New Michigan football coaching candidate recently entered the picture

The Wolverines have a new candidate per reports.

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It's Christmas Day and Michigan is still searching for its 22nd head coach of the football program. The Wolverines have been closely monitoring several candidates and after seemingly missing out on both Kalen DeBoer and Kenny Dillingham, it had appeared that Louisville's Jeff Brohm might be the man for the job.

However, on Tuesday, FootballScoop revealed that Michigan had started vetting Baltimore Ravens' coordinator Todd Monken for the job.

"Multiple sources, at both the collegiate and NFL levels, shared with FootballScoop Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday night that Michigan had begun vetting current Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken and intended to speak this week with Monken."

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More on Monken

The 59-year-old Monken has experience as both a head coach and an offensive coordinator. He got his first start as an OC with Eastern Michigan from 1998-99. After moving up the ranks, and having a stint in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Monken had his first chace as a head coach with Southern Miss, where he coached from 2013-15.

After winning Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2015, Monken moved back up to the NFL and became the OC of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2016-18. Following one year with the Browns in 2019, Monken went to Georgia and coached under Kirby Smart as the Bulldogs' OC from 2020-22.

After winning back-to-back national titles with Georgia, Monken went back to the NFL and is currently the OC of the Baltimore Ravens under John Harbaugh.

Ties to the Midwest

While Monken hasn't coached in the Big Ten, Monken has plenty of experience recruiting and coaching in the Midwest. He got his first start coaching at Grand Valley State before moving to Notre Dame as a graduate assistant.

After his stint with Eastern Michigan, Monken spent a total of 11 seasons in the Midwest region. But beyond that, Monken was an elite OC in college football and should be able to recruit at an elite level at a place like Michigan if he were to get offered and accept the job.

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