with Michigan these days. Freeman is 19-8 and it’s still a little too soon to get a real sense of whether this was the right move for the Irish. Continuity and how the players felt about the move were big factors, but both have had to grow into the jobs.
The overall results of big jobs promoting from within after the head coach moves on are mostly positive, though.
Florida State promoted Jimbo Fisher after Bobby Bowden retired, and that worked out very well for the Seminoles — Fisher led them to a national title. Stanford promoted David Shaw after Harbaugh left for the NFL a decade ago. That also worked out well, although the program backslid later on under Shaw. Bret Bielema took over for Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin and that went well. Lincoln Riley took over for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and the Sooners kept winning at a very high level.
Chip Kelly took Oregon to another level after Mike Bellotti stepped down, and then Mark Helfrich got the Ducks to the national title game, although the Ducks tailed off shortly thereafter. Conversely, Bob Davie taking over for Lou Holtz at Notre Dame a generation ago didn’t go so great (one top-20 season in five years). Neither did Jimmy Lake getting promoted after Chris Petersen retired at Washington a few years ago.
The only thing that may give Michigan brass some pause is if Moore is tied to the ongoing NCAA investigation into the sign-stealing scandal. If the investigation finds that Moore — who has not been tied to the scheme — was somehow involved, Michigan might want to start over with a clean slate.
Lance Leipold led Kansas to its first Top 25 finish since 2007. (Joe Camporeale / USA Today)
External candidates
Kansas’ Lance Leipold has worked miracles in Lawrence. He won six Division III national titles at Wisconsin-Whitewater, led Buffalo — one of the toughest FBS jobs — into the Top 25 and then resurrected Kansas, the worst Power 5 program. The Jayhawks went from 2-10 to 6-7 to 9-4 over three seasons. They ranked No. 23 in the final AP poll of the 2023 season and beat Oklahoma for the first time in a generation. The 59-year-old has Midwestern roots, having grown up in Wisconsin. He knows how to build a culture, play physical football and do much more with less. Kansas hadn’t won more than three games in a season in 11 years before Leipold arrived.
The fact that he’s still in Lawrence should make Kansas the biggest winner of the year’s coaching carousel thus far. The Athletic reported on Sunday that Leipold withdraw from the Washington head coach search before Jedd Fisch was hired.
Kansas State’s Chris Klieman, like Leipold, came from winning big in the lower divisions of football. He won four FCS titles at North Dakota State. The 56-year-old led the Wildcats to the Big 12 title in 2022, going 10-4. This past year, the Wildcats were 9-4 and had a second consecutive top-20 finish. Klieman has a good situation at K-State under athletic director Gene Taylor, with whom he worked previously, but the chance to jump to a better-resourced, blue-blood program in the Big Ten might be very tempting.
LSU’s Brian Kelly jumped from South Bend to Baton Rouge to try to better his chances at winning a national title. Kelly had an impressive debut season in Baton Rouge in 2022, going 10-4 and winning the SEC West. This past season, expectations were much higher and the Tigers went 10-3, but it felt disappointing given they had Heisman winner Jayden Daniels at quarterback and a ton of key players back. They were dreadful on defense, got blown out by Florida State in the opener, gave up 55 in a loss to Ole Miss and had only one win over a ranked opponent, Missouri.
Kelly, 62, is a really good coach, but the bar in Baton Rouge is incredibly high. The last three coaches there all won national titles. Making it to a 12-team College Football Playoff but not winning a title won’t cut it. The fit with him in Louisiana has seemed odd, even bizarre, from the moment he arrived. He now has to overhaul his coaching staff. Top recruits still want to come to LSU, but I’ve heard lots of chatter that if he could get in on Michigan, he’d probably go for it. Kelly spent almost two decades in the state of Michigan while coaching at Grand Valley State. How attractive would he be relative to Michigan’s other options? I’m a little skeptical at this point.
Harbaugh may not have been for everybody, but all the people inside Michigan — especially his players — love him for his authenticity. With Kelly, it seems like you might be talking about the polar opposite.
(Top photo of Sherrone Moore: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
Sports
Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman critiques NIL landscape, transfer rules and Lane Kiffin’s LSU move
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For the past couple of decades, former NFL star quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman has shared his thoughts on what he’s seen during whichever game he and his longtime broadcast partner are calling.
The three-time Super Bowl winner is currently part of the “Monday Night Football” broadcast crew. Aikman has routinely given his take on a variety of football-related topics, from the state of NFL officiating to college football.
Some of Aikman’s latest thoughts about the college game centered on the growing number of players who have taken advantage of the transfer portal in today’s polarizing NIL landscape.
The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and many others have referred to the state of today’s sport at the collegiate level as the “Wild West.”
Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman stands with his Monday Night Football Broadcast announcer Joe Buck before a game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants at Acrisure Stadium. (Barry Reeger/Imagn Images)
“College football has become the Wild West, as everybody knows. Forget about Lane Kiffin for a minute, but starting with NIL, there just has been no guardrails. I’m on the National Football Foundation Board, so I hear firsthand from a lot of the commissioners and athletic directors and the people involved in all of that. It’s gotta get cleaned up, first and foremost,” Aikman told The Athletic.
When asked about student-athletes’ mobility in today’s world, Aikman reflected on his personal choices during his time competing at the NCAA level.
NFL GREAT TROY AIKMAN FIRES BACK AT JERRY JONES’ TRADE PLAN AMID LOSING EFFORT: ‘HE MAY WANT TO CANCEL’
“I was a transfer. I went from Oklahoma to UCLA, and I’ve always felt that if a coach is able to pick up and leave, that a player should have the same opportunity if a coach leaves,” he continued.
UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman (8) runs the ball during a college football game against Arizona on Oct. 2, 1988, at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz. (Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images)
“What’s happened obviously over the years since I got out of college football is that in recent years with NIL, there’s been no accountability on the players,” Aikman continued. “So the players pick up and now they’re leaving all the time whereas before it was typically the coach. The player used to have to sit out a year. Now, the players can up and go regardless of whether or not they’ve been paid. It’s every man for himself.”
Aikman then dived into another college football hot topic – Lane Kiffin’s decision to leave Ole Miss in favor of LSU. The NFL analyst gave his best guess on what fueled Kiffin to make the leap.
“Lane Kiffin’s motivation? Is it his thoughts that it’s a better opportunity for him at LSU? Possibly. Is it money? Possibly. Is it lifestyle? Possibly. I can’t answer any of those questions.”
Then-Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin throws a football before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Oct. 25, 2025. (Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images)
“But whatever his motivation is, he feels like LSU is the right place for him. So I don’t fault him for that at all. I know there’s always hard feelings. Ole Miss did not want to lose Lane Kiffin,” he said. “Once he made the decision to leave, now he’s a pariah. Let’s get this guy just as far away from us as we can. I understand that as well. Everybody gets a little bit jaded.”
Aikman concluded that those in positions of power should ultimately take charge and focus on getting things in order. “Where I’m at is I think there’s gotta be some leadership at the very top that kind of cleans all of this up. Starting with players that accept money, there’s gotta be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf to have to stick with a program. I gave money to a kid. I won’t mention who. I’ve done it one time at UCLA. Never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank you note.”
Aikman is scheduled to be on the call for a Week 15 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins on Dec. 15.
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Sports
Take a swing? Two Buss brothers consider investing in baseball’s Athletics
Could two members of the Buss family add some green and gold to their purple and gold?
Joey and Jesse Buss, fired last month as Lakers executives, have explored pursuing an ownership stake in baseball’s Athletics, according to two people familiar with the discussions but not authorized to speak publicly about them.
The discussions were described as preliminary, and it is unclear whether they might result in a deal. Jesse Buss did not reply to a message seeking comment.
In September, Joey and Jesse – sons of legendary Lakers owner Jerry Buss – announced the launch of Buss Sports Capital “to pursue high-impact investment opportunities across the global sports ecosystem.” The announcement said Buss Sports Capital would aim “to partner with forward-thinking professionals to unlock new opportunities in professional sports.”
Joey and Jesse Buss retain their stakes of Lakers ownership. In October, Dodgers owner Mark Walter closed his purchase of majority ownership in the Lakers, in a deal that valued the Lakers at $10 billion. Walter tasked Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and former general manager Farhan Zaidi to assess the Lakers’ front office operations.
Last month, Joey Buss was dismissed as vice president of research and development and Jesse Buss as assistant general manager.
The A’s left Oakland after the 2024 season. They plan to move from their temporary Sacramento home to Las Vegas in 2028, and construction there is underway on an enclosed 30,000-seat stadium originally estimated to cost $1.5 billion. In July, team owner John Fisher told the Nevada Independent the cost had risen into “the $2 billion range.”
Fisher obtained $380 million in public funding. He is responsible for the balance of construction costs. In 2023, The Times first reported that Fisher hoped to generate $500 million toward stadium costs by valuing the A’s at $2 billion and selling 25% of the team to minority investors.
Fisher has since used a higher valuation in soliciting investors. CNBC last year estimated the A’s franchise value at $2 billion, Forbes at $1.8 billion, and Sportico at $1.6 billion.
The A’s have posted four consecutive losing seasons. They say they are rebuilding toward their planned 2028 arrival in Las Vegas, and they have an impressive core of position players, including first baseman Nick Kurtz — the American League rookie of the year — shortstop Jacob Wilson, catcher Shea Langeliers, designated hitter Brent Rooker, and outfielders Lawrence Butler and Tyler Soderstrom.
Times staff writer Broderick Turner contributed to this report.
Sports
Browns to start Shedeur Sanders at quarterback for remainder of 2025 season
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There will be no more quarterback moves for the Cleveland Browns for the remainder of the 2025 season, as Shedeur Sanders will stay as the team’s starter for the next four games.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters that he’s seen Sanders “constantly and consistently gotten better in each of these games,” as he’s started the last three contests after fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel suffered a concussion in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens.
“He’s been working very hard. I feel good about where his development is heading,” Stefanski said of Sanders. “He knows there are always gonna be plays that he could be better and those types of things, but he’s very intentional about getting better each and every game he’s out there.”
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Cleveland Browns’ Shedeur Sanders (12) and Teven Jenkins (74) celebrate a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans in Cleveland, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Sanders became the first Browns quarterback to win his first-ever start in the league after helping take down the Las Vegas Raiders for Cleveland’s third win of the season.
And while Sanders completed a season-high 64% of his passes against the San Francisco 49ers in his first start at home, the Browns weren’t able to see the same victory on their record at the end of that contest.
BROWNS COACH DRAWS FURY AS SHEDEUR SANDERS SITS DURING CRUCIAL 2-POINT TRY
Sanders made his third start in a row on Sunday in sloppy conditions in Cleveland against a lowly Tennessee Titans team that beat them, 31-29, to capture just their second win of the year.
During the game, Stefanski drew the ire of Sanders fans when the quarterback was off the field for a two-point conversion try despite throwing a touchdown pass to tight end Harold Fannin Jr. Stefanski, instead, tried for a wildcat play with rookie running back Quinshon Judkins leading the way. The play ultimately didn’t work out, and fans wondered what could’ve been if Sanders was in the game.
Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns stands for the national anthem prior to a NFL Preseason 2025 game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on Aug. 8, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
“Browns removing Shedeur constantly on goal 2 go situations and going wildcat needs 2 be studied,” Shannon Sharpe wrote on X. “He’s on the SL. That’s bulljive.”
Skip Bayless even called for the removal of Stefanski after seeing what transpired at the end of the game.
“SHEDEUR TO FANNIN FOR THE CLUTCH TD — THEN STEFANSKI TAKES SHEDEUR OUT FOR THE WILDCAT — DISASTER. STEFANSKI BLOWS ANOTHER GAME. HE JUST COULDN’T STAND SEEING SHEDEUR TIE THE GAME WITH A 2-POINT CONVERSION AFTER SUCH A GREAT LONG TD DRIVE. FIRE STEFANSKI!”
Sanders was impressive despite the losing result, going 23-of-42 for 364 yards passing with three touchdowns and his first career rushing score.
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The Browns will travel to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bears in Week 15, followed by games against the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and finishing the season against the Cincinnati Bengals.
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