Michigan Program Anything But Stable Interim Ellerbe A Good Coach, But He Probably Won’t Return

The best college basketball team never to win anything tangible this decade continues on its mercurial path, a fluctuation determined by which team Michigan is playing and how hard the Wolverines feel like playing that night.

In fact, they pretty much sleep-walked through last week, barely beating lowly Northwestern at home and losing on the road Saturday to pathetic Minnesota.

Thankfully for Michigan, there’s a Big Ten tournament this season. It’s the perfect consolation for a team that, in its recent history, is better suited to sprints than marathons. Tournament success only requires getting hot at the right time.

It wouldn’t surprise anyone if the blinding glare of the national television klieg lights and immense national interest of next month’s inaugural Big Ten tournament snapped these Wolverines out of their perpetual coma. But enjoy whatever success Michigan has this season, because that will be it for a couple of years.

U-M will become a scrub program once the seniors depart and Robert Traylor bolts as expected.

Regardless of who’s coaching the Wolverines next season.

Interim coach Brian Ellerbe hasn’t exactly bonded with his players. He didn’t recruit them. They hold no particular allegiance to him - which might explain this year’s penchant for the Wolverines’ turning it on and off whenever they deem fit.

But they respect Ellerbe. That says a lot, but it might not say enough.

Ellerbe has proven his worth as a coach unafraid to instill discipline while still trying to make an uncomfortable situation enjoyable for his players. He likely will be a head coach when the next college season begins.

But it doesn’t appear that it will be in Ann Arbor.

The decision was made in the two-week interval immediately following Steve Fisher’s abrupt dismissal Oct. 10, when new athletic director Tom Goss talked to as many as 36 candidates, ultimately paring the list to six prime hopefuls. But each one told Goss that the timing - only days before the start of practice - was inappropriate.

Talk to me in March, Goss was told.

Goss maintains that his mind hasn’t been made up, that the interview process will begin anew when the season ends. But the fact that Goss has made April 1 the deadline for naming a permanent coach means an image of the future direction of Michigan basketball is already crystalizing in his mind.

And speculation, much to the university’s chagrin, is running rampant.

It’s focused on Seton Hall coach and former Duke assistant Tommy Amaker, George Washington coach Mike Jarvis, Providence coach Pete Gillen, North Carolina assistant Phil Ford and Kansas assistant Matt Doherty.

Goss declines comment on who occupies his short list but insists that Ellerbe’s name belongs there.

“Brian’s done an excellent job when you consider all the emotional baggage he inherited,” Goss said. “When you weigh the job that he’s done against others who you’ve spoken with or seen in action, you can’t help but to think that Brian’s deserving of serious, serious consideration.”

Ellerbe, to his credit, hasn’t engaged in a public campaign for the job. Who wouldn’t want one of the premier college positions in the country? But he clearly understood and accepted his primary mission when the season began. It was his goal to prove that he can successfully coach - regardless of whether that meant he would coach Michigan after this season.

“The best thing we can do is win and prove that this is the right decision,” Ellerbe said recently. “I’m not a hard seller. The hardest and the best sell will be for us to have a great season.”